Tharpe, James Win Junior National Championship

October 20, 2020
B.A.S.S. News - Archived

HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — Thanks in part to an afternoon flurry, Rhea County (Tenn.) seventh graders Turner Tharpe and Blake James caught 8 pounds, 2 ounces on Championship Tuesday to claim the Junior Bassmaster National Championship tournament on the Carroll County 1000 Acre Recreational Lake with a two-day total of 13-15. They earned a $2,500 scholarship.

“It feels amazing,” Turner said. “I’m not sure if we will be able to do this ever again, but I hope we will.”

Turner and James threw a wacky rig around shallow, offshore brush in a pocket most of Day 1, boat captain Brent Tharpe said. On Day 2, Turner and James started on the same structure but bright skies and calm conditions slowed the bite.

“I just told them to keep their head in the game and don’t get distracted and worry about other boats,” Brent Tharpe said.

James and Turner had just one fish by midday, but conditions started to change as wind and some clouds entered the area.

“The sun went behind the clouds and it started to get a little windy,” James said. “Yesterday, that seemed to be when we caught them, because it was cloudy, so that helped after lunch.”

Along with the weather change, Turner and James moved away from their shallow cover to a ditch in the middle of the pocket that had trees stacked in it. They filled their limit there with a drop shot.

“We figured out that they weren’t up shallow, so we moved out and started catching some fish,” Turner said.

Logan Lopossa and Koby Sollars from the Southside Anglers in Indiana finished second with a two-day total of 12-8 after catching four fish for 4-13 on Day 2. They earned a $1,000 scholarship. Sollars said he and Lopossa caught all of their fish in the morning and, while they had bites during the afternoon, they couldn’t find another keeper. The duo landed one fish in the afternoon that fell just shy of the 12-inch size limit. Lopossa and Sollars previously qualified for the 2019 National Championship, and they used their experience from that tournament to help them during this event.

“We were catching them on a shaky head and a paddletail worm,” Lopossa said. “We were here last year and we caught them on that (plum) color. So, we threw it on a shaky head and they just kept destroying it.”

Lopossa and Sollars moved back and forth from deep to shallow, but one particular dropoff with stumps and gravel produced all their bites on Day 2.

Kasen Pemberton and Hunter Prough from the Chipley High fishing team finished third with 12-3 and won an $800 scholarship, while Kyle and Nicholas Herrman from the Topeka Jr. Hawgs program held onto the Big Bass award with a 5-4 largemouth they caught on Day 1, earning them a $200 scholarship. 

  

2020 Bassmaster Junior National Championship 10/19-10/20
(BOATER) Standings Day 2

    Angler                                       Club/School                       Pts

1.  Turner Tharpe - Blake James                  Rhea County                           0
  Day 1: 5   05-13     Day 2: 5   08-02   Total:  10  13-15
2.  Logan Lopossa - Koby Sollars                 Southside Anglers                     0
  Day 1: 5   07-11     Day 2: 4   04-13   Total:   9  12-08
3.  Kasen Pemberton - Hunter Prough              Chipley High                          0
  Day 1: 5   05-12     Day 2: 5   06-07   Total:  10  12-03
4.  Jaylin White - Colden Baker                  Lugoff-Elgin Middle                   0
  Day 1: 5   04-08     Day 2: 5   07-04   Total:  10  11-12
5.  Jack Myers - Lucas Gerlach                   Denver Jr. Bassmaster                 0
  Day 1: 4   09-01     Day 2: 2   02-01   Total:   6  11-02
6.  Pate Anderson - Bobby Miller                 Susquehanna Valley Fishing Team       0
  Day 1: 4   04-07     Day 2: 5   06-04   Total:   9  10-11
7.  Dakota Carter - Preston Keller               OKC Junior Bassmasters                0
  Day 1: 4   03-12     Day 2: 4   06-11   Total:   8  10-07
8.  Zane Parker - Garrett Wilson                                                       0
  Day 1: 5   04-09     Day 2: 5   05-11   Total:  10  10-04
9.  Langston Martin - Coleman Mezick             Lee County Anglers                    0
  Day 1: 5   05-13     Day 2: 4   04-06   Total:   9  10-03
10. Carson Harrell - Colton Harrell              chapman panthers                      0
  Day 1: 3   04-07     Day 2: 5   05-03   Total:   8  09-10
11. Trent Volz - Carson Volz                     Indian Creek                          0
  Day 1: 4   04-06     Day 2: 3   04-08   Total:   7  08-14
12. Charles Klug -                               PJ Jacobs Junior High                 0
  Day 1: 5   04-12     Day 2: 4   03-15   Total:   9  08-11
13. Holten Phillips - Griffin Ralph              Lakeside                              0
  Day 1: 5   05-03     Day 2: 3   02-13   Total:   8  08-00
14. Kyle Herrman - Nicholas Herrman              Topeka Jr Hawgs                       0
  Day 1: 4   07-15     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   4  07-15
15. Annabel Hellum - Ben Lewis                   Phoenix Junior Bassmasters            0
  Day 1: 4   04-03     Day 2: 3   03-12   Total:   7  07-15
16. Landon Pierce - Korbin Neat                  Casey County                          0
  Day 1: 3   03-12     Day 2: 5   04-00   Total:   8  07-12
17. Peter Duffy - Bryce Formsma                  GR Bass boys Northview                0
  Day 1: 5   05-00     Day 2: 3   02-10   Total:   8  07-10
18. Mason Dople - Gabryel St John                Jellico Middle                        0
  Day 1: 1   03-07     Day 2: 4   03-14   Total:   5  07-05
19. Bo Hollen - Ari Clark                        Mon Valley Bassmaster's               0
  Day 1: 4   03-08     Day 2: 4   03-10   Total:   8  07-02
20. Colt Sitton - Ryan Grace                     North OKC Bassmasters                 0
  Day 1: 2   02-01     Day 2: 3   05-00   Total:   5  07-01
21. Sawyer Knickerbocker - Gage Dowers           SWLA Jr Anglers                       0
  Day 1: 5   05-08     Day 2: 2   01-02   Total:   7  06-10
22. Gavin White - Brandon Smith                  LA Junior Bassmasters                 0
  Day 1: 4   04-15     Day 2: 1   01-06   Total:   5  06-05
23. Jack Meiser - Blake Meiser                   Eureka                                0
  Day 1: 4   04-14     Day 2: 1   01-05   Total:   5  06-03
24. Brody Kellum - Carson Thompson               Franklin County Middle School         0
  Day 1: 5   05-01     Day 2: 1   01-00   Total:   6  06-01
25. Garret Crow - Brayzon Riddle                 Lone Star Jr Bassmaster               0
  Day 1: 2   03-08     Day 2: 2   02-06   Total:   4  05-14
26. Jace Buxton - Ethan Graham                   Jackson County                        0
  Day 1: 2   01-15     Day 2: 3   03-10   Total:   5  05-09
27. Caleb Roblin - Jackson Landry                Jr Southwest Bassmasters- LA          0
  Day 1: 2   02-01     Day 2: 4   03-08   Total:   6  05-09
28. William Griswold - Seth Schnoebelen          Center Point                          0
  Day 1: 2   01-15     Day 2: 2   03-08   Total:   4  05-07
29. Kyle Johnson - Jared Johnson                 Black Swamp Youth Bass Club           0
  Day 1: 2   02-04     Day 2: 3   03-03   Total:   5  05-07
30. Lucas Sheafer - Steele Smith                 Louisburg middle school               0
  Day 1: 1   01-11     Day 2: 4   03-10   Total:   5  05-05
31. Beau McQuade - Curtis Russler                Jr. Potomac River Bassmasters         0
  Day 1: 2   02-07     Day 2: 2   02-09   Total:   4  05-00
32. Mason Carden - Dawson Bryant                 Columbiana Middle School              0
  Day 1: 0   00-00     Day 2: 5   04-15   Total:   5  04-15
33. Alex Meland - Carter Michalek                Eastern Iowa Jr Bassmasters           0
  Day 1: 0   00-00     Day 2: 5   04-14   Total:   5  04-14
34. Judd Byrd - Samuel Nicholas                  Oak Grove                             0
  Day 1: 2   02-09     Day 2: 2   02-05   Total:   4  04-14
35. Joey Elliott - Aiden Pihaylic                Anchor Bay                            0
  Day 1: 4   04-12     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   4  04-12
36. Ian Reed - Mason Everts                      Hartleys Hawgs                        0
  Day 1: 2   02-05     Day 2: 2   02-01   Total:   4  04-06
37. Bryce Cast - Ayden Cast                      St. Louis Area Bassmasters            0
  Day 1: 2   02-12     Day 2: 1   01-09   Total:   3  04-05
38. Ridge Faircloth - Jake Burns                 Liberty County High School            0
  Day 1: 2   02-10     Day 2: 1   01-06   Total:   3  04-00
39. Chan Cawthon - Troy Harper                   Indian Creek                          0
  Day 1: 1   01-00     Day 2: 3   02-12   Total:   4  03-12
40. Luke Ankrom -                                Williamstown                          0
  Day 1: 1   01-08     Day 2: 2   02-01   Total:   3  03-09
41. Connor Young - Brent Christopher             Boyle County Rebels                   0
  Day 1: 1   03-04     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   1  03-04
42. Jarren Crowder - Elijah Ambrose              Jr. Potomac River Bassmasters         0
  Day 1: 2   02-02     Day 2: 1   00-15   Total:   3  03-01
43. Ryder Milam - Colton Milam                   Mecklenburg County                    0
  Day 1: 1   01-01     Day 2: 2   01-14   Total:   3  02-15
44. Jack Varnado - Hunter Robertson              Jr. Southwest Bassmasters of Den      0
  Day 1: 3   02-13     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   3  02-13
45. Landon Gabby - Easton Hillard                Southern Illinois Future Anglers      0
  Day 1: 1   01-02     Day 2: 1   01-11   Total:   2  02-13
46. Andrew Terry - Greer Gammon                  Dickson County High School            0
  Day 1: 2   02-11     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   2  02-11
47. Eli Walker - Gage Jones                      Bluestone Middle School               0
  Day 1: 2   02-04     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   2  02-04
48. Carter Pjesky - Hayden Host                  Off the Hook Bassmasters              0
  Day 1: 4   03-06     Day 2: 0   -02-00   Total:   4  01-06
49. Elijah Bryant - Blake Conrad                 East Jessamine Middle School          0
  Day 1: 1   01-06     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   1  01-06
50. Nicholas Gatchis Conca - Hudson Subach       Jr. Denver Bassmasters                0
  Day 1: 0   00-00     Day 2: 1   01-03   Total:   1  01-03
51. Harrison Betker - Ryder Rousseau             Osseo                                 0
  Day 1: 3   01-01     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   3  01-01
52. Kade Sturgill - Wyatt Trexler                Rowan County Youth Anglers            0
  Day 1: 1   01-00     Day 2: 1   00-00   Total:   2  01-00
53. Zack Brose - Noah Goedjen                    Heritage Christian Academy            0
  Day 1: 1   01-00     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   1  01-00
53. Joseph Horne - Jacob Butcher                 Arkansas Youth Anglers                0
  Day 1: 1   01-00     Day 2: 0   00-00   Total:   1  01-00
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Totals
Day   #Limits    #Fish      Weight
 1        11       150       177-13
 2         9       128       143-13
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          20       278       321-10