West St. John High School in Edgard is making waves in the high-school fishing world again, sending three students to the upcoming national championship.
Shamar Pierre, an 11th-grader, Khristian Rousseve, a 12th-grader, and Devrin Harper, Jr., a 10th-grader, will be heading to Lake Hartwell in Anderson, S.C. for the 2021 TBF High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship on June 30-July 3. Up for grabs are millions of dollars in scholarships and prizes.
Additionally, Pierre and Rousseve will compete in the 2021 Bassmaster High School Championship on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, TN July 29-31.
“This is the first time that they have ever fished in the national tournament,” said Marvin Pierre, coach of the WSJ Anglers. “Hopefully, they’ll fish hard, and we can come out of some of these top-spots and win these tournaments.”
The team’s road to the 2021 Bassmaster tournament began with a big win at the Northern Division Qualifier at San Miguel SRA Park on Toledo Bend Reservoir with a 13.39-pound bag. That victory over 140 other high-school teams allowed the WSJ Anglers to qualify for the state championships, where they finished 18th of 105 teams.
A lot on the line
“They’ve got almost $3 million in cash, prizes, and scholarship money at the World Championship,” Pierre said, “but with B.A.S.S., (in addition to) some scholarship money, they’ll have colleges out there scouting.”
Rousseve, recently put ink to paper, committing to fish for LSU Shreveport next year.
“Hopefully, they can all get scholarships out of this,” Pierre said.
