Eatonville duo wins Washington State High School Bass Fishing Championship

Two Eatonville High School anglers are reeling in a major accomplishment after winning the Washington State High School Bass Fishing Championship at Moses Lake on Saturday, Aug. 9.

Eatonville High School bass fishing team duo pose with their boat captain after clinching the state title. From Left to Right: Easton Wolfe, Dylan Grad, and Callie Mohler. Photo: Lena Mohler

Callie Mohler, a junior, and Easton Wolfe, 14, who will be a freshman this fall, captured the state title with a three-fish limit weighing 13.45 pounds. Their victory earns them a spot in the High School National Championship next June.

The win also marks the second time in three years that Eatonville has produced state champions since the program began in 2023. In that year, Jaiden Sobczyk and Will McEver brought home the title, giving the Cruisers two state championships in just three seasons of competition.

“It feels amazing to win the state title,” Mohler said. “It’s something I’ve been working toward since joining the fishing team.”

Second place went to Andrew Gonzales and Connor Selby with a total weight of 11.62 pounds.

For Wolfe, the victory still feels surreal. “It's exciting, it was like I was in a dream,” he said. “I didn’t have a strategy, I just went into the tournament wanting to have fun.”

The tournament format allowed each team to bring in a maximum of three fish for the weigh-in. Wolfe’s largest fish of the day was 3.93 pounds, while Mohler brought in the team’s biggest catch, a 5.24-pound largemouth bass, which was just shy of the big fish of the day that was 5.31 pounds.

Mohler credited her success to using a Berkley Choppo lure, while Wolfe kept his top bait a secret. “A fisherman never tells,” Wolfe said with a smile.

Both anglers pointed to strong support systems that have helped them along the way. Wolfe said his fishing partner and his mother have been the biggest influences in his young career. Mohler named her parents, her Uncle Martin, and Randy Thompson as key supporters.

“This fishing season with the Washington State High School Bass Fishing Team was full of new learning experiences, from fishing with different captains to learning new fishing techniques,” Mohler said. “I had such an amazing season fishing with my partner Easton, and we were able to top off the season with a state championship. We were captained by Dylan Grad, who is a former member of the Washington State High School Bass Fishing Team and now a collegiate fisherman for Simpson University.”

When asked how he came to be their captain for the tournament, Grad said, “The tournament director Randy Thompson called me saying they were short captains and asked if I could help out and I wanted to help the kids out since I fished the high school tournaments once.”

Grad also shared his impression after watching Mohler and Wolfe fish. “My impression of the two anglers was their motivation to do well in the tournament and learn. They’ve had a tough season from what I’ve heard and they were giving it their all in the state championship.”

He added, “I just want to add how awesome of an opportunity the high school tournament league is. It really opens up doors for these kids to get into the sport and to potentially get college scholarships for it. Also how important it is us older anglers help these younger kids out by captaining them.”

The pair is already looking ahead to their next challenge, competing against the nation’s best next summer.

“After state, I’m going to be practicing and hopefully go fish in nationals,” Mohler said.

Wolfe has a similar plan.“Just to keep fishing, keep getting better,” he said.

With their shared passion and proven teamwork, the Eatonville anglers hope their next big catch will come on the national stage.