In Super Bowl XXIV in New Orleans, Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers absolutely annihilated the Denver Broncos, 55-10.
Friends of Dylan Philippe and Blake Beddingfield probably know just how the Broncos felt that day.
The Baton Rouge-area high school seniors plopped 32 pounds of bass on the scale to win a recent tournament that had its genesis not in the board room of a big-money corporation, but from a collection of friends on Facebook.
Dylan, Blake and their buddies formed a group named 225 Fishing on the social-media site to discuss fishing action in the area and swap fish stories. The group is open to anyone, and has collected quite a following.
And while everyone loves a good fish story, the tales can’t compare to the real thing. So the boys organized through the Facebook page a March 17 tournament open to all waters within the 225 area code. Money was on the line, but not a lot — each team of two anglers put up $15, with the heaviest five-fish stringer taking the whole pot.
Most of the kids are boatless, but the 225 area code is full of fish-filled ponds that can be fished from the bank. All of them were in play.
Dylan and Blake selected a top-secret pond.
“(The owner) gave us permission to fish it,” Dylan said, “and told us it had some big bass in it.”
He wasn’t lying.
Dylan landed an 11-1 on tournament day to anchor the 32-pound stringer. The second-place team weighed in 14 pounds.
Dylan’s lunker hit a pearl Yum Money Minnow swimbait. The anglers also did well on a Carolina-rigged watermelon/chartreuse lizard.
The Parkview Baptist senior plans to fish for LSU’s tournament bass team next year.
