BLOOMFIELD, N.M. — New Mexico’s Jordan McMorris is hoping to live a dream for a second time, beginning today.
Along with youngsters from eight other states, he will join his adult counterparts on Navajo Lake for the final day of the Western Divisional presented by Yamaha and Skeeter. The young anglers will be competing for the right to advance to the Junior Bassmaster World Championship later this year, at a site yet to be determined.
McMorris won that event in 2008 on New York’s Oneida Lake, while competing in the 11-14 division. Now he’s in the 15-18 category.
The New Mexico angler boated an impressive five-fish limit of 15-3 while fishing with pro angler Yusuke Miyazaki. Afterward, McMorris said, “I couldn’t ask for anything more. I’ve dreamed a long time of this.”
Julian Carver from Las Cruces will be New Mexico’s entry in the younger age category this time. “He used his spring break to come all the way up here to practice,” said Steve Ragsdale, president of the New Mexico B.A.S.S. Federation Nation.
Others competing in the Juniors competition will include Alexander Smith and Lamar Mitchell for Arizona, Josh Villa and Seth Willard for Colorado, Ethan Peterson and Corey Rambough for Idaho, and Drew Mumford and Katie Tanner for Montana.
They will be joined by Lewis Mendive and Jake Fordin from Nevada, Triston Decker and Nathan Bromley from Oregon, Tyler Rollman and Jordan Lochhead from Utah, and Tanner Body and Chase Heaton from Washington.
California and Wyoming did not bring Junior anglers, which could hurt their team weight totals since fish caught by the youngsters will count for their states.
If Juniors are to catch bass today, they will need to slow down, advised Montana’s Curtis Spindler, who brought in a 13-7 limit on Day two.
“They will need to go slow and pick everything apart,” he said, adding that recent cold weather has slowed down the bite.
Those two Juniors who win here will join Kentucky’s Lance Freeman and Tennessee’s Alan Shelton as the first four to qualify for the championship. Later this year, young anglers from the Northern, Eastern, Central and Mid-Atlantic divisions also will qualify.