With the help of a 4-pound largemouth, Parker Smith and Carson Randan from the Scotts Hill High School Junior Anglers club won the Bassmaster Junior Series at Smith Lake with a five-bass limit weighing 10 pounds, 15 ounces.
Hailing from the Tennessee side of Pickwick Lake, Smith and Randan edged out the second-place team of Micajah Pickette and Brantley Rice from the Munford Fishing Juniors club by just 14 ounces. Harper Krohn and Olivia King from D’iberville High School Warrior Bass Nation club finished third with 9-8.
This win continues a hot streak for Smith and Randan, who have won six tournaments and are leading the Tennessee Nation’s eastern and western divisions. Now, they add another piece of hardware to their trophy case and punch a ticket to the Bassmaster Junior Series National Championship at Clarks Hill.
“We’ve had an awesome year. The boys are on fire,” boat captain Nick Hart said. “This is a dream come true. It is what it is all about.”
Smith and Randan had a feeling they could be competitive in this tournament after having a productive practice.
“We thought winning could be possible,” Smith said. “We had 14 pounds in practice, so it was really good, and it just went up from there.”
Using some of their Pickwick Lake offshore skills, they located brushpiles in 12 feet of water and caught their bass using a mix of jigs, shaky heads and a Keitech 3.8 swimbait. Forward-facing sonar and sidescan/downscan helped them locate their brush.
They landed mostly spotted bass, but their biggest bass was a largemouth they caught around 8 a.m. That was part of a morning flurry that helped them achieve a limit during a calm morning. Once the wind started blowing, however, the bite shut off until about lunchtime when the wind slowed down again.
“It was a really good morning bite,” Randan said. “We made a half-pound cull on the way to check-in that sealed the deal.”
The Bath County Juniors team of Jase Cox and Bentley Oldfield caught the Big Bass of the Tournament, a 4-10 that anchored their 6-15 bag.
