Texas angler becomes first female high school fishing national champion

Texas angler becomes first female high school fishing national champion

Source: washingtonpost

7/6/2022

Credit: Major League Fishing

Fallon Clepper realized a lifelong dream last month when she won the High School Fishing National Championship, but the highlight of her weekend didn’t come until the following day.

The newly minted champion was walking toward her boat when a young girl in a gray T-shirt and Birkenstock sandals recognized her and asked to take a picture. Clepper happily agreed, letting the young fan hold the trophy she had earned.

“Winning the national championship was amazing,” Clepper said. “But that was the best part of the entire trip, just having a little girl look up to me and just be like, ‘I want to be her one day.’ ”

Clepper and her partner, Wyatt Ford, bested the other 235 boats in the three-day competition on Pickwick Lake near Florence, Ala., to claim the championship. The victory made Clepper the first female angler to win the title, a validating achievement for the rising senior at Lake Creek High in Montgomery, Tex.