Gordon, Deason Capitalize On Early Opportunity For Junior National Championship Lead

July 29, 2022

Gordon, Deason Capitalize On Early Opportunity For Junior National Championship Lead

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HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — An early opportunity and a stellar save allowed Rooksby Gordon and Fisher Deason of American Christian Academy to turn in a limit of 11 pounds, 7 ounces and lead Day 1 of the Bassmaster Junior National Championship at the Carroll County 1000 Acre Recreational Lake.

Starting on the lake’s upper end, the anglers began their day by flipping cover in about 7 to 8 feet. After the anglers boated a couple of smaller fish, Gordon hooked what turned out to be one of the day’s biggest bass — a 4-13.

“When I hooked the fish, it swam right into a log,” Gordon said. “I thought it was going to come off, but I put the trolling motor on high and went over to it.

“The fish came off before we got to it, but (Deason) netted it before it got away.”

With a thunderstorm passing through central Tennessee this morning, the scheduled 5:45 a.m. takeoff was postponed 35 minutes due to lightning. Once the hazardous weather passed, anglers fished in rain for most of the morning.

Deason said this proved beneficial, as it complemented their overall game plan.

“We tried to find some deeper wood because the water temperature would be cooler,” Deason said. “We think the rain was an advantage for us because it cooled the water down.”

Gordon said he and Deason caught their bass on a mix of reaction baits and slower presentations.

“We were using the slower bait offshore on the deep wood and we were using the reaction baits shallow in the early morning,” Gordon said.

As Deason explained, dialing in spots with large bluegill populations was essential to their game plan. In their view, the fish feeding on the larger forage would likely be the size they wanted.

“We tried to present our baits with a lot of action,” Deason said. “We tried to (entice) the fish better.”

After securing their limit by mid-morning, the leaders upgraded a couple times throughout the day. With significantly less chance of rain in Saturday’s forecast, Gordon said he believes he and Deason will need to work at a faster pace.

“I feel like we’ll need to catch our fish faster tomorrow, because once the sun comes out, it will slow down,” he said.

Deason agreed and added this: “I feel like today, with the rain, they were on a feeding frenzy.”

Mark Cerja Jr. and Gus Richardson of the Lone Star Jr. Bassmasters are in second place with 10-7. As Cerja noted, he and his partner tried to put themselves in high-percentage areas.

“We were looking at big clumps of grass,” he said. “There’s a lot of wood cover on this lake, but there’s a lot of dead water too. Docks were a big factor, brushpiles were a big factor.”

Cerja said he and his partner came into the event planning to leverage slower presentations to entice summer-weary fish. A 4-inch finesse worm, a 7-inch Berkley Power Worm and a white fluke produced all of their bass. The latter yielded their biggest fish — Richardson’s 4-7.

“I caught that fish about 5 minutes before we came in,” Richardson said. “I just saw something that looked good and cast to it. I dead-sticked the bait near a weed clump and the fish ate it.”

Owen Ray and Camdyn Cranfill of the Rhea County Eagle Anglers are in third place with 10-3. Cranfill said he and his teammate did not have much practice success, so they started with a tried-and-true summertime pattern and found success.

“We targeted docks with reaction baits because of the shade,” he said. “Most of them were in 10 feet.

“We were mostly throwing topwaters because that seemed to be the most consistent with catching bigger fish.”

Ray said the bass preferred a slower presentation in the morning, but as the day progressed, increasing retrieve speeds seemed to help.

Brothers Sullivan and Beckett Kraft of Horseheads, N.Y., lead the big bass standings with a 5-4.

Saturday’s takeoff is scheduled for 5:45 a.m. CT at the Carroll County Lake Launch. The weigh-in will be held at 19463 West Main Street at 2:15 p.m.

The Bassmaster Junior Series National Championship is being 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 1

    Angler                                       Club/School                       Pts

1.  Rooksby Gordon – Fisher Deason               American Christian Academy – AL       0Day 1: 5   11-07   Total:   5  11-072.  Mark Cerja Jr – Gus Richardson               Lone Star Jr Bassmasters TX           0Day 1: 5   10-07   Total:   5  10-073.  Owen Ray – Camdyn Cranfill                   Rhea County Eagle Anglers             0Day 1: 5   10-03   Total:   5  10-034.  Hayden Mallory – Archer Dill                 Ohio                                  0Day 1: 5   09-09   Total:   5  09-095.  Sullivan Kraft – Beckett Kraft               Horseheads NY                         0Day 1: 5   08-09   Total:   5  08-096.  Brody Kellum – Carson Thompson               Franklin County Middle School –       0Day 1: 5   08-05   Total:   5  08-057.  Camden Randall – Peyton Davidson             Mount Pleasant TN                     0Day 1: 5   08-04   Total:   5  08-048.  Ander Cowan – Alex Fitzpatrick               PA Bassin Juniors                     0Day 1: 4   07-00   Total:   4  07-009.  Vegas Iaconelli – Maxsim Hughen              Youth Division – NJ                   0Day 1: 5   06-10   Total:   5  06-1010. Christopher Volpe – Brayden Rivest           Off the Hook Bassmasters IL           0Day 1: 5   06-07   Total:   5  06-0711. Anderson Mesplay – Kelby Conrady             Mid-Kansas Kastmasters                0Day 1: 3   06-06   Total:   3  06-0612. Boone Baxter – Hunter Stewart                Fort Jennings Crestview OH            0Day 1: 5   06-00   Total:   5  06-0013. Tristan Stewart – DJ Johnson III             Mount Pleasant TN                     0Day 1: 5   06-00   Total:   5  06-0014. Wyatt Reynolds – Peyton Roland               Foothills Youth Anglers VA            0Day 1: 5   05-14   Total:   5  05-1415. Luke Stewart – Austin Craze                  Southern WV Jr Bassmasters            0Day 1: 5   05-08   Total:   5  05-0816. Mitchell Henderson – Joseph Frierson         Laurence Manning Academy SC           0Day 1: 5   05-04   Total:   5  05-0417. Nic Sitton – Dawson Cooper                   Melbourne AR                          0Day 1: 5   05-02   Total:   5  05-0218. Foster Hall – Caden Hall                     Hall Academy KY                       0Day 1: 5   05-02   Total:   5  05-0219. Kieran Stephenson – Grady Stanley            Fuquay Varina Middle School NC        0Day 1: 5   05-00   Total:   5  05-0020. Caleb Logue – Hayden Reynolds                Three Rivers Bassmasters GA           0Day 1: 5   04-14   Total:   5  04-1421. Jack Varnado – Dylan Johnson                 Jr. Southwest Bassmasters of Den      0Day 1: 5   04-13   Total:   5  04-1322. Zac Arnold – Ross Clark                      Good Hope Fishing Team AL             0Day 1: 5   04-11   Total:   5  04-1122. Jaylin White – Colden Baker                  Lugoff-Elgin Middle SC                0Day 1: 5   04-11   Total:   5  04-1124. Elijah Ambrose – Landon Hinkle               Jr. Potomac River Bassmasters PA      0Day 1: 5   04-10   Total:   5  04-1024. Caleb Jackson – Evrett Hunter                Nassau Christian Bass Club FL         0Day 1: 5   04-10   Total:   5  04-1024. Cameron Prokop – Tommy Shumowsky             New Age Bass Fishing Club IL          0Day 1: 5   04-10   Total:   5  04-1024. Caden Stevens – Hunter Crittenden            Franklin County Jr. Bass Team TN      0Day 1: 5   04-10   Total:   5  04-1028. Camdon Fauver – Thomas Newman                Frederick County BASS VA              0Day 1: 5   04-07   Total:   5  04-0729. Conner McClellan – Drew Mcclellan            Indiana Jr Bassmasters                0Day 1: 5   04-06   Total:   5  04-0629. Nolan Savage – Jake Paradis                  LA Jr Bassmasters ME                  0Day 1: 5   04-06   Total:   5  04-0631. Judd Byrd – Samuel Nicholas                  Oak Grove MS                          0Day 1: 5   04-05   Total:   5  04-0532. Karson Dick – Kipton Dick                    Wayne Middle WV                       0Day 1: 5   04-03   Total:   5  04-0333. Mason Samson –                               NH Junior Bassmasters                 0Day 1: 4   04-03   Total:   4  04-0334. Oliver Neumann – Grayden Neumann             Zimmerman MN                          0Day 1: 5   04-02   Total:   5  04-0235. Bo Hollen – Ari Clark                        Mon Valley Bassmaster’s WV            0Day 1: 5   04-01   Total:   5  04-0136. Tucker Randolph – Kaleb Smarr                Warrensburg Middle School MO          0Day 1: 4   04-01   Total:   4  04-0137. Clayton Barry – Tanner Sikes                 Columbia High School FL               0Day 1: 5   04-00   Total:   5  04-0038. River Huffman – Rob Barter                   Chatuge Anglers GA                    0Day 1: 5   03-15   Total:   5  03-1539. Landon Pierce – Korbin Neat                  Casey County – KY                     0Day 1: 5   03-14   Total:   5  03-1440. Andy Stewart – Trenton Wells                 Pisgah MS                             0Day 1: 4   03-14   Total:   4  03-1441. Dylan Frickey – Reid Scott                   Ontario Juniors                       0Day 1: 4   03-12   Total:   4  03-1241. Jesse Lancaster – Fisher Lancaster           Lancaster Academy NC                  0Day 1: 4   03-12   Total:   4  03-1243. Sawyer Knickerbocker – Grant Williams        SWLA Jr Anglers LA                    0Day 1: 5   03-11   Total:   5  03-1144. Beau McQuade – Kahl Cordell                  Jr. Potomac River Bassmasters PA      0Day 1: 5   03-09   Total:   5  03-0945. Maverick Hardebeck – Carson Tithof           Grand Haven Lakeshore Middle Sch      0Day 1: 4   03-08   Total:   4  03-0846. Bryce Cast – Ayden Cast                      St. Louis Area Bassmasters IL         0Day 1: 4   03-05   Total:   4  03-0547. James Barkley – Nikolas Foster               New Hampshire Junior Bassmasters      0Day 1: 5   03-03   Total:   5  03-0348. Peter Mcdonald – Preston Hartzell            Rocky Mountain High School – CO       0Day 1: 4   03-03   Total:   4  03-0349. Turner Tharpe – Blake James                  Rhea County Eagle Anglers TN          0Day 1: 3   03-02   Total:   3  03-0250. Parker Terrell –                             Port City Jr. Bassmasters NY          0Day 1: 3   03-01   Total:   3  03-0151. Will Oberhoffer – Max Droessler              Roosevelt Middle School IA            0Day 1: 3   02-08   Total:   3  02-0852. Landon Gabby – Carson Bruner                 Southern Illinois Future Anglers      0Day 1: 3   02-07   Total:   3  02-0753. Caden Strawn – Drew Turner                   Sand Springs Clyde Boyd OK            0Day 1: 3   02-06   Total:   3  02-0654. Jaxton Collier – Reece Roberts               South Side Anglers IN                 0Day 1: 3   02-05   Total:   3  02-0555. Jonas Lawler-White – Cale Denney             Lansing Middle School – Bobcat B      0Day 1: 3   02-03   Total:   3  02-0356. Lawson Gamble – Gray Hardy                   Headland Bass Team AL                 0Day 1: 2   01-13   Total:   2  01-1357. Charlie Brekke – Michael Putman              Fighting Fishsticks Jr Club CO        0Day 1: 2   01-09   Total:   2  01-0957. Bradie Talaski – Carter Osantowski           Bad Axe Junior – MI                   0Day 1: 2   01-09   Total:   2  01-0959. Ty Cooper – Landen Mclauchlin                Central Florida Youth Anglers         0Day 1: 2   01-08   Total:   2  01-0860. Hunter Harrison – Austin Moreland            Magnet Cove AR                        0Day 1: 2   01-05   Total:   2  01-0561. Bryce Rhody – Gavin Brubaker                 Susquehanna Valley Fishing Team       0Day 1: 1   00-14   Total:   1  00-1462. Brady Harrison – Bryce Blackmon              Cayuga  – TX                          0Day 1: 1   00-06   Total:   1  00-0663. Dillyn Dill – Andrew Knight                  Shelby County Jr Anglers AL           0Day 1: 2   00-00   Total:   2  00-0064. Tugger McCuistion –                                                                0Day 1: 0   00-00   Total:   0  00-0064. Liam Northway –                              Eastern Iowa Bassmasters              0Day 1: 0   00-00   Total:   0  00-00———————————————————————–TotalsDay   #Limits    #Fish      Weight1        38       264       283-06———————————-38       264       283-06

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