Bluegrass Junior Anglers Take Bassmaster Junior National Championship

Trey McKinney (right) and Carter Wijangco of the Bluegrass Jr. Bassmasters out of Illinois won the 2018 Bassmaster Junior Championship on Carroll County 1,000 Acre Recreational Lake with a two-day total of 17 pounds, 6 ounces.

Aug. 1, 2018

Bluegrass Junior Anglers Take Bassmaster Junior National Championship

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HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — By the smallest of margins, Trey McKinney and Carter Wijangco of the Bluegrass Jr. Bassmasters outlasted the 54-team field to win the 2018 Bassmaster Junior Championship on Carroll County 1,000 Acre Recreational Lake. Their two-day total of 17 pounds, 6 ounces, gave them a 1-ounce advantage over first-round leaders Jeremy Monda and Will Boyd of Florida.

On what was a tougher day on the Tennessee reservoir, the duo scrounged up a five-bass limit weighing 8 pounds, but that was enough to win the championship title. With water temperatures in the 80s, the offshore bite was the primary pattern for most of the teams, including McKinney and Wijangco.

“We were a bit nervous because the Florida team of Monda and Boyd were the leaders, and we had heard they caught another limit today,” McKinney, 13, said. “It was so nerve-racking on the ‘hot seat.’”

McKinney and Wijangco fished numerous baits this week and throughout practice, but their best lure was a Bizz Baits Dizzy Diamond stickbait rigged on a shaky head jig. They fished it slow on the bottom of numerous offshore spots. They learned from their experience in the 2017 Bassmaster Junior Championship, also held on Carroll County 1,000 Acre Recreational Lake, and used that knowledge to their benefit to win on their second try.

“I finished 27th last year, and Trey finished 13th with a different partner,” Wijangco, 14, said. “We fished offshore with the shaky head yesterday, but today we also used a jig and Carolina rig. Keeping our head up and staying positive was important.”

The team stayed patient as they only had three fish before 11 a.m. each day. In the final two hours, they were able to visit enough spots to find active fish.

“It seemed that most of the field was fishing the same 10 spots offshore, so we went to the vacant areas,” said Rick Cheatem, who served as boat captain for the pair. “Fishing spots by ourselves was important, and I’m proud of how Trey and Carter stayed in the game. In 15 minutes or so, they caught four or five fish and culled to their winning weight.”

After leading Tuesday with a 10-3 catch, Monda and Boyd only managed to catch a small limit weighing 7-2 and fell short of the title.

Representing Florida’s Quincy Junior Bassmasters, the duo concentrated on the mid-depth region of the lake and caught most of their fish with swim jigs, a bait that wasn’t a factor in the practice rounds but paid off when competition began.

“We used drop shots and other baits throughout practice,” Monda said. “We saw a pocket that looked great for a swim jig, so we threw it and caught a bunch of bass, and we kept using that in the tournament.”

Rochester Junior Bassmasters Rein Golubjatnikov and Matthew Pitcher placed third with a two-day total of 16-14. Golubjatnikov finished in the runner-up position in 2017 when he fished solo. This year the New York duo took home more hardware for their third-place finish.

The Big Bass of the tournament was caught by Terrance Wiseman and Isaac Shock of the Southern West Virginia Junior Bassmasters who brought a 7-1 lunker to the weigh-in stage on Day 2. The Big Bass of the tournament also vaulted them from 38th on Day 1 to 4th place overall.

The win netted McKinney and Wijangco $2,000 in scholarship money along with Abu Garcia rods and reels. Second place took home $1,000 in scholarship prizes along with Abu Garcia Veritas rods.

Bassmaster Junior Championship7/31/2018 – 8/1/2018Carroll County 1,000 Acre Recreational Lake – Huntingdon, TNSTANDINGS BOATER DAY 2

Name# Fish# Live Lbs – Oz # Fish # Live Lbs-Oz PTS1 Trey McKinney – Carter Wijangco Bluegrass Jr’s 5 5 8- 0 10 10 17- 6 0.002 Jeremy Monda – Will Boyd Quincy JR Bassmasters 5 5 7- 2 10 9 17- 5 0.003 Rein Golubjatnikov – Matthew Pitcher Rochester Jr Bassmasters 5 5 6-14 10 10 16-14 0.004 Terrance Wiseman – Isaac Shock Southern WV Jr Bassmasters 5 5 11- 4 8 8 15- 6 0.005 Wade Roberts – Blayne Carpenter Jr Southwest Bassmasters 5 5 8- 1 10 10 15- 5 0.006 Camden Kendrick – Ty Elkins DAR Middle School 5 5 7- 4 10 10 14-15 0.007 Mitchell Robinson – Mason Ritts Rebels Jr Fishing Team 5 5 7- 7 10 9 14-12 0.008 Cole Carr – Luke McGuire BassBusters 5 5 6- 5 10 10 14-10 0.009 Alexander Gordon – Bryan Leslie Jr BASS Lightning 5 5 7- 3 10 9 14- 1 0.0010 Vince Nekvinda – Cole Bailey Eastern Iowa Jr Bassmasters 3 3 4- 7 6 6 13-13 0.0011 Shooter Nelson – Seth Ricketts West Carroll Jr High 5 5 6- 2 10 10 13-11 0.0012 Tate Jones – Troy Carter Bassett Jr Anglers 5 5 8- 5 9 9 13- 2 0.0013 Zach Henderson-Jackson Landry JR Southwest Bassmasters-Denham Springs 5 5 8-0 7 7 12-15 0.0014 Cole Moulton – Chance Vantran New Hampshire Jr Bassmasters 4 4 4- 5 9 9 12- 7 0.0015 Cale Carr – Ethan Turner OCHS Jr Anglers 5 5 5-14 10 10 12- 3 0.0016 Nathan Fiant – Braden McNamara Hartley’s Hawgs 5 5 7- 0 9 9 11-15 0.0017 Dugger Tipton – Mathew Sisk Arkansas Youth Anglers 4 4 6- 4 9 8 11-11 0.0018 Will Haynes – Austin Thomas Curry Jr High School 5 5 6-12 10 9 11-10 0.0019 Kolten Goolsby – Morgan Banta Lone Star Jr Bass Masters 5 5 6- 5 10 10 11-10 0.0020 Mason Grose – Caden Grose Southern WV Jr Bassmasters 5 5 5- 7 9 9 11- 9 0.0021 Joshua Borrousch – Conner McClellan Indiana Jr Bassmasters 5 5 5-10 10 10 11- 8 0.0022 Storm Clark – Gunnar Williamson Harris County Jr 5 5 5- 7 10 10 11- 4 0.0023 Tyler Thomas – Lucas Wray Russell County Jr Bass Club 2 2 1-15 7 7 11- 3 0.0024 Chris Luckey – Hayden Hazelgrove Brown County Fishing Club 2 2 3- 5 7 7 11- 1 0.0025 Phillip Herring – Calup Williams Greene County Youth Bassmaster s4 4 4- 8 9 9 10- 8 0.0026 Kollin Crawford – Stoney Holmes Battiest Bass Club 5 5 5- 6 9 9 10- 8 0.0027 Joseph Phegley – Wilson Ravenscroft North Augusta Fishing Team 5 5 6- 2 8 7 10- 5 0.0028 Cody Mundy – Brayden Askey Broaddus HS Fishing 3 3 2-12 8 8 9-15 0.0029 Dallas Taylor – Hayden Thomas Arkansas Youth Anglers 1 0 0-11 6 5 8-15 0.0030 Hunter Alexander – Hayden Hammond Carson HS Bass Team 5 5 5- 0 8 8 8- 9 0.0031 Kaden Abmeyer – Blake Louderbaugh Bison Fishing Team 3 3 3- 9 8 7 8- 7 0.0032 Reece Keeney – Bryce Moder Northeast WI Bass 2 2 1-15 7 6 8- 3 0.0033 Noah Parrish – Dylan Kramer Fighting Fishsticks Jr Club 4 4 4- 3 8 8 8- 1 0.0034 Nicholas Herrman – Kyle Herrman Topeka Jr Hawgs 5 5 4-10 9 9 7-13 0.0035 Aston Meland – Alex Meland Eastern Iowa Jr Bassmasters 2 2 4- 9 5 5 7-13 0.0036 Mitchell Straffon – Henri Sturm Fenton Jr Bass Fishing 1 1 1- 2 6 5 7- 6 0.0037 Carson Forrester – Dylan Barefoot Capital City Jr Bassmasters 4 4 3-13 6 6 7- 4 0.0038 Fisher Cusic – Corbin Cepero Lakeland Junior Bassmasters 1 1 1-12 3 3 7- 3 0.0039 Harrison McCall – Will Webb Salisbury Academy 1 1 0-14 5 5 7- 1 0.0040 Cullen Behen – Gavin Sperlich Mainely Jr Bass 5 5 4-15 7 7 6-13 0.0041 Ross Kearns – Scotty Hagan Bottomline Jr Bassmasters 3 2 2-11 5 4 6- 5 0.0042 Parker Lane – Coda Bunch Tahlequah Jr Bass Club 0 0 0- 0 4 4 6- 3 0.0043 Jaden Northey – Daniel Noble Kawartha Bassmasters 2 2 3- 5 5 5 6- 3 0.0044 Mike Abbott – Julian Dent Hartley’s Hawgs Piglets 0 0 0- 0 4 4 5-14 0.0045 Payton Whirley – Conner Erickson Pequot Lakes 1 1 1- 8 4 4 4-15 0.0046 Trey Kegebein – Taylor Kuhlman Coulee Region Bass 0 0 0- 0 3 3 4-10 0.0047 Ryan Ringer – Jake Mantovani Off the Hook Jr Bassmasters 2 2 2- 0 5 5 4-10 0.0048 Elijah Benson – CJ Hudson Dawson Christian Academy 0 0 0- 0 5 5 4- 7 0.0049 Charlie Brekke – Isabella Putmam Fighting Fishsticks Jr Club 2 2 2- 6 3 3 3-12 0.0050 Christian Misciagna – Aidan McCormack Port City Jr Bassmasters 1 1 1- 0 4 3 3-11 0.0051 Grayden Scibilia – Chase Atehison Jr Potomac River Bassmasters 0 0 0- 0 2 2 3-10 0.0052 Benjamin Hester – Karson Jenkins Rhea County Jr Eagle Anglers 3 3 3- 5 3 3 3- 5 0.0053 Beau McQuade – Clifton Bennett Jr Potomac Bassmasters 1 1 1- 6 2 2 2- 4 0.0054 Nickolas Monistere – Bran Boyd Northwest Rankin 0 0 0- 0 2 2 2- 2 0.00

BIG BASSDay Name City,State Lbs-Oz1 Vince Nekvinda – Cole Bailey Shellsburg, IA 7- 02 Terrance Wiseman – Isaac Shock Winfield, WV 7- 1

TOTALSDay # Fish # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits1 207 197 290-15 252 176 174 228- 0 24

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