August 5, 2025
Local Umatilla Students Compete at Bassmaster National High School Championship
By Kyle Coppola
Local Umatilla Students Compete at Bassmaster National High School Championship
Local high school students Hayden Berryman and Mason Bush recently competed at the 2025 Bassmaster National High School Championship in Clarks Hill Lake in Evans, Georgia. The pair are cousins and part of the Facebook group Just 2 Cousins Fishing.
These two young anglers know more than a thing or two about fishing and they’re quickly making names for themselves. They’ve won competitions across Florida and continue to qualify for national events.
Since teaming up two years ago, their love for the sport has continued to grow fueled by inspiration from their fathers, Josh Bush and Jason Berryman, who have both been fishing most of their lives.
(The Berryman and Bush families support Mason and Hayden on their trip to the Bassmaster High School National Championship.)
“I began fishing at a young age,” Hayden says. “Eventually, my cousin Mason wanted to get into fishing as well, and we began fishing together a few years back. We decided to make a team, and since we’re cousins, it just made sense to call our team Just 2 Cousins Fishing.”
“That relationship is key to their success,” adds Jason Berryman. “One thing about fishing is that you might be best friends with someone on shore, but when you fish, you might not be compatible. For Mason and Hayden, they work extremely well together out there, and that is one of their greatest strengths.”
(While they did not win the National Championship Hayden and Mason learned a lot for future events.)
The boys also expressed gratitude following their national appearance:
“Thank you for all the support we’ve received. We brought in fish on both days—nothing of size—but we learned a lot and enjoyed fishing at Nationals with high school anglers from Canada, Minnesota, New Mexico, and all over the country. Thank you to our families, friends, sponsors, and community for everything you’ve done to give us the opportunity to qualify and participate in the Bassmaster High School National Championship Tournament.”
(Hayden and Mason competed against some of the top high school anglers in the country at the Bassmaster High School National Championship.)
Congratulations to both of these young men. They continue to represent Lake County at a very high level in the sport of fishing. We are very proud of them.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
