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Cerja And Richardson Win Bassmaster Junior National Championship
July 30, 2022
Cerja And Richardson Win Bassmaster Junior National Championship
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HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — Victories are not always dramatic and glamorous, but Mark Cerja Jr. and Gus Richardson of the Lone Star Junior Bassmasters were proud of their gritty, gutsy effort.
Grinding through a stingy final round, they tallied a two-day total of 18 pounds, 5 ounces and won the Bassmaster Junior National Championship at the Carroll County 1000 Acre Recreational Lake.
A Day 1 limit of 10-7 put Cerja and Richardson in second place. Catching another limit of 7-14 in the final round, they claimed the top award — a $2,000 scholarship they’ll split.
“I’ve been fishing since I was 2, and I was taught to fish hard and grind and never give up,” Cerja said. “Today was a tough, tough bite; we didn’t get our limit until about noon, whereas yesterday, we were culling at 10 a.m.
“It’s just an exciting feeling to go home national champions. I’ll sleep well tonight.”
After capitalizing on the barometric fluctuation of Friday’s passing storm system, which triggered aggressive feeding, Cerja and Richardson found the bass less active on the final day.
“I think it was pretty hard on the fish because they had just been fished,” Richardson said. “This is a pretty small lake and 65 teams were hitting the same spots (multiple times).”
As Cerja explained, their winning strategy was pure persistence, with a good dose of mobility.
“We started fishing War Eagle Creek but only had two in the box, so we went over to Jaguar Creek and caught one that was about 12 1/2 (inches),” Cerja said. “We said ‘We need a couple of big ones if we really want to win this.’
“So, we went to Rocket Creek — that’s where I caught a 4 and (Richardson) caught a 2 1/2.”
Cerja said he and his partner caught their fish in 8 to 10 feet of water. Docks with grass and brushpiles were best, but they also fished the backs of shallow creek channels.
On Day 1, Richardson caught a 4-7 on a white fluke. The winners caught their other fish on 4-inch plum finesse worms, 7-inch Berkley Power Worms in blue fleck and Zoom U-Tale Worms in tequila green flake. The latter produced their largest Day 2 catch — the 4-pounder.
“We thought it was better just twitching it pretty slowly and making sure we paid attention to the action — just making it look like something a bass would want to eat,” Richardson said.
Owen Ray and Camdyn Cranfill of the Rhea County Eagle Anglers finished second with 17-3. After placing third on Day 1 with a limit of 10-3, they added a three-fish bag of 7 pounds.
Repeating their Day 1 game plan, Ray and Cranfill again targeted deeper docks. Unfortunately, the bass were less cooperative the second time around.
“It was a lot slower bite today; our offshore stuff where we could get a limit (on Friday) did not work today,” Cranfill said. “We threw a glide bait around docks and ended up with two decent ones. We caught one small one on a drop shot.”
Ray said the day’s cloudy conditions limited their opportunities. As he explained, they needed more sunshine to position bass on the docks.
Ander Cowan and Alex Fitzpatrick of the PA Bassin Juniors finished third with 17-2. Day 1 saw them place seventh with four bass that weighed 7 pounds, but they gained four spots by adding 10-2 during the final round.
Cowan and Fitzpatrick also missed their final-round limit by one fish, but anchoring their bag with Cowan’s 7-1 made their day. The fish bit a 1/4-ounce shaky head with a trick worm in the bruised banana color.
The bite, Cowan said, was pretty subtle — he simply lifted his rod and felt pressure. The most memorable part of the story was the utter fiasco that occurred during the netting process.
“The net got tangled with one of our poles and we actually netted that fish with the pole still in the net,” Cowan said. “That was a very good comeback; I was definitely not expecting that.”
Fitzpatrick said the key to his team’s success was fishing deep.
“A lot of the lake’s docks had been overfished,” he said. “We were sitting in about 18 feet of water and fishing in 20.”
Landon Gabby and Carson Bruner of Marion, Ill., won the Big Bass award with their 8-3.
The Bassmaster Junior Series National Championship was hosted by the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce.
2022 Bassmaster Junior National Championship – Carroll County Lake 7/29-7/30Carroll County One Thousand Acre Recreational Lake, Huntingdon TN.(BOATER) Standings Day 2
Angler Club/School Pts
1. Mark Cerja Jr – Gus Richardson Lone Star Jr Bassmasters TX 0Day 1: 5 10-07 Day 2: 5 07-14 Total: 10 18-052. Owen Ray – Camdyn Cranfill Rhea County Eagle Anglers 0Day 1: 5 10-03 Day 2: 3 07-00 Total: 8 17-033. Ander Cowan – Alex Fitzpatrick PA Bassin Juniors 0Day 1: 4 07-00 Day 2: 4 10-02 Total: 8 17-024. Rooksby Gordon – Fisher Deason American Christian Academy – AL 0Day 1: 5 11-07 Day 2: 5 05-04 Total: 10 16-115. Caden Strawn – Drew Turner Sand Springs Clyde Boyd OK 0Day 1: 3 02-06 Day 2: 3 13-15 Total: 6 16-056. Caleb Logue – Hayden Reynolds Three Rivers Bassmasters GA 0Day 1: 5 04-14 Day 2: 4 09-13 Total: 9 14-117. Nic Sitton – Dawson Cooper Melbourne AR 0Day 1: 5 05-02 Day 2: 5 09-08 Total: 10 14-108. Hayden Mallory – Archer Dill Ohio 0Day 1: 5 09-09 Day 2: 5 05-00 Total: 10 14-099. Vegas Iaconelli – Maxsim Hughen Youth Division – NJ 0Day 1: 5 06-10 Day 2: 5 07-15 Total: 10 14-0910. Kieran Stephenson – Grady Stanley Fuquay Varina Middle School NC 0Day 1: 5 05-00 Day 2: 5 09-05 Total: 10 14-0511. Hunter Harrison – Austin Moreland Magnet Cove AR 0Day 1: 2 01-05 Day 2: 5 12-13 Total: 7 14-0212. River Huffman – Rob Barter Chatuge Anglers GA 0Day 1: 5 03-15 Day 2: 5 09-12 Total: 10 13-1113. Karson Dick – Kipton Dick Wayne Middle WV 0Day 1: 5 04-03 Day 2: 5 09-02 Total: 10 13-0514. Jaylin White – Colden Baker Lugoff-Elgin Middle SC 0Day 1: 5 04-11 Day 2: 5 07-13 Total: 10 12-0815. Sullivan Kraft – Beckett Kraft Horseheads NY 0Day 1: 5 08-09 Day 2: 4 03-10 Total: 9 12-0316. Judd Byrd – Samuel Nicholas Oak Grove MS 0Day 1: 5 04-05 Day 2: 4 07-13 Total: 9 12-0217. Brody Kellum – Carson Thompson Franklin County Middle School – 0Day 1: 5 08-05 Day 2: 4 03-06 Total: 9 11-1118. Camden Randall – Peyton Davidson Mount Pleasant TN 0Day 1: 5 08-04 Day 2: 2 03-06 Total: 7 11-1019. Landon Gabby – Carson Bruner Southern Illinois Future Anglers 0Day 1: 3 02-07 Day 2: 1 08-03 Total: 4 10-1020. Mitchell Henderson – Joseph Frierson Laurence Manning Academy SC 0Day 1: 5 05-04 Day 2: 3 05-01 Total: 8 10-0521. Bryce Rhody – Gavin Brubaker Susquehanna Valley Fishing Team 0Day 1: 1 00-14 Day 2: 5 09-05 Total: 6 10-0322. Luke Stewart – Austin Craze Southern WV Jr Bassmasters 0Day 1: 5 05-08 Day 2: 5 04-10 Total: 10 10-0223. Zac Arnold – Ross Clark Good Hope Fishing Team AL 0Day 1: 5 04-11 Day 2: 5 05-04 Total: 10 09-1524. Christopher Volpe – Brayden Rivest Off the Hook Bassmasters IL 0Day 1: 5 06-07 Day 2: 4 03-03 Total: 9 09-1025. Camdon Fauver – Thomas Newman Frederick County BASS VA 0Day 1: 5 04-07 Day 2: 5 05-02 Total: 10 09-0926. Turner Tharpe – Blake James Rhea County Eagle Anglers TN 0Day 1: 3 03-02 Day 2: 5 06-06 Total: 8 09-0827. Tristan Stewart – DJ Johnson III Mount Pleasant TN 0Day 1: 5 06-00 Day 2: 4 03-02 Total: 9 09-0228. Cameron Prokop – Tommy Shumowsky New Age Bass Fishing Club IL 0Day 1: 5 04-10 Day 2: 5 04-08 Total: 10 09-0229. Nolan Savage – Jake Paradis LA Jr Bassmasters ME 0Day 1: 5 04-06 Day 2: 5 04-11 Total: 10 09-0130. Landon Pierce – Korbin Neat Casey County – KY 0Day 1: 5 03-14 Day 2: 5 04-15 Total: 10 08-1331. Anderson Mesplay – Kelby Conrady Mid-Kansas Kastmasters 0Day 1: 3 06-06 Day 2: 2 02-06 Total: 5 08-1232. Clayton Barry – Tanner Sikes Columbia High School FL 0Day 1: 5 04-00 Day 2: 5 04-10 Total: 10 08-1033. Caden Stevens – Hunter Crittenden Franklin County Jr. Bass Team TN 0Day 1: 5 04-10 Day 2: 5 04-00 Total: 10 08-1034. Oliver Neumann – Grayden Neumann Zimmerman MN 0Day 1: 5 04-02 Day 2: 5 04-04 Total: 10 08-0635. Tugger McCuistion – 0Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 3 08-03 Total: 3 08-0336. Jesse Lancaster – Fisher Lancaster Lancaster Academy NC 0Day 1: 4 03-12 Day 2: 5 04-06 Total: 9 08-0236. Conner McClellan – Drew Mcclellan Indiana Jr Bassmasters 0Day 1: 5 04-06 Day 2: 4 03-12 Total: 9 08-0238. Mason Samson – NH Junior Bassmasters 0Day 1: 4 04-03 Day 2: 5 03-15 Total: 9 08-0239. Caleb Jackson – Evrett Hunter Nassau Christian Bass Club FL 0Day 1: 5 04-10 Day 2: 4 03-00 Total: 9 07-1040. Maverick Hardebeck – Carson Tithof Grand Haven Lakeshore Middle Sch 0Day 1: 4 03-08 Day 2: 4 03-09 Total: 8 07-0141. Wyatt Reynolds – Peyton Roland Foothills Youth Anglers VA 0Day 1: 5 05-14 Day 2: 1 00-14 Total: 6 06-1242. Sawyer Knickerbocker – Grant Williams SWLA Jr Anglers LA 0Day 1: 5 03-11 Day 2: 4 03-01 Total: 9 06-1243. Beau McQuade – Kahl Cordell Jr. Potomac River Bassmasters PA 0Day 1: 5 03-09 Day 2: 3 03-03 Total: 8 06-1244. Jack Varnado – Dylan Johnson Jr. Southwest Bassmasters of Den 0Day 1: 5 04-13 Day 2: 2 01-12 Total: 7 06-0945. Parker Terrell – Port City Jr. Bassmasters NY 0Day 1: 3 03-01 Day 2: 4 03-07 Total: 7 06-0846. Ty Cooper – Landen Mclauchlin Central Florida Youth Anglers 0Day 1: 2 01-08 Day 2: 5 04-15 Total: 7 06-0747. Boone Baxter – Hunter Stewart Fort Jennings Crestview OH 0Day 1: 5 06-00 Day 2: 5 00-06 Total: 10 06-0648. Elijah Ambrose – Landon Hinkle Jr. Potomac River Bassmasters PA 0Day 1: 5 04-10 Day 2: 2 01-11 Total: 7 06-0549. Foster Hall – Caden Hall Hall Academy KY 0Day 1: 5 05-02 Day 2: 1 01-01 Total: 6 06-0350. Tucker Randolph – Kaleb Smarr Warrensburg Middle School MO 0Day 1: 4 04-01 Day 2: 2 01-11 Total: 6 05-1251. Andy Stewart – Trenton Wells Pisgah MS 0Day 1: 4 03-14 Day 2: 2 01-13 Total: 6 05-1152. James Barkley – Nikolas Foster New Hampshire Junior Bassmasters 0Day 1: 5 03-03 Day 2: 2 02-08 Total: 7 05-1153. Bo Hollen – Ari Clark Mon Valley Bassmaster’s WV 0Day 1: 5 04-01 Day 2: 1 01-01 Total: 6 05-0254. Will Oberhoffer – Max Droessler Roosevelt Middle School IA 0Day 1: 3 02-08 Day 2: 3 02-09 Total: 6 05-0155. Lawson Gamble – Gray Hardy Headland Bass Team AL 0Day 1: 2 01-13 Day 2: 4 03-03 Total: 6 05-0056. Jonas Lawler-White – Cale Denney Lansing Middle School – Bobcat B 0Day 1: 3 02-03 Day 2: 3 02-04 Total: 6 04-0757. Bryce Cast – Ayden Cast St. Louis Area Bassmasters IL 0Day 1: 4 03-05 Day 2: 1 01-01 Total: 5 04-0658. Jaxton Collier – Reece Roberts South Side Anglers IN 0Day 1: 3 02-05 Day 2: 3 02-01 Total: 6 04-0659. Charlie Brekke – Michael Putman Fighting Fishsticks Jr Club CO 0Day 1: 2 01-09 Day 2: 3 02-09 Total: 5 04-0260. Peter Mcdonald – Preston Hartzell Rocky Mountain High School – CO 0Day 1: 4 03-03 Day 2: 1 00-12 Total: 5 03-1561. Dylan Frickey – Reid Scott Ontario Juniors 0Day 1: 4 03-12 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 4 03-1262. Brady Harrison – Bryce Blackmon Cayuga – TX 0Day 1: 1 00-06 Day 2: 2 01-14 Total: 3 02-0463. Dillyn Dill – Andrew Knight Shelby County Jr Anglers AL 0Day 1: 2 00-00 Day 2: 3 02-02 Total: 5 02-0264. Bradie Talaski – Carter Osantowski Bad Axe Junior – MI 0Day 1: 2 01-09 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 2 01-0965. Liam Northway – Eastern Iowa Bassmasters 0Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00———————————————————————–TotalsDay #Limits #Fish Weight1 38 264 283-062 25 229 295-12———————————-63 493 579-02
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