Washington state junior bass anglers are gaining national attention, and this past Saturday (Oct. 31) 18-year-old Jake Cook of Kennewick beat out a half dozen other top junior division champions from around the United States to capture the 2009 Junior Bassmaster World Championship at Lake Yale East in Florida.

Cook almost doubled the nearest competitor's weight with an impressive 13 pounds, 1 ounce total of five Florida strain largemouth bass.

The next closest competitor was Craig Conger of St. Peters, Missouri, with 6 pounds, 7 ounces on five fish.

Cook's win is rewarded with a $5,000 college scholarship plus a fully rigged Triton Bass Boat valued at $9,000.

Cook commented on Bassmaster. com: "I did something different than anybody else. I fished some deep water structure. We stuck it out there most of the day throwing crankbaits. We lost some baits but got down to where the fish were."

The road to the World Championship wasn't a cake walk for Cook, who has been in the Junior Bassmaster Program for four years and has been a regular competitor at the state level.

Under a program revision introduced in 2008 the process requires junior anglers to first win their respective state, then win against other state champions in their respective divisions which earns them a birth in the Junior World Championships where they again faced the best of the best in the form of six divisional champs.

Cook won the Washington State Championship last April on the Columbia River. He then won the Western Divisional Championships also held on the Columbia in May.

The junior tournament was held in conjunction with the adult version, which is the Federation Nation National Championships, where 52 anglers, all state or foreign country champs competed to win or earn a birth in the Super Bowl of Bass fishing -- the Bassmaster Classic.

This year, Pasco's Don Hogue place second overall, winning the Western Division. Hogue will represent Washington State in the Bassmaster Classic to be held on Lay Lake in Alabama in February of 2010.

Washington youth anglers have won the Junior Bassmasters competition three times since the program began in 2003. Two of those wins were by Joey Nania of Liberty Lake.

(Photo taken by Regan Heaton of Spokane)