Third time’s a charm. Trey McKinney hopes that idiom rings true for him this year.
After leading Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year for much of the past two seasons, the 21-year-old from Carbondale, Ill., end up finishing second both years. He heads into the Elites’ Northern Swing this month again atop the standings with 554 points with hopes to hit in his third run at AOY.
“That’s what they say. Third time’s a charm. I’ll stick with that,” he said. “We’ll see.”
The bugaboo this time is Canada’s Cory Johnston, who sits in second place 16 points back. The past two years, McKinney has watched Johnston’s younger brother, Chris, hoist the AOY hardware.
McKinney said he’s not that comfortable with a Johnston nearby.
“They’re always right there,” he said. “Ever since I got in the Elite Series, it’s always been a Johnston, one of them. Whether it’s in front of me, behind me, they’re always right there close. It’s good competition, though.
“Those guys, I can’t do nothing but respect them. They work together really well. They’re unbelievable fishermen, no matter where they are in the country, from Florida to New York, and they can do everything to catch a bass. Them guys are good.”
McKinney has shown he’s pretty good too. A disqualification at Smith Lake prevented him from running away with the 2024 AOY, although he did become Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Rookie of the Year.
Last year, McKinney started slow but posted five Top 10s and his second Elite title to take the lead. Tied with Chris Johnston at 690 points but holding the full-field weight tiebreaker, McKinney was outdueled in the Mississippi River finale, finishing eight points back.
The third installment of a McKinney-Johnston showdown starts with the SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain, Aug. 13-16 and culminates in the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River, Aug. 27-30.
“It’s definitely a tough one,” McKinney said. “It’s two up north fisheries, which the Johnstons have done very, very well on.”
Cory Johnston has two Top 10s at Champlain and won three of his eight B.A.S.S. entries on his home waters of the St. Lawrence. McKinney is well aware he needs to bring his A+ game to the Johnstons’ turf, er surf.
“If I can make top 20s in both, I would be fairly safe,” McKinney said. “Definitely two top 20s would feel really good, but a Top 10, of course, would be what I want.”
Cory Johnston needs to average eight places better than McKinney to overcome his 16-point deficit. His respect was evident when he said he’d probably need two top five finishes to supplant McKinney.
“Dang!” McKinney said, surprised at that revelation. “We’ll see.”
While Johnston said he’s comfortable that forward-facing sonar is not allowed on Champlain, it’s not what McKinney prefers.
“Champlain without scope is definitely a new one,” he said. “There’s a lot of largemouth, but I feel like everybody’s going to be on top of each other. It’s going to make it a really, really tough tournament overall.”
McKinney said the official practice will determine which tack he takes on Champlain, whether it be chasing largemouth or the nomadic smallmouth.
“I’m just going to see what I can catch the easiest first,” he said, “Literally just go fishing, whether it’s fishing points or dragging or trying to catch one on 2D. It’s definitely a bummer we can’t see them.
“I’ll probably just fish a whole day for both, and whichever one I can catch the easiest or feel the most confident in will be the one I’ll chase. Overall, I’m pretty excited about it.”
McKinney did spend a few weeks before the off-limits scouting each fishery. In the 2024 Champlain Elite, his only Bassmaster entry there, McKinney was 42nd. That allowed Chris Johnston, who was runner-up to Ed Loughran, to gain 40 points on him.
In the 2023 St. Lawrence Open, McKinney finished 88th. He improved immensely in his last visit, taking third in the 2024 Elite. He climbed to second in AOY again, however, he was 24 points behind Chris Johnston, who finished fourth to become the first Canadian AOY.
“St. Lawrence is always a fun one,” McKinney said. “It’s not every day you get to fish a place that good with potential of catching a ginormous smallmouth, whether it’s a 6-pounder or even bigger sometimes.”
McKinney posted a photo of a 6-8 he caught on the final pre-practice day for St. Lawrence. That type of quality gives him some hope he can match Cory Johnston, who won the 2024 Elite and last year’s Open there.
Since joining the Elites in 2024, McKinney has been second in two AOY races and twice finished second in Bassmaster Classics. In his second event, McKinney became the youngest Elite winner at 19 years, 1 week when he nearly set the all-time weight record at Lake Fork. He added a second Elite title last year at Lake St. Clair.
McKinney hasn’t let his foot off the gas, but the DQ at Smith Lake erased a 59-point lead in AOY. In 2025, he started with his second-worst Elite finish, an 89th at the St. Johns River.
This year, McKinney was rolling atop the leaderboard with three Top 10s and two better than 20th. He held a 42-point lead before a 90th at Santee Cooper Lakes put him 20 points behind Cory Johnston.
“I didn’t throw a Coike. Literally, that’s all it was,” he said. “I was on the fish in practice. I got quite a few of them to bite a jig. I felt like I was either not going to do well or I was going to catch them, 25, 30 pounds even.
“I flipped every inch of those docks, and I just couldn’t get them to bite throwing a jig. They just wouldn’t pick it up.”
After his bomb, McKinney stayed at Santee Cooper and figured out the Coike bite without scope, catching what he had initially hoped.
At the Pasquotank, McKinney nearly made another Top 10. He finished 11th, 4 ounces from Championship Sunday, but more importantly regained the AOY lead. He picked up 36 points on Cory Johnston, who left some points with only one fish on Day 3 in a 48th-place finish.
It sets up the northern showdown, and McKinney knows not only a local hammer is on his tail, but Drew Cook (17 points back), Cole Sands (21 back) and John Garrett (29 back) have legitimate chances if either he or Cory Johnston falter.
“I’m pumped up for sure. It’s going to be two fun tournaments,” McKinney said. “We’ll just have to see how it plays out.”
McKinney’s wants to make sure his third shot at winning AOY is a charm.
