Midway graduates Holt Owens (left) and Wyatt Shirran.
BY DAVE LINK
Holt Owens and Wyatt Shirran got an early graduation present in late April on Chickamauga Lake.
One week before getting their diplomas from Midway High, Owens and Shirran won the Tennessee BASS Nation State Open/Southeast Division event, their first title as a team.
Owens caught the duo’s big bass, an 8.78-pound largemouth, boosting their winning margin by almost two pounds.
“That’s definitely the biggest fish I’ve caught in a tournament,” Owens said, “and for it to be such a big tournament for us, it meant a lot to us fishing on Chick on our last one. It was definitely a blessing.”
Although they live near Watts Bar Lake — within a few miles of Midway High — they most often take a longer drive south to Chickamauga, known for its big bass.
On their favorite lake, Shirran and Owens had the five-bass limit weighing 23.15 pounds, all largemouth.
“I figured that we’d be top three for sure,” Shirran said. “I didn’t know if we’d have enough to win it, but I’m very grateful that we did.”
Hunter Webb and Benjamin Singleton of Dickson County were second with five bass weighing 21.53 pounds, including a 6.15-pounder, ahead of third-place Brody Teller and Will Anderson of Sumner County (five bass, 20.38 pounds, 10.74-pounder) and fourth-place Owen Ray and Turner Tharpe of Rhea County (five bass, 19.01 pounds, 11.03-pounder).
In the juniors division, Braxton Davis and Gracen Davis of Whitwell Junior Bass won with five bass weighing 11.92 pounds, including a 3.59-pounder; Will Collins and Kyler Jenkins of Soddy-Daisy Junior Bass were second (five bass, 11.86 pounds, 3.33 pounder) and Hunter Gore and Jayden Fitzgerald of Rhea County Junior Bass were third (five bass, 11.06 pounds, 4.17 pounder).
PARTNER UP AGAIN
Shirran and Owens haven’t fished together for the duration of their high school careers.
Owens, originally from Ohio, moved to the Midway area during elementary school and fished for the Midway Middle School team.
Before Owens’ freshman year, Midway dropped its fishing team, so he fished with Shirran at Kingston, where Shirran attended school.
Shirran transferred from Kingston to Midway before his junior year and reunited with Owens on the fishing team for their senior years.
Their previous best finish was a top-20 last fall.
Now, they’ve got winners plaques from their home-away-from-home lake.
“We live 5 minutes from Watts Bar, but Chick’s definitely our home lake,” said Owens, who went to nationals in 2023 with Rylan Brewer. “We fish it pretty much every day in the summer. We’ll put together our money for gas and drive a little further to fish it. We put the work in on Chick, that’s for sure.”
They know both ends of the lake well and covered it all during practices before the State Open/Southeast event.
“We fished the south end just because we know it well from fishing it in the summer,” Owens said. “We switched and went north during practice, and it seemed to be producing better fish. We caught multiple over 6 pounds (during practice).”
When start time arrived, their captain, Owens’ father Jason Owens, knew just where to head.
“We just ran up north where we found some good ones in practice that were locked on beds and we’d caught some of them,” Shirran said.
HOW THEY WON
Owens caught the 8.78-pounder in the first 30 minutes of the day on a chatter bait.
“I threw it to the back of the cove,” Owens said. “Wyatt was fishing behind us, slower with a wacky rig. We were (fishing) shallow, shallow the whole day. That’s where they were, probably a foot or less of water. As soon as I threw it up there and it bit, I saw it swirl and I knew it was a big one.”
So did Shirran.
“It was crazy,” Shirran said. “He threw that chatter bait in this big pocket. As soon as it hit, he said, ‘Get the net, that’s a big one.’ I was nervous, for sure.”
After the hot start, Owens and Shirran needed most of the day to get their limit.
“We didn’t catch a lot of ’em,” Shirran said. “We caught six fish, and five of ’em kept.”
They were enough to get a long-awaited victory.
“We’re definitely blessed to be able to win like that,” Owens said, “but it’s been tough over the years trying to fish at Midway.”
Owens and Shirran plan to attend Roane State Community College in the fall and bolster its fishing team.
They’ll spend some summer days on Chickamauga.
“Chick’s just a different animal,” Owens said. “It’s a beautiful lake. It produces more fish, more quality fish than anywhere I’ve ever been, personally. It’s amazing, as long as you know how to fish it. If you know how to fish it, it’s great. If you don’t, it can be the toughest lake you’ve ever been to.”