A bush, 9 bass, dad & partner: Buffalo Grove’s Lubbat at state finals

CARLYLE, Ill. — It was the right kind of bush.

All-American Tyler Lubbat led Buffalo Grove to the state championship in bass fishing with four keepers Thursday on Carlyle Lake. The Bison became the first Chicago-area team to win the title in the nine years the Illinois High School Association has had bass fishing as an activity.

Lubbat and Dominic Domian weighed their four largemouth at 5 pounds, 8 ounces for a two-day weight of 13-7. Mahomet-Seymour was second at 10-12.

Teams weigh their five heaviest bass of 12 inches or longer. Weights from both days are added.

‘‘[On Wednesday], we found one bush on a point,’’ Lubbat said. ‘‘Usually it is out of water, but it was underwater now.’’

Carlyle Lake was still 2 feet above normal summer pool.

Interestingly, Lubbat — who was competing at state for the third time — never had fished that bush before. He would like to become the rare angler to qualify for state in all four years, but he can take winning the event off his list of goals.

He caught a five-bass limit Wednesday that weighed 7-15 to put the Bison in second, two ounces behind Moline.

‘‘We went back to that bush [Thursday] and caught nothing,’’ Lubbat said.

But he caught two keepers off other bushes shallow. Later, after the cloud deck cleared and the sun penetrated the water, Lubbat read that and pulled out as deep as 12 feet on points and caught two more keepers.

‘‘He studies water and rocks and what he knows about bass,’’ said his father, Cris, who had to be the boat captain when the coach could not. Each boat must have an adult captain.

After the first day of competition, Cris said Tyler was so sure the black-and-blue DeM Jig with a sapphire trailer would work that he tied three rods with it Wednesday so he wouldn’t have to waste any time Thursday.

Tyler said he went with that setup because he thought it would be more visible in the murky waters of Carlyle Lake.

‘‘I was really excited for Tyler, helping him catch as many as he could,’’ Domian said.

Yes, he was the net man for Lubbat, who caught all nine keepers.

Domian had enough sense of humor to quip, ‘‘I covered all that other ground so Tyler wouldn’t have to.’’

Tyler will be covering more ground — or water — next week, when he goes to the High School National Championship on Kentucky Lake in Tennessee.

NOTES:I enjoyed the Chicago-area seniors going into fisheries. It reflects well on bass fishing as an activity. They included Prairie Ridge’s Derek Greiner to Wisconsin-Platteville and Wheaton St. Francis’ Gabe Meyer to Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Then there was Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Nick Trusso, who qualified three times for state. He said he was going to Missouri to study ‘‘marketing and fishing.’’ . . . Sandwich sophomore Dalys Helgren was the lone female competitor this year. . . . Six other Chicago-area schools finished among the top 20. Minooka Boat 1 was eighth (7-14), Naperville North ninth (7-11), Huntley 10th (7-4), Wheaton St. Francis 13th (6-10), Minooka Boat 2 14th (6-0) and Plainfield North 19th (5-0).

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