College: Garrett on Kentucky Lake

Go out on the water with local angler and College Bracket finalists John Garrett from Bethel University as he looks to wrap up the Carhartt Bassmaster College Classic Bracket on Kentucky Lake.

John Garrett of Bethel University started his day on a shallow bar where he had started his previous two days.

Before the sun could fully come over the horizon, Garrett had already hooked up with a few fish.

He boated a non-keeper to start his day, but was urgently trying to catch some big ones on this spot before it got too bright, which would make the fish scatter.

His second bite the day looked to be a better fish as Garrett tried to keep it down.

A big one surfaces as he stays calm through the battle.

He keeps his rod low as the fish fights at the boat.

He reaches for the big one…

…and hauls in a good one to start his day.

Garrett hollered in excitement as he put a game changer in the boat.

It didn’t take long for Garrett to hook up again.

He fought another one towards the boat and it pulled like it was a good one.

Then it surfaced at the boat…

And he yelled “There’s a brown one!” as he landed a smallmouth.

He shares a high-five with cameraman Brian Mason.

He kept the action going as he hooked up again.

This one scares Garrett at the boat as it almost jumps aboard.

Garrett boated most of his fish on a 3/4 ounce wobble head with a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm on the end.

Garrett was stoked that his plan was coming together.

On Day 2 of the bracket he had a limit by 7 a.m. and while today was slower than Friday, he still had three in the boat by that time.

He didn’t have to wait long for number four either.

He hauls this one in and decides to swing it in.

The sun had gotten up in the sky and it started to heat up on the water.

Garrett decided to switch up from his worm to a spinnerbait for a few casts…

But after a 15 to 20 minutes without a bite he knew it was time to pack up and head out.

He ran south to a school of fish and started bombing baits towards the shallow ledge.

It didn’t take long for Garrett to locate them and get a bite.

He tries to swing in his 5th keeper…

And gets it in the boat. He gets pumped up as it’s one of his biggest of the day.

Garrett celebrates the fish catch and is pumped to have a limit.

It’s a good feeling to have a limit in the boat and to cap it off with a good one. What Garrett didn’t know was that his opponent Evan Coleman was struggling and was swinging for the fences as he tried to pull off a record comeback.

Garrett has had ESPNU cameras on him throughout the entire bracket, which should be some good TV when it airs in a couple weeks.

Garrett heaves out the wobble head that has been productive for him all week. We left him in search of some high school teams shortly after.

After a couple hours away, I stopped back to check on Garrett as we headed to the ramp.

He boat flipped a solid fish when we arrived later in the afternoon. He told us that he left shortly after we did and was just arriving a few minutes before we found him again.