PARIS, Tenn. — The team of Trevor McKinney and Dailus Richardson from Benton, Ill., took the top spot on Days 1 and 2 at the Bassmaster High School Championship on Kentucky Lake. After weighing the Mud Hole Heavyweight bag on the first day of competition (20-14), they backed it up with a strong 16 pounds, 3 ounces today. These Illinois anglers used standard baits for fishing ledge lakes, but their approach was different than the norm. They targeted bridge pilings just outside of Paris Landing with 10-inch worms and jigs.
“Early in the morning was really slow compared to later in the afternoon,” Richardson said. “Usually after our halftime break things would pick up.”
The 15-minute halftime breaks are mandatory in high school events and many teams use that break to eat and make a game plan for what to do next. On Day 1, the halftime break was crucial to McKinney and Richardson’s big day and figuring out a good pattern.
“On Day 1 (during the break), we completely changed what we were doing,” Richardson said.
Day 2 needed less strategizing because they stayed around their bridge pilings all day and never left the area. Even though they are ahead of the second-place team by more than 5 pounds, they can't use weight that for tomorrow. The weights have reset, and now the final 30 boats are back at square one as they head to Carroll County Recreation Lake for Days 3 and 4 of competition. The second place team of Connor Farrington and Cameron Sterritt from Exeter High School in New Hampshire went shallow and cashed in on the big bites close to the bank. Farrington and Sterritt, like the leaders, caught their fish on a 10-inch worm and a jig.
“We started fishing shallow and got our limit, and then we went out to the points to try and get some big fish,” Sterritt said.
On the first day of competition Farrington and Sterritt fished their strengths, and it paid off as they boated two fish weighing more than 4 pounds.
“(Fish catches) were spread out,” Farrington said. “We never caught fish back to back. It was usually a good amount of time in between fish.”
Carroll County Recreational Lake provides some challenges for anglers as they will fish a completely different fishery than what they’ve been on the past two days. Fishing should still be just good as the size limit is only 12 inches at Carroll County compared to the 15-inch measurements at Kentucky.
Kentucky Lake showed its tough side as only 10 teams brought a five fish limit to the scales on Day 2, compared to 18 on the first day of competition. Ryan Wood and Adam Deakin weighed in only four fish today, but their 11 pounds, 2 ounce bag was enough to keep them in the Top 3. Their two-day total weight was 31 pounds, 10 ounces. The team of Jake Lee and Jacob Mashburn from Clinton, Tenn. brought 11 pounds to the scales, and they will launch in the fourth slot tomorrow. A big jump of the day was from the team of Rashaad Goodson and Steven Younginer who went from 19th into the Top 5. The South Carolina team weighed in 16 pounds, 2 ounces.
The Carhartt Big Bass of the day — a 7-2 — was caught by Brady McCoy and Jace Smith of Mississippi Coulee.
Bassmaster High School Championship
7/16/2014 - 7/19/2014
Kentucky Lake - Paris Landing State Park - Paris, TN
STANDINGS BOATER DAY 2
Today's Activity Accumulative
Name # Fish # Live Lbs - Oz # Fish # Live Lbs - Oz
1 Dailus Richardson - Trevor McKinney Benton High School - IL 5 5 16- 3 10 10 37- 1
2 Connor Farrington - Cameron Sterritt Exeter High School - NH 5 5 13- 8 10 10 31-14
3 Ryan Wood - Adam Deakin Front Range Bass Club - CO 4 4 11- 2 9 9 31-10
4 Jake Lee - Jacob Mashburn Clinton High School - TN 5 5 11- 0 10 10 29-11
5 Rashaad Goodson - Steven Younginer South Florence High School - SC 5 5 16- 2 10 10 27- 6
6 Dillon King - Kody Kelly Livingston Parish Bass Masters - LA 5 5 13- 0 10 10 27- 3
7 Zeke Gossett - Hayden Bartee Pell City High School - AL 5 5 13-15 10 9 27- 3
8 Jordan Plank - Cully Scroggins Pacific Bass Anglers - WA 5 5 15-14 8 8 24- 3
9 Michael Nutter - Evan Charles LaPlata Bass Warriors - MD 4 4 8-13 9 9 23-10
10 Christopher Chandler - Gabe Jones South Beauregard High - LA 5 5 15- 0 7 7 22-11
11 Bryce Soske - Kaleb Lenhert Park Hill South Elite Anglers - MO 3 3 12-15 6 6 22- 3
12 Keegan Findley - Hunter Scharphorn Grand Haven High School - MI 5 5 16- 4 6 6 21- 3
13 Brady McCoy - Jace Smith Mississippi Coulee - WI 5 4 20-10 5 4 20-10
14 James Graves - Brandon Strayer Madison County Anglers - VA 3 3 6-14 8 7 20- 8
15 Adrian Stafford - Matt Miller Btown Bassers - IN 4 4 8-12 8 8 20- 5
16 Noah Winslow - Doug Marino Nonnewaug HS - CT 4 3 10-14 7 6 19-12
17 Shawn Diffenderfer - Dylan Pawling Susquehanna Valley PA 3 3 7-12 7 7 19- 5
18 Julian Sosa Carver - Jacob Monroe Mesilla Valley Bass Anglers - NM 3 3 5-15 8 8 19- 3
19 Alex Rigg - Wyatt Armstrong Mesilla Valley Bass Anglers - NM 3 3 6-11 8 8 19- 1
20 Alex Torkleson - William Valdez Cascia Hall High School - OK 3 3 5-15 8 7 18- 6
21 Blake Albertson - Evan Wheeler B town Bassers - IN 2 2 4-15 7 7 17-13
22 Noah Pescitelli - Thomas Zaczek Mill Creek High School - GA 1 1 2- 5 6 5 17- 9
23 Christian Chavez - Ethan James Howard Clayton High School - NC 3 3 6-10 8 8 17- 6
24 Corey Skaggs - Tyler Bohannon Jefferson Co High Bass Club - KY 4 4 8-11 7 7 17- 5
25 Garrett Enders - Nick Osman Susquehanna Valley 3 3 12-13 5 5 16-13
26 Alex Goff - Will Sigmon Herbert Hoover - WV 3 3 7- 7 8 8 16- 3
27 Tyler Dunn - Matthew Shrewsbury Beddingfield Bassers - NC 3 2 12- 5 4 3 14- 4
28 Grant Ehlenfeldt - Charles L'Allier New Richmond High School - WI 1 1 1-10 6 6 13- 7
29 Kyle Tomlinson - Brad Cook Marion County High School - FL 0 0 0- 0 5 5 13- 5
30 Matt Brown - Jeremy Elliott Corbin High School - KY 2 2 7- 7 4 4 13- 3
31 Tucker Smith - Carter McNeil Abbeville High School - SC 4 4 10- 2 5 5 12- 6
32 Ryan Shields - Austin Hale Hazel Green High School - AL 4 4 8- 6 6 6 12- 5
33 Alex Williamson - Joe Curtis Windham Christian Acedemy Bassmasters - 3 3 4-10 6 6 12- 1
34 Trace Bludworth - Jack Garner Douglas Indians - TX 0 0 0- 0 3 3 11-14
35 Warren Basinger - Dalton Baker Magnolia High School - AR 3 3 10- 0 4 4 11-11
36 Josh Villa - Bailey Smith Windsor High School - CO 2 2 3- 8 5 5 11- 0
37 Kyle Mach - Joseph Bruener Douglas Indians - TX 3 3 8- 9 4 4 10-15
38 Chandler Cornelius - Hunter Adrian George Jenkins High School - FL 3 3 6- 4 5 5 10- 1
39 Allex Conner - Jeremy Reese Central Ohio School Bass Club - OH 2 2 3- 7 5 5 8-15
40 Kenny Christ - Michael Arndt New York HS Club - NY 1 1 4- 1 3 3 8-12
41 Colin Casey - Vasilios Pozios Chippewa Valley High School - MI 1 1 3-11 3 3 8- 8
42 Remington Wagner - Nick Luna Kick Back High School Club - KS 2 2 4- 0 3 3 8- 4
43 Micah McKinstry - Joshua Miller East Iowa High School club - IA 0 0 0- 0 4 4 7-12
44 Zach Gromberg - Connor Wendt St Cloud High School - MN 2 2 3- 8 4 3 7-12
45 Riley Bunge - Trent Hanks Eastern Iowa High School - IA 2 2 7-10 2 2 7-10
46 Mathew Hasenfratz - Trevor Owens Ponca City Bass - OK 2 2 5- 4 3 3 7- 9
47 Dayten Schureman - Calvin Neff Rogers High School Bass Club - AR 1 1 2- 8 3 3 6-15
48 Kris Jordan - Austin Owens Pacific Bass Anglers - WA 0 0 0- 0 3 3 6- 2
49 Brandon Laird-Fletcher - Nathan Cummings Arizona HS Bass Nation - AZ 0 0 0- 0 1 1 5- 9
50 John Burkley - Hunter Armstrong Wheeling Park High School - WV 0 0 0- 0 3 3 5- 8
51 Michael Toohey - Luke Clair Fairfield Prep - CT 1 1 2- 2 2 2 4- 2
52 Kyle Palmer - Kyle Ingleburger GCHS - TN 2 2 3-15 2 2 3-15
53 Tyler Eagan - Jason Thompson Lees Summit West High School - MO 1 1 1- 6 2 2 3- 1
54 Adam Hutmacher - Zach Kenobbie Chamberlain - SD 0 0 0- 0 1 1 2- 7
55 Sean Cook - Arthur Dick Joliet Central High School - IL 0 0 0- 0 1 1 2- 5
56 Cody Symonds - Wyatt Stockman Prospect Mountain - NH 0 0 0- 0 1 1 1-11
57 Jacob Cerretto - Jacob Schandler New York HS Club - NY 1 1 1- 9 1 1 1- 9
58 Kamil Jaskolski - Max McQuiade MA High School - MA 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
58 Trevor Mobley - Blake Hunter Alexander High School - GA 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
58 Steve Reeves - Hunter French Buhler High School - KS 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
BIG BASS TOTALS
Day Name City,State Lbs-Oz Day # Fish # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits
1 Trace Bludworth Douglass, TX 7- 5 1 163 158 445- 1 18
2 Brady McCoy LaCrosse, WI 7- 2 2 146 143 395-14 10