White River Valley High School won the 20-team Vermont bass-fishing state tournament Saturday on Lake Champlain, making the Wildcats the first repeat winners in the young sport’s eight-year history.

Wildcat varsity anglers Arden Reisterer and Kaleb Huff, both juniors, boated a six-bass limit of five largemouth and a smallmouth for 21.18 pounds, including a 4.52-pound largemouth lunker, to win the title by just seven-tenths of a pound over runners-up Burr and Burton.

The Bulldogs landed a limit of smallies for a total bag of 20.48 pounds, 0.70 behind the champion Wildcats. Their big fish was a 3.92-pound bronzeback.

Middlebury was third with 18.48 pounds worth of smallmouth, including a 4.56-pound smallie.

Richford finished fourth with the hard-luck story of the day. Their varsity team had 21.44 pounds in their livewell, including the big fish of the tournament, a 4.92-pound smallmouth, but a dead battery forced them to change it out and the team was four minutes late back to the dock. The one-pound-per-minute penalty dropped them from first place into fourth with an official bag of 17.44 pounds.

Reisterer and Huff made an hour run north from the launch point to a spot that had produced fish in the past. When they got there, they found bass holding in about 10-15 feet of water near wood and rock structure.

“We had this spot picked out and we wanted to try it because we’d had good luck before,” Huff said.

Huff said they bounced large jigs along the sandy bottom to draw strikes.

He said the duo sought out largemouth because of the spot. Champlain is a top bass fishing destination for both largemouth and smallmouth bass and produces some exceptional smallies. But the White River Valley team went after largemouth, catching one smallmouth along the way. Huff said they did attempt to go after smallies late in the day without much success.

Huff described the bite as slow and they had to work for their fish during the six hours they had to fish, minus an hour ride each direction.

The 4½ pound bucketmouth Huff caught was the first fish the duo put in the livewell, giving them a big boost.

In addition to the big fish, Huff said they had another four-pounder and a couple of three-pounders in the livewell at weigh-in.

WRVHS Activities Director Amy Parker said the win is the second bass-fishing title for the Wildcats, the first school in the state to win a second title.

The varsity boat of Reisterer and Huff, who are both juniors, will be looking for a repeat their senior season.

The junior varsity boat included senior Liam Penta and junior Collin Lewis.

Other members of the WRVHS bass fishing team are Emmy Poland, Danny Darling Salls, and Camden Russell, all freshmen.

Coaches include Head Coach Paul Feeney and assistant coaches Dan Huff and Bruce Staples.

Dan Huff is Caleb’s dad, and he is not only a coach for the bass fishing team, but was the winning team’s captain for the day.

Each team has to have an adult operating the boat any time it is on the big motor. The captain and/or coach cannot help the anglers at all during the day. They cannot even suggest spots to fish, as all decisions have to be made by the anglers. They can’t tie lures, net fish, handle fish or gear while on the water.

Huff said he and Reisterer are good friends off the water as well as fishing teammates. All fish must be kept alive during the day and Vermont Fish & Wildlife staff are on hand to ensure fish are distributed back into the lake.

The 2025 tournament was the eighth year of high school bass fishing in Vermont.