Chase Muller and Drew Todaro had the fish in their sights, and they knew it could be a big catch.
They just didn’t realize how big – or what it would ultimately lead to.
The 4-pound large bass helped the Hahnville High School duo place third at that weekend’s Bayou Segnette fishing tournament. But the larger outcome for the freshmen is that the placement helped put a strong season over the top, as Todaro and Muller officially qualified for the 2025 Bassmaster High School National Championship tournament on Clark Hill Lake in Evans, Ga.
It’s Muller and Todaro’s first year of tournament fishing at the high school level – the two are freshmen at Hahnville – and they caught on quickly. They are the first team from Hahnville High to ever qualify for nationals.
“It was actually pretty crazy because based on the points they released at first, we thought we were just short of what we needed,” said Todaro. “We were around fifth. But there were some double-qualifiers, and that meant we were in. It’s going to be pretty cool to actually get up there and compete against kids from all around the country.”
The two finished third in their division, which drew from tournaments at Bayou Segnette, Manchac and Morgan City. The duo did well in all three of those.
Muller said the news took him off guard as well.
“I was definitely shocked,” he said. “It took awhile for the standings to come out. I’d put it on the backburner and assumed we weren’t going. But I’m glad we are, and especially in our first year of high school.”
While it’s their first year as competitive tournament anglers, Muller and Todaro have been fishing together for years. The Luling boys are close friends who live down the street from one another.
“We fish all the time by our houses, so you get a lot of practice,” said Muller. “We knew we’d do well at juniors, but less sure how we’d do once we went against the high school level. But we’ve done pretty well.”
Said Todaro, “Throughout elementary school we always knew we were going to fish together. We knew Hahnville had a team and we always talked about it. When we found out we could start as eighth graders, we just asked one another if we wanted to do this thing and here we are.”
Muller said last year was his first taste of tournament competition. Todaro, meanwhile, started tournament fishing around the age of seven, inspired by his father, a longtime tournament fisher.
“Just being in the boat with my dad and seeing how much he liked it,” said Todaro, who has ambitions of fishing professionally. “And just that feeling of getting that next bite and next catch … that rush of competing and trying to be the best out there has kept me going to where I am now, I guess.”
Muller, likewise, enjoys when the competition is ramped up.
“And it’s just great to be able to fish, doing what I like to do and with one of my best friends, competing in high stakes. It’s pretty amazing,” he said.
They spotted the 4-pound large bass at Bayou Segnette and knew it could be a keeper.
“The water was particularly low and we saw it with our eyes,” said Todaro. “When we got it, I just freaked out because – we thought it was big, but not that big. We thought it would be a nice keeper size to maybe replace one of the small ones we had already, and it was twice the size of what we thought it was.”
At nationals, the two will face off against a field of 250 teams. And they each said they’ll be ready.
“We’ll be practicing a lot more this summer, as much as we possibly can to get ready,” Muller said. “We didn’t know what to expect with this being our first year (in high school), but I’m excited to see where this journey goes.”
