Trevor McKinney and Blake Jackson of McKendree University have won the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Wild Card presented by Bass Pro Shops at Lay Lake with a two-day total of 30 pounds, 2 ounces.
Photo by Emily Hand/B.A.S.S.

June 24, 2021

SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. — Between school, work and other obligations, the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Wild Card presented by Bass Pro Shops at Lay Lake was the only chance for Blake Jackson and Trevor McKinney from McKendree University to qualify for the National Championship.

Thanks to a 14-pound, 7-ounce bag of mostly spotted bass on the final day, they increased their two-day total to 30-2 to take home the victory and do just that. To make it even more special, it happened on the same lake where the anglers squared off against each other in the final round of the College Classic Bracket last season, with McKinney winning and advancing to the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk.

“I was telling Blake, ‘Man, we ought to move down here.’ Every time we come we catch a bunch of fish and catch big ones,” McKinney said onstage with tournament director Hank Weldon.

“This is what we’ve fished for the last four years,” McKinney continued offstage. “We’ve had a good college career, but we had never won a Bassmaster event. This was our last chance and we really wanted to win. It makes it sweet being our last event.”

With this tournament win under their belts, Jackson said Lay Lake will hold a special place in his mind and, for this tournament in particular, the best part was fishing with McKinney and not against him.

“The best part about this week, we were catching fish on the same bait for the most part (that we used) during the bracket against each other,” Jackson said. “We combined forces this week and were catching them on the same exact bait we were throwing then. It was really neat.”

The Dallas Baptist University duo of Michael Postlewait and Andrew Rickman had the biggest bag of the tournament on Day 2 with 18-6 to climb from 23rd to second place with a two-day total of 29-6. Day 1 leaders Weston Hollar and Wesley Gore from the University of Montevallo finished third with 29-2.

After landing in third place on Day 1 with 15-11, McKinney and Jackson started the day on a spot they found with 30 minutes to go the previous day. Using almost exclusively a Rapala DT6 crankbait in chartreuse/brown, the duo took advantage of the early morning bite and strong current in the midlake region.

“We had a couple of current breaks on the main river that we were targeting,” said McKinney, who finished 31st in the Classic earlier this month on Lake Ray Roberts. “We caught them really well this morning and had all of our weight by 8:30. The current by the end of the day was almost nonexistent. When you are fishing for spots, especially on the Coosa River, current is huge, and if you can find them in the current they are easy to catch and the DT6 is the best crankbait in the world to throw at spotted bass in the current.”

Every fish they caught swallowed the bait, Jackson said.

“These spots go nuts to begin with, but every one of them had two treble hooks in them,” he said. “(McKinney) made a comment today while we were out on the water and said, ‘I think we’ve had to use the pliers to get every one of these fish unhooked.’”

With the floodgates throughout the Coosa River open this week due to heavy rains from Tropical Storm Claudette that passed through over the weekend, McKinney and Jackson were able to find several places loaded with spotted bass. Jackson added that hard bottom was the key to finding the specific areas the spots related to.

Now that they are qualified for the Bassmaster College Series National Championship, which is scheduled for Aug. 12-14 on the St. Lawrence River, Jackson and McKinney have their sights set on a top finish and making their way back to the College Classic Bracket.

“We are going to go up there and hopefully qualify for the Bracket again,” McKinney said. “The Bracket was an experience that everyone should have. It is awesome what they do to give one college angler a shot to fish the Bassmaster Classic. To think we are going to have a shot to make the Bracket at the championship feels really great.”

After catching 11-0 on Day 1 fishing points on the south end of the lake, Postlewait and Rickman ran up the river and landed on a current break that was loaded with big spotted bass.

“We basically scrapped everything we did yesterday,” Rickman said. “The first day of practice we were fishing the dam, and he caught a 4.89 spotted bass. So, we got up there today and they cut the current off a little bit and we had four in the first 20 minutes and five in the first 40 minutes, and we kept culling throughout the day.”

With only minutes left to fish, Rickman cast his crankbait into the current and caught about a 3 1/2-pound spot. Deeper-diving crankbaits were the key for the Dallas Baptist duo in the current under the dam.

“We were sitting in a little eddy, just enough to where we could hold there, and we were bombing 5XDs and 6XDs, whatever we didn’t snap off, into the current,” Postlewait said. “We had to weed through the striper. We caught 30 stripers today, and every once in a while, it would be a 3-pound spot.”

They also added a 5-pound largemouth flipping while giving their primary area a rest.

The lack of current on Lay Lake on Day 2 hurt Hollar and Gore, who caught 11-8 on the final day to finish in third. The Montevallo duo used a Spro Poppin’ Frog most of the week as well as a flipping bait.

“I guess the home-lake curse kind of got us today. We never got a big bite today,” Gore said. “It just wasn’t meant to be.”

While the bigger creeks on Lay Lake were under pressure, Hollar and Gore focused on shorter pockets off the main lake with a feeder creek that was pushing out water from the heavy rains that moved through over the weekend.

“They slacked the water off so much today that it repositioned the fish we were catching,” Gore said. “The fish we were catching were in the backs of bays. Most of the bays you went in that had a main feeder creek were stacked up. Today when we got down there, all the bays were really stagnant.”

Matthew Cummings and Joseph Woods from Bethel University earned Carhartt Big Bass of the Tournament honors with a 7-4 largemouth they caught on Day 1. The Top 10 teams from this event punched their tickets to the National Championship.

2021 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Wild Card presented by Bass Pro Shops 6/23-6/24
Lay Lake, Columbiana AL.
(BOATER) Standings Day 2

Angler Club/School Pts

1. Trevor McKinney – Blake Jackson McKendree University 250
Day 1: 5 15-11 Day 2: 5 14-07 Total: 10 30-02
2. Michael Postlewait – Andrew Rickman Dallas Baptist University 249
Day 1: 5 11-00 Day 2: 5 18-06 Total: 10 29-06
3. Weston Hollar – Wesley Gore University of Montevallo 248
Day 1: 5 17-10 Day 2: 5 11-08 Total: 10 29-02
4. Kayden Tanner – Trevor Easter Tarleton State University 247
Day 1: 5 15-05 Day 2: 5 13-05 Total: 10 28-10
5. Tripp Bowman – Blakely Young Louisiana State University-Shrev 246
Day 1: 5 11-15 Day 2: 5 16-09 Total: 10 28-08
6. Lane Bailey – Justin Eggers CVCC RedHawks 245
Day 1: 5 14-12 Day 2: 5 13-04 Total: 10 28-00
7. James Willoughby – Chance Schwartz University of Montevallo 244
Day 1: 5 11-08 Day 2: 5 16-00 Total: 10 27-08
8. Aaron Cherry – Chandler Holt University of Montevallo 243
Day 1: 5 16-14 Day 2: 5 10-01 Total: 10 26-15
9. Grayson Morris – Cal Culpepper University of Montevalllo 242
Day 1: 5 11-15 Day 2: 5 14-03 Total: 10 26-02
10. Cordell Beckman – Greenville University 241
Day 1: 5 11-15 Day 2: 5 13-13 Total: 10 25-12
11. Hunter Bailey – JR Young Jacksonville State University 240
Day 1: 5 09-14 Day 2: 5 15-09 Total: 10 25-07
12. Grant Lesage – Zach Davis Southeastern Louisiana Universit 239
Day 1: 5 13-12 Day 2: 5 11-10 Total: 10 25-06
13. Jake Kimbrough – Grant Busby Blue Mountain College 238
Day 1: 5 14-07 Day 2: 5 10-11 Total: 10 25-02
14. Chase Hubble – Brent May 237
Day 1: 5 12-04 Day 2: 5 12-04 Total: 10 24-08
15. Conner Dimauro – Justin Botts bryan college 236
Day 1: 5 09-06 Day 2: 5 14-13 Total: 10 24-03
16. Walker Brown – Jd Bedford University of North Alabama 235
Day 1: 5 11-09 Day 2: 5 12-04 Total: 10 23-13
17. Hunter Bond – GL Compton Clemson University 234
Day 1: 5 09-02 Day 2: 5 14-08 Total: 10 23-10
18. Tyler Pendergrass – University of North Alabama 233
Day 1: 5 12-03 Day 2: 5 11-05 Total: 10 23-08
19. De Andre Allen – Luke Glasgow Itawamba Community College 232
Day 1: 5 08-14 Day 2: 5 13-15 Total: 10 22-13
20. Matthew Benson – Nathanael Wright Emmanuel College 231
Day 1: 5 08-00 Day 2: 5 14-09 Total: 10 22-09
21. Preston Kendrick – Eli Stevenson Bryan College 230
Day 1: 5 11-08 Day 2: 5 10-15 Total: 10 22-07
22. Drew Jennings – Cody Griffith Auburn University 229
Day 1: 5 07-10 Day 2: 5 14-08 Total: 10 22-02
23. Matthew Cummings – Joseph Woods Bethel University 228
Day 1: 5 14-14 Day 2: 5 07-01 Total: 10 21-15
24. Connor Hicks – Parker Kaye University of Tennessee 227
Day 1: 5 11-13 Day 2: 5 09-13 Total: 10 21-10
25. Dale Hansard – Mason Lee Jacksonville State University 226
Day 1: 5 14-02 Day 2: 5 07-06 Total: 10 21-08
26. Dawson Andrews – Wyatt Ensminger Southeastern Louisiana Universit 225
Day 1: 5 08-02 Day 2: 5 13-03 Total: 10 21-05
27. TJ McKenzie – Emmanuel College 224
Day 1: 5 12-10 Day 2: 5 08-10 Total: 10 21-04
28. Collin Reyes – Reagan Nelson Tarleton State University 223
Day 1: 5 11-06 Day 2: 5 09-08 Total: 10 20-14
29. Aaron Hawkins – Broxson Daigle Texas A and M University 222
Day 1: 5 09-15 Day 2: 5 10-15 Total: 10 20-14
30. Cole Thompson – Walker Sahagun University of North Alabama 221
Day 1: 5 10-10 Day 2: 5 10-03 Total: 10 20-13
31. Caz Anderson – Storm Cline Carson-Newman University 220
Day 1: 5 09-12 Day 2: 5 10-08 Total: 10 20-04
32. Matt Short – Colton Combs Eastern Kentucky University 219
Day 1: 5 10-09 Day 2: 5 09-10 Total: 10 20-03
33. Landon Lawson – Donavan Carson King University 218
Day 1: 5 12-09 Day 2: 5 07-07 Total: 10 20-00
34. Cole Dodson – Trent Jones University of Montevallo 217
Day 1: 5 08-13 Day 2: 5 11-03 Total: 10 20-00
35. Reece Martin – Hunter Jenkins Dallas Baptist University 216
Day 1: 5 08-05 Day 2: 5 11-09 Total: 10 19-14
36. Sam Hanggi – Matthew Welcher Auburn University 215
Day 1: 4 08-14 Day 2: 5 10-13 Total: 9 19-11
37. Salvador Garcia – Reese Jones Northwest Arkansas Community Col 214
Day 1: 5 06-09 Day 2: 5 13-00 Total: 10 19-09
38. Jordan Pennington – Tyler Cain University of Montevallo 213
Day 1: 5 08-03 Day 2: 5 11-06 Total: 10 19-09
39. K.D. Sizemore – Ethan Gilmore Auburn University 212
Day 1: 5 09-15 Day 2: 5 09-10 Total: 10 19-09
40. Chase Milholen – Levi Mullins Bethel University 211
Day 1: 5 06-07 Day 2: 5 13-00 Total: 10 19-07
41. Austin Goins – Elijah Kirk Bryan college 210
Day 1: 5 08-11 Day 2: 5 10-12 Total: 10 19-07
42. Grant Harris – Jacob Welch Drury University 209
Day 1: 5 08-13 Day 2: 5 09-12 Total: 10 18-09
43. Nate Triplett – Cody Barnes University of North Alabama 208
Day 1: 5 08-04 Day 2: 5 10-01 Total: 10 18-05
44. Syon Barnes – Hayden Bartee Jacksonville State University 207
Day 1: 5 06-07 Day 2: 5 11-12 Total: 10 18-03
45. Elliot Torode – Tyler Cory University of Montevallo 206
Day 1: 5 08-15 Day 2: 5 09-02 Total: 10 18-01
46. David Ackerman – 205
Day 1: 5 09-05 Day 2: 5 08-11 Total: 10 18-00
47. Bradley Martin – Kopeland Rosser University of Montevallo 204
Day 1: 3 05-15 Day 2: 5 11-08 Total: 8 17-07
48. Hunter MCClaskey – Nicholas Gilbert King University 203
Day 1: 5 08-10 Day 2: 5 08-10 Total: 10 17-04
49. Clay Tresler – Carter Carlton Northwest Arkansas Community Col 202
Day 1: 5 09-05 Day 2: 5 07-14 Total: 10 17-03
50. Jacob Butts – Garrett Smith Erskine College 201
Day 1: 5 07-05 Day 2: 5 09-12 Total: 10 17-01
51. Caleb Sheldon – Hayden Fuhr Lander University 200
Day 1: 5 07-06 Day 2: 5 09-11 Total: 10 17-01
52. Clent Blackwood – Bryar Chambers Wallace State 199
Day 1: 2 03-10 Day 2: 5 13-01 Total: 7 16-11
53. Adam Carroll – Trey Dickert University of Montevallo 198
Day 1: 5 08-02 Day 2: 5 08-09 Total: 10 16-11
54. Michael Chism – Mason Westerman Southest Missouri State Universi 197
Day 1: 5 06-03 Day 2: 5 10-07 Total: 10 16-10
55. Dax Ewart – Wilson Smith Bethel University 196
Day 1: 5 10-01 Day 2: 5 06-08 Total: 10 16-09
56. Adam Hollingsworth – Matthew German 195
Day 1: 2 03-11 Day 2: 5 12-08 Total: 7 16-03
57. Corey Yaden – Blake Stephenson Brewton Parker college 194
Day 1: 5 07-00 Day 2: 5 09-02 Total: 10 16-02
58. Zack Barrera – Bryson Osteen 193
Day 1: 5 10-00 Day 2: 5 05-15 Total: 10 15-15
59. Tanner Barclay – Lloyd Laconsay 192
Day 1: 5 09-08 Day 2: 4 06-07 Total: 9 15-15
60. Jake Thornbury – Wil Rigdon Campbellsville University 191
Day 1: 5 08-01 Day 2: 5 07-13 Total: 10 15-14
61. Jarred Jones – Logan Tate Jacksonville State University 190
Day 1: 5 08-01 Day 2: 5 07-11 Total: 10 15-12
62. Anthony Cicero Iv – Cy Lambert Bethel 189
Day 1: 5 07-12 Day 2: 5 07-14 Total: 10 15-10
63. Brayden Nichols – Kenneth Cheramie Louisiana State University Shrev 188
Day 1: 5 08-09 Day 2: 5 07-00 Total: 10 15-09
64. Parker Wilburn – Tristen Dubbs 187
Day 1: 5 07-06 Day 2: 5 08-00 Total: 10 15-06
65. Noah Campbell – Troy Harris GEORGIA COLLEGE 186
Day 1: 5 09-14 Day 2: 3 05-06 Total: 8 15-04
66. Blake Milligan – Chase Mundhenke Auburn University 185
Day 1: 5 08-05 Day 2: 5 06-11 Total: 10 15-00
67. Marshall Wiggins – University of Central Florida 184
Day 1: 5 09-05 Day 2: 4 05-10 Total: 9 14-15
68. Ethan Shaw – Tyler Price Bryan College 183
Day 1: 5 08-14 Day 2: 5 06-00 Total: 10 14-14
69. Conner Johnson – Hunter Osborne Georgetown college 182
Day 1: 5 07-14 Day 2: 5 06-12 Total: 10 14-10
70. Shane Nelson – Brayden Federer Adrian College 181
Day 1: 4 06-01 Day 2: 5 08-08 Total: 9 14-09
71. Conner Crosby – James Cobbs Auburn University 180
Day 1: 2 06-12 Day 2: 5 06-12 Total: 7 13-08
72. Thomas Mingle – Stone Payne Univerity of Tennessee 179
Day 1: 4 07-02 Day 2: 5 05-14 Total: 9 13-00
73. Davian Smith – Jackson Pontius University of Montevallo 178
Day 1: 5 12-15 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 5 12-15
74. Dustin Bauer – Cody Cissell Campbellsville University 177
Day 1: 5 07-02 Day 2: 5 05-11 Total: 10 12-13
75. Drake Hemby – Griffin Heffington Carson-Newman University 176
Day 1: 3 05-02 Day 2: 5 07-04 Total: 8 12-06
76. Hunter Haraway – Malcolm Patton Calhoun Community College 175
Day 1: 5 05-13 Day 2: 5 06-03 Total: 10 12-00
77. Luke Byerly – Drew Elrod University of Tennessee Knoxvill 174
Day 1: 5 05-13 Day 2: 5 06-02 Total: 10 11-15
78. Matthew Kahrs – Brandon Comeaux McNeese State University 173
Day 1: 4 05-08 Day 2: 4 06-06 Total: 8 11-14
79. John Murphy – Johnny Richardson Greenville Technical College 172
Day 1: 5 06-10 Day 2: 2 05-01 Total: 7 11-11
80. Noah Coleman – Dalton Johnson Auburn University 171
Day 1: 1 00-13 Day 2: 5 09-15 Total: 6 10-12
81. Thomas Millraney – Zachary Bowen Bethel University 170
Day 1: 5 05-15 Day 2: 3 04-11 Total: 8 10-10
82. Nathan Burdett – Tyler Buchanan Troy University 169
Day 1: 5 07-15 Day 2: 1 02-07 Total: 6 10-06
83. Garrett Walters – 168
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 5 09-10 Total: 5 09-10
84. Tyler Hudson – Evan Mcnaughton Western Kentucky University 167
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 5 09-07 Total: 5 09-07
85. Cody Gregory – Gage Sherrod Bethel University 166
Day 1: 4 03-07 Day 2: 5 05-04 Total: 9 08-11
86. Avery Whitwell – Jackson Holbert University of North Alabama 165
Day 1: 1 01-07 Day 2: 4 06-03 Total: 5 07-10
87. Dustin Bargo – Connor Melton Western Kentucky University 164
Day 1: 4 03-15 Day 2: 2 03-07 Total: 6 07-06
88. Sam Shiver – Phillip Parrish Faulkner University 163
Day 1: 5 06-15 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 5 06-15
89. Drew Traffanstedt – Scott Sledge University of Montevallo 162
Day 1: 5 06-12 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 5 06-12
90. James Hess – Holden Kauble Wabash Valley College 161
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 4 06-12 Total: 4 06-12
91. Noah Boyett – Ty Garlington 160
Day 1: 3 03-03 Day 2: 2 03-01 Total: 5 06-04
92. Jalen Bean – Jacob Douglas SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI COMMUNITY 159
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 3 04-13 Total: 3 04-13
93. Gavin Cloutier – Calvin Rogers King University 158
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 3 04-07 Total: 3 04-07
94. Seth Elkins – John Russell Reaves Jacksonville State University 157
Day 1: 1 01-10 Day 2: 1 01-09 Total: 2 03-03
95. Seth Roberts – Bethel University 156
Day 1: 2 02-14 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 2 02-14
96. Thad Simerly – Tennessee Tech University 155
Day 1: 2 02-09 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 2 02-09
97. Alyssa Taylor – Northwestern State University 154
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 1 02-04 Total: 1 02-04
98. David Froehlich – Abraham Baldwin Ag College 153
Day 1: 1 01-07 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 1 01-07
99. Blake Banks – Wes Wilson University of Georgia 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
99. Sean Clayton – Owen Dimaio Clemson University 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
99. Reed Green – Hunter Enlow 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
99. Carson Maddux – Jake Maddux Auburn University 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
99. Callaway Robinson – Dawson Ricks georgia college and state univer 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00