Anderson Jones never really planned to fish the back half of his college career without a partner. It was a challenge he embraced, however, and it paid off in a big way in Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented Bass Pro Shops competition.
In come-from-behind fashion, Jones won the 2026 Lunkers Trail points race with 714 points, outlasting Auburn’s Luke Wyle and Trey Richardson III to become the first solo angler to earn Huk All-American honors. Paired with the All-American nod comes a trip to the College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s, a tournament that will send the winner to the 2027 Bassmaster Classic and the Bassmaster Opens.
“All-American is a crazy accomplishment. Across all sports, an All-American (nod) is a top-tier honor and achievement,” Jones said. “I put in the work for the past five years, and it is all falling into place here at the end. It feels so good.”
After finishing in second place in the division race two years in a row, the Lander senior opened the 2026 season with a seventh-place finish at Lake Okeechobee before finishing 31st at Santee Cooper Lakes. Entering the final event at the James River 20 points behind the lead, the Greenville, S.C., native cracked 23 pounds, 15 ounces on the first day that ultimately carried him to the victory.
Considering his Santee Cooper finish, Jones was just thankful to still be in contention to win the points race with one event remaining.
“A 31st is a respectable finish by anyone’s standards, I don’t care who you are,” Jones said. “But as far as the points go, it was definitely a hole that was dug. The past two seasons of coming in second, I learned you had to have Top 10 finishes to win, and that was far from it. All I could do was use that as motivation and I never gave up.
“To go out with a bag in my last regular season event, that is something I will never forget.”
His final College Series event capped off an impressive and still incomplete career. Jones claimed his first title in 2024 at Clarks Hill Reservoir, a tournament he won by more than 5 pounds. Then in 2025, Jones blasted 35-8 at Eagle Mountain Lake to win the College Classic exhibition in Fort Worth, the heaviest limit to cross the stage all week.
All of this was done solo. No net man. No one else to help make decisions or experiment with.
It certainly wasn’t planned. Jones had three different partners during his first two seasons at Lander. All relationships stayed on good terms, but his partners were pulled in different directions as his first graduated, his second pursued a strenuous nursing degree and the third decided college wasn’t for him.
“In college, I feel like you really need to bond with your teammate. You need to work together, and your minds need to become one,” he said. “Time together is everything, and having an off-the-water relationship is important too. Our team was pretty small at that time, and the rest of my teammates had established partnerships. I was running out of time to do that.”
Once his junior year rolled around, amidst a coaching change, Jones decided he would find the most continuity fishing alone. His first event as a solo angler resulted in a top 25 at Lake Murray followed by the Clarks Hill victory.
The results speak for themselves. As a one-man band, he has 10 top 25 finishes. For someone who wants to make angling a career, it might have been the best thing for him.
His solo tournament experience will no doubt be important when the College Bracket rolls around, a tournament that forces teams to split and fish alone. That is often the biggest hurdle for Bracket competitors, but Jones already has two full seasons of one-man angling under his belt against much bigger fields.
“It definitely challenges you. You can’t out-fish anyone if you can’t learn and grow from obstacles,” Jones said. “I can handle pressure much better now than I could three years ago. Not having a net man, you won’t have that in the Opens either. I’ve really embraced it, and it has molded me into a dangerous angler.”
If he were to win the Bracket, he won’t have to go far at all to compete in his first Bassmaster Classic. Bon Secours Arena in downtown Greenville, home of the 2027 Class weigh-in festivities, is just a mile from the Reedy River where Jones first started fishing.
“I used to ride my bike every day down to the river. Bass fishing has always been in my blood, and I want to make it a profession,” he said. “To fish the Classic in my hometown doesn’t even sound like a real possibility. It would be like a fairy tale.
“But fishing the Bracket will be a dream come true by itself.”
