Marmion’s Thielen scores solo

Updated: June 18, 2011 6:58PM

CARLYLE, Ill. — Fishing by himself, junior David Thielen caught the big bass Saturday to earn Marmion a sixth-place finish in the Illinois high school bass fishing state championship on Carlyle Lake.

‘‘It took a while,’’ Thielen said of his 3-pound, 13-ounce largemouth.

It also took a while to get Day 2 of the championship started. A series of thunderstorms delayed the start for nearly five hours before the first boat took off at 11:54 a.m.

Illinois High School Association officials debated extending the finish time, but opted to end the tournament as scheduled at 3 p.m.

‘‘We had people here who had plans to get home,’’ IHSA associate executive director Kurt Gibson said.

Thielen fished alone because his teammates were both out of the country due to various obligations. The tournament was originally scheduled for May, but was postponed by severe flooding.

Thielen had the patience to make it work ‘‘slow fishing by brush’’ with a black grape worm on a quarter-ounce weight. He finished with 10 pounds, 13 ounces for the two days.

‘‘He fished as hard as he could,’’ Marmion coach Joe Large said. ‘‘He had that bait in the water every second. He didn’t stop for a sandwich or anything.’’

Canton, the Day 1 leader, clinched the title with a total of 14 pounds, 6 ounces, when David Weyers caught a 3-7 bass.

Each team could weigh its five heaviest bass 12 inches or longer, but with only three hours to fish no team weighed a limit.

Despite Tyler Cantu snagging a keeper, Zion-Benton — second after Day 1 — dropped to seventh.

‘‘The weather made all the difference,’’ Cantu said.

‘‘We couldn’t fish in our spots,’’ Z-B coach Brad Rubin said. ‘‘We were taking waves over the bow.’’

Jim O’Neil boated a keeper, for Marist, but the RedHawks dropped from seventh to 12th. Other notable local finishes were Grant Park (16th) and Minooka (19th).

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