CLINTON, Ill. — Dailus Richardson and Trevor McKinney of Benton High School win the Bassmaster High School Midwestern Open tournament on Clinton Lake with 16 pounds, 9 ounces. The Illinois teammates took the title in their home state by a slim 7-ounce margin over Cole Miles and Dillan White of the Southside Anglers Club. The winners used a two-pronged approach to overcome windy conditions on Clinton Lake and vault to the top of the 63-team field.
“Right now is a really tough time to catch fish on Clinton,” McKinney said. “There is a hot portion of the lake and then a cooler area, so the fish are doing so many different things. Having knowledge of this fishery really helps.”
The teammates showed their versatility by fishing out of their comfort zone and deeper than they normally like to. A key bait for the one-day tournament was a custom shaky head created by Richardson paired with a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm. McKinney also boated his fish on a Zoom 10 1/2-inch Ol' Monster Worm. Patience was a big factor as fishing in the early morning was slow, which the pair blamed on a dozen other teams fishing near their starting spot.
“We weren’t thrilled when there were a lot of boats to start the morning, but we figured most would leave after an hour so,” McKinney said. “After most left, we were able to hit the key spot we wanted. We caught a 3-pounder, and Dailus boated the 5-5 that anchored our weight.”
Weather conditions were a challenge, with partly cloudy skies and sustained winds in the teens and gusts up to 20 mph. Those windy conditions helped keep the pressure of tournament anglers from effecting Richardson and McKinney’s area because it was hard to stay on the main lake all day. At the halfway point in their day, they only had three keeper bass and knew they needed to change their strategy. The Benton anglers moved to shallower water, where they caught two more bass and filled their limit.
“We caught a couple (of bigger) fish shallow in practice, so we had confidence to do that today,” Richardson said. “After fishing shallow we went deep to finish the day, and we caught another 5-pounder before we came in.”
The Benton High School seniors were recently named to the prestigious Bassmaster High School All-American Fishing Team. They will attend this week’s Bassmaster BASSFest on Lake Texoma, Oklahoma, where they will fish with Elite Series pros in their own competition. The teammates have committed to fish for McKendree University on scholarship. In addition to the trophies for winning the Midwestern Open, they each received $2,500 per year in additional scholarship funds from McKendree University. Dayten Schureman and Chance Fears of Rogers High School Bass Club took home the Big Bass Award for their 5-10 largemouth. The Top 6 teams from the Midwestern Open punched their ticket to the Costa Bassmaster High School Championship later this summer on Kentucky Lake pending any double qualifications that may arise.
STANDINGS BOATER DAY 1
Clinton Lake - Clinton Lake Marina - Clinton, IL
6/5/2016 - 6/5/2016
Bassmaster High School Series Midwestern
Today's Activity
# Fish Lbs - Oz
Accumulative
Name # Live # Fish # Live Lbs - Oz
1 Dailus Richardson - Trevor McKinney Benton High School 5 5 16- 9 5 5 16- 9
2 Cole Miles - Dillan White Southside Anglers 5 5 16- 2 5 5 16- 2
3 Zack Bauer - Levi McKinney Martinsville High School 5 5 14- 9 5 5 14- 9
4 Blake Albertson - Dylan Cobb Southside Anglers 5 5 13-15 5 5 13-15
5 Jonathon Wilburn - Connor Jones Guntersville High School 5 5 11-15 5 5 11-15
6 Jordan Mullis - Adam Puckett Southside Anglers 5 4 11- 4 5 4 11- 4
7 Griffin Fernandes - Joe Keller Southeastern Bass Anglers 5 5 10-12 5 5 10-12
8 Hunter Litchfield - Lawson John Macomb High School 5 5 10- 6 5 5 10- 6
9 Anthony Fazio - Grant Olsen Minooka Anglers Club 4 4 10- 2 4 4 10- 2
10 Ty Coon - Clayton Hill Bismarck Henning 4 4 9-15 4 4 9-15
11 Dylan Poplawski - Dylan DeGrofft Champaign Central HS 5 5 9- 0 5 5 9- 0
12 Tyler Nelson - Tanner Nelson Batavia High School 4 4 8-15 4 4 8-15
13 Bryce Reeves - Jake Wade Clinton High School 5 5 8- 7 5 5 8- 7
14 Jacob Doster - Zachary Petersen Minooka Anglers Club 2 2 7- 3 2 2 7- 3
15 Zach Hingson - Kirk Herschberger Arthur Levington Atwood Hammond HS 4 4 6- 4 4 4 6- 4
15 Connor Nimrod - Desoto Bass Team 4 4 6- 4 4 4 6- 4
17 Sam Medo - Chase Miller Stevens Point Bass 4 4 6- 1 4 4 6- 1
18 Michael Hannon - Nolan Feeney Angler Advantage 4 3 6- 1 4 3 6- 1
19 Carter Ball - Mitchell Conard Noblesville High School 3 3 6- 1 3 3 6- 1
20 Dayten Schureman - Chance Fears Rogers High School Bass Club 1 1 5-10 1 1 5-10
21 AJ Wojtowicz - Brent Beckwith Minooka Anglers Club 5 5 5- 7 5 5 5- 7
22 Austin Strawmyer - Trevor Humphrey Westfield HS Fishing Club 3 3 5- 0 3 3 5- 0
23 Paige Wendt - Tanner Falk Maroa-Forsyth High School 2 2 4-15 2 2 4-15
24 Austin Carr - Justin Carr Bloomington High School 2 2 4-14 2 2 4-14
25 Keegan Findley - Bailey House Grand Haven High School 2 2 4-13 2 2 4-13
26 Michael Bobich - Jack Blomquist Plainfield South Bass Fishing Team 3 3 4-11 3 3 4-11
27 Jacob Bigelow - Karson Rades Shawano Bass Assassins 3 3 4-10 3 3 4-10
28 Riley Carr - Marse Visnevac Plainfield South Bass Fishing Team 3 3 4- 5 3 3 4- 5
29 Sam Toppen - Andrew Lamore Manteno Bass Team 2 2 4- 4 2 2 4- 4
30 Gage White - Drake Sundstrom Harlem Huskies Bass Club 2 2 4- 1 2 2 4- 1
31 Douglas Guidorzi - William Curtright Summit Falcons Fishing Club 2 2 4- 0 2 2 4- 0
32 Riley Miner - Luke Residori GSW High School 3 3 3-14 3 3 3-14
33 Jay Pzekurat - Wyatt Szymanski Stevens Point Bass 3 3 3-13 3 3 3-13
34 Cole Zagrzebski - Jesse Pliska Stevens Point Bass 2 2 3- 9 2 2 3- 9
35 Trey Wells - Cesar Alvarez Champaign Central HS 1 1 3- 5 1 1 3- 5
36 Tanner Dunville - Nathan Shuey Fighting Irish 2 2 3- 1 2 2 3- 1
37 Cameron Cokley - Jack Brown Rocket Bassmasters 2 2 3- 0 2 2 3- 0
38 Steven Callahan - Daniel Lin Marmion Academy 2 2 2-15 2 2 2-15
39 Carter Williams - Cameron Scarbrough Grand Haven High School 1 1 2-15 1 1 2-15
40 Jon Hoekstra - Gary Langkamp Angler Advantage 2 2 2-11 2 2 2-11
41 Zack Helland - Jarid Tomnitz Angler Advantage 1 1 2- 4 1 1 2- 4
42 Alec Berens - Glenn Banaszak Minooka Anglers Club 2 2 2- 1 2 2 2- 1
43 Austin Day - Luke Hanouw Minooka Anglers Club 1 1 1-14 1 1 1-14
44 Ryan Park - CJ Hemker Plainfield South Bass Fishing Team 1 1 1-13 1 1 1-13
45 Janette Comstock - Adam Hingson Arthur Levington Atwood Hammond HS 1 1 1- 9 1 1 1- 9
45 Blake Osborne - Alex Jiminez Marion High School 1 1 1- 9 1 1 1- 9
47 Will May - John Ladd Herrin HS Fishing Tigers 1 1 1- 8 1 1 1- 8
48 Josh Kasalko - Tim Pattenaude Manteno Bass Team 1 1 1- 7 1 1 1- 7
49 Raven Pointer - Mitchell DeGraaf Minooka Anglers Club 1 1 1- 6 1 1 1- 6
50 Solomon Glenn - Nehemiah Glenn Lakeville High School 1 1 1- 5 1 1 1- 5
51 Caleb Peck - Colton Romine Arthur Levington Atwood Hammond HS 1 1 1- 2 1 1 1- 2
52 Alex Ellerbrock - Noah Clark Midwest Elite Anglers 1 1 0-15 1 1 0-15
53 Sean Cook - Nathan Ballard Joliet Central High School 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 Carson Elkins - Trevor Hodge Reel Deal Lunker Legends Comm Club 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 Derek Fortune - Chandler Luedke Westfield HS Fishing Club 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 Devin Jarmasek - Benjamin Komes Midwest Elite Anglers 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 Blake Jones - Ethan Jones McGivney Bass Club 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 Calvin Lang - Elijah Joiner Guntersville High School 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 Salvatore Milazzo - Nick Martens 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 Carl Parks - Kyle Curtis Rocket Bassmasters 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 Seth Ryder - Nathan Podein Grand Haven High School 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 Rob Schmidt - Clayton Cokley Rocket Bassmasters 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
53 John VanDevender - Mitch Plonka Benet Academy 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
Name City,State Lbs-Oz
BIG BASS
Day
1 Dayten Schureman - Chance Fears Rogers, AR 5-10
Day # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits
TOTALS
# Fish
1 144 142 294- 7 11