Tyler Covington and Brantley Tate jumped into high school bass fishing with a big splash and exited four years later by earning a college scholarship to fish some more.
Covington and Tate, who proudly represented the Walker High School Fishing Team, both recently signed to continue fishing competitively with LSU Bass Fishing. Walker High School’s outgoing seniors are as excited about the future as they were about their start on the high school level.
“I think it’s amazing. I’ve always loved LSU … my dream college. The only place I wanted to go to get an education,” said Tyler, who plans to major in electrical engineering.
Brantley, who wants to major in mechanical engineering, said, “I’m looking forward to LSU. Oh my gosh! I didn’t get started (bass fishing) until midway through eighth grade.
Now I’m going to fish for my dream college … just surreal. It’s an opportunity to show what me and Tyler can do. It’s an opportunity to go to other places and learn new things, try new things. I’m grateful for it.”
“I believe we can do some great things,” Tyler said.
A great run
The two fishing buddies, who fished all four years with their captain, Covington’s dad, Philip Covington, capped their high school careers by winning the Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation West Trail title in 2023-24.
They had a great beginning, for sure. As WHS Fishing Team freshmen, Covington and Tate and their captain went to Caney Lake for the first time for an LHSBN tournament and won it after prefishing a day earlier.
“We get up there and found a spot scouting day. We said, ‘Can’t wait till the tournament.’ What happens? We caught a 7-pounder, a 6, a 5 and two 3s. It was a great day. We went back the next year and won it again!” Brantley said, noting that second win on the return visit was with a 26-pound bag.
He was just as proud of their senior campaign, which had a rough start.
“I feel great about it,” he said. “We fished really hard this year. The first two tournaments were really hard. We just had a great run at the end of the year.”
Their captain agreed and pinpointed a clutch effort down the stretch this spring as the turning point. The seniors finished tied for eighth at Henderson Lake, which was giving up bass grudgingly at the time.
“That tournament helped us win the West Trail,” Philip Covington said, adding his four-year captain’s stint was more than he ever thought it would be.
“It’s been wonderful,” he said. “It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done with the boys in my whole life. Traveling with them, talking with them, fishing tournaments.”
Their career included qualifying and fishing in two nationals with one more set this summer at Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee.
Looking ahead
According to their captain, for a majority of the high school years they fished out of his 2008 Xpress. He upgraded recently to a 20-foot long Vexus powered by a 200-h.p. Mercury.
No matter what boat they’re in, the recent grads are partial to white artificial lures. Those Caney Lake wins came on a Ned-rigged white soft plastic crawfish imitation bait fished over spawning beds.
A white KVD 2.5 crankbait also accounts for many of the bass Brantley catches in July in the Atchafalaya Basin. He enjoys fishing drains in the lower end of the Spillway near Morgan City.
Tyler’s favorite place to fish in July is Housen Creek’s prolific hydrilla mats at Toledo Bend.
“Every time I go I catch nice solid fish,” he said.
He knows first-hand what swims in that creek after catching two 8-pound class bass this past spring, one during a tournament and the other while prefishing, both on the white soft plastic crawfish imitation.
His 8-11 in Spring 2022 in the team’s second win at Caney Lake was caught on a white Zoom Ultra-Vibe Speed Craw, he said.
Both soon-to-be LSU freshman hope there are more catches like that ahead of them while representing the Tigers.
