CARTER COUNTY, Tenn. — Watauga Lake is quickly becoming Tripp Berlinsky’s favorite fishery in the country, and for good reason.
Berlinsky had his best day yet during the semifinal round of the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s, landing 20 pounds, 10 ounces to win his head-to-head matchup against Lander University’s Garrett Smith, who caught just four bass for 9-14.
“This is one of the most gorgeous lakes I’ve ever been to, if not the most beautiful,” he said. “If you don’t like catching smallmouth, I don’t know what you love.”
Joining Berlinsky in the final round is partner Bryce Dimauro, who landed 15-2 to advance past Stephen F. Austin’s Ben Burns (10-5), guaranteeing UNA’s first Bracket title in school history. Now, the duo that won the Overall Team of Year race will go head-to-head for a spot in the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.
“Knowing we are both going fishing tomorrow is a really cool feeling,” Berlinsky said. “He’s a great fisherman.”
After boat problems hampered him during practice, Berlinsky earned the No. 1 seed by landing limits weighing 19-14 and 15-15 during the opening rounds, capitalizing on the early morning bite window both days.
On Sunday, however, it took Berlinsky a little longer to get in a rhythm, landing some smaller keepers before losing a big smallmouth early in the day. He broke the ice with a 4 1/2-pound smallmouth followed by a 5-pound smallie.
“(After losing the big one) I turned around and fished back down the same stretch and put two big ones in the boat. That got me fired up. I was able to go fish some similar stuff and catch some 3’s. I made a couple culls on stuff I haven’t fished at all yet.”
Berlinsky has dialed in a shallow-water pattern throughout his week in east Tennessee. With water temperatures still in the low to mid 70s, he has found the better-quality smallmouth are feeding on crawfish and bream in 10 feet of water or less.
In his best area, the most activity has been around a clay bottom with rock mixed in and used that knowledge to find other promising areas on the lake.
“It seems to be the right bottom that holds the crawfish,” Berlinsky said. “The rock has to be in the water. The smallmouth seem to be on the hunt looking for those crawfish.”
Two baits have caught most of his bass this week, a jighead minnow and a lighter reaction style bait. Even in the shallow water, Berlinsky is throwing his minnow on a 3/16-ounce head. He hasn’t been able to pick up the smallmouth on his forward-facing sonar until they are about 40 feet from his boat.
“It is heavier than most people would imagine, but these smallmouth are aggressive and they want to hunt something down,” he explained. “I’m in a little dirtier water, so I’m throwing a brighter-colored minnow so they can see it. Once they see it, I get it moving away from them and they come and hunt it down.”
Dimauro, meanwhile, has rebounded nicely from a tough Day 1 that saw him catch 12-9. He reached the semifinal round by landing the biggest bag of Day 2, 18-1, and then putting together a solid limit in the head-to-head round.
“Day 1 wasn’t very good,” he said. “I stuck with my area on Day 2 and it worked out. Even today was difficult. I missed a lot of big fish today too. The biggest thing was staying in it mentally.”
The two anglers will launch tomorrow at 7 a.m. ET from Cove Ridge Marina and Resort and return for weigh-in at 3 p.m. The winner will advance to the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour in Knoxville and will earn entry into the 2026 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN with the use of a fully-rigged Nitro Boat and Toyota Tundra.
This event is being hosted by Carter County Tourism.
