Winning the 2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Kentucky Lake/Lake Barkley presented by Battery Tender tournament is special, but it also provided a little redemption. In 2024, I won the Bassmaster Team Championship with my partner, Noah Morgan, but fell just short of earning a Bassmaster Classic berth in the Classic Fish-Off.
Since then, I’ve felt like there’s been an empty space next to the Team Championship trophy, like something else should’ve been there. To win this Open, do it at Kentucky Lake and fill the void that was there feels really good.
I didn’t get a boat until 2021 and didn’t fish Kentucky Lake until then. But the Tennessee River Valley reservoirs are set up perfectly for how I like to fish. I feel like I am more productive fishing for schools than burning down the bank. Fishing for singles was the deal for a few years, but it seems like we are going back to school fishing just because of how smart the bass have gotten.
A lot of the old timers say it is a blessing in disguise that I didn’t start fishing the lake until I did. I never got to experience the best of what Kentucky Lake was and have that history. To catch 23 pounds three days in a row is really hard to do there now compared to how it was years ago.
After the first day of practice, I was sick to my stomach, to be completely honest. I was so disappointed. I won two BFLs last year, and the first one was in the month of June. I thought this tournament would set up similarly to that one. By this time last year, I had 46 schools marked. On the first day of practice, I checked almost all of those places and found one school.
I stayed hard-headed and put 31 hours on my motor just idling during three days of practice, finding a school per day. A place I know so well was set up so differently for this tournament. I tried my best to stay connected to the main river. It seems like big bass live out there year-round.
Day 1, I started with 12 pounds out of a group I found on the last day of practice. Fortunately, every day I would find a new group between 11 and 2 o’clock. I was fortunate to have the freedom to keep looking for them. I wasn’t in this one for points; I just wanted to win.
Tristan McCormick and I are great friends. We talked on the phone every night that week, and he carried a 4-pound lead over me heading into the final day. I knew I could catch between 17 and 20 pounds. A lot of the other guys in the Top 10 had one tough day, but what helped me stay consistent was just staying hard-headed. I just wanted to catch 4-plus-pounders. If you can do that offshore, that is just what wins.
The first two days, the bass were fresher. I started with a big plug to try and get a big bite and then rotate through the traditional ledge-fishing arsenal. At the end, I had to catch some on a 5-inch Hinge Minnow and a 17mm Coike.
There was never a point on the final day when I thought I had a chance. Going into it, I thought I would need at least 23 pounds. Tristan had been so consistent, and I was convinced he was going to bring in 19 pounds.
I idled a spot before I went in on Day 2, and they were set up. Weirdly enough, that morning, my transducer went out, which is how I was doing the majority of my work. When we go out of Paris, I usually run to the dam and work my way back. But for some reason, on Day 3, I started right in front of Paris, and it ended up working out.
When I have a camera in the boat, I usually have a couple of boats following me during the day. That morning, I started with two boats. Throughout the day, I started to notice that one more would show up and then another one.
Once we were parked, Tristan ran up to me and told me congratulations. He kept telling me he only had 13 or 14 pounds; I kept thinking he was yanking my chain. I told him, “Quit playing with me. This ain’t nothing to play about.”
He was telling the truth, and I held up that trophy.
