LIHU‘E — Leona Perez, the mother of Tyler Tumpap, said when Tyler and Cassius Olson were accepted to participate in the High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship in La Crosse, Wisconsin, the pair became the first fishers from Hawai‘i to ever participate in the Wisconsin tournament.
LIHU‘E — Leona Perez, the mother of Tyler Tumpap, said when Tyler and Cassius Olson were accepted to participate in the High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship in La Crosse, Wisconsin, the pair became the first fishers from Hawai‘i to ever participate in the Wisconsin tournament.
“We did TBF Worlds last year, we were the first team to compete in it from Hawai‘i,” Olson told Erik Gaffron of MajorLeagueFishing.com. “That was super cool so we decided this year to start a club, Hawai‘i High School Bass Fishing. We held a state tournament and ended up winning. Here we are fishing nationals.”
To reach Wisconsin, the newly-formed club with about a dozen members, the club opted to fish from kayaks on the Wailua River, crowning a champion on June 11, MLF.com said.
Following two days of competition, the pair finished in 40th place “against the world’s best” after adjusting to the logistics of travel, getting a suitable boat to compete and other issues.
“We are just super stoked that we got to come here and compete,” Olson said. “It was my first time fishing a grass fishery so that was cool. We have learned a lot. It would be cool to come one day to the mainland and have my own boat and fish MLF, professionally. That would be killer.”
