Roxbury Kid is State Bass Fishing Champ, Heads for Nationals

ROXBURY, NJ - Wally Peer IV, an 8-year-old student at Kennedy Elementary School, recently won a state championship for angling and is preparing to compete next month at a national tournament.

Peer, who is in second grade, won the New Jersey Junior BASS Nation State Championship on Swartswood Lake in Sussex County by landing four largemouth bass. The 12.5-pounds total haul was enough to earn the state championship and to qualify him to fish in next month's BASS Nation Junior National Championship on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, TN.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

"We started off in the morning, and we were fishing shallow water around some docks and rocks but we didn't do very well," said Peer's father, Wally Peer III of Succasunna. "Around 9 o'clock, we moved offshore to some deep grass edges and found bass schooled up."

He said the boy found success using drop-shotting, a technique that entails having a weight at the bottom of the line and a baited hook about 10 inches higher.

Peer started fishing - mainly landing sunfish at Horseshoe Lake - when he was about two years old, said his dad. He said his son also plays baseball and football for Roxbury Recreation teams but still manages to go fishing at least once weekly.

On its website, BASS Nation New Jersey said the Swartswood Lake conditions weren't ideal for the tournament. "We had a hard-fought tournament for all anglers, being that the bass were a little finicky on this day," it noted. "As usual, all of our anglers keep their heads down for the chance at the top prize!"

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

Peer, in an "angler profile," said he enjoys being outdoors playing youth sports and fishing. "This is my second year fishing bass tournaments," he wrote. "I love spending time on the water learning new techniques, improving my fishing skills and competing with other kids."

The profile notes that Peer is the youngest angler ever to qualify for the Junior BASS Nation National Championship from New Jersey.

Don’t miss any Roxbury news! Click here to sign-up for our free daily e-newsletter.

Please “like” and “follow” us on Facebook and check out our Twitter feed .

TAPinto Roxbury is free to read, funded entirely by business advertising.

To get your business in front of thousands of readers in Roxbury and beyond, become a TAPinto sponsor! Call 862-259-2448.

To send press releases, classified ads, items for the event calendar, “Milestones” announcements, etc., look for the “Submit Content” link on the homepage.

Thank you for reading TAPinto Roxbury!

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net