CLINTON, Ill. — Dailus Richardson and Trevor McKinney of Benton High School win the Costa Bassmaster High School Midwestern Open on Clinton Lake with 16 pounds, 9 ounces.
The Illinois teammates took the title in their home state by a slim 7-ounce margin over Cole Miles and Dillan White of the Southside Anglers club. They used a two-pronged approach to overcome windy conditions on Clinton Lake and vault to the top of the 63-team field.
“Right now is a really tough time to catch fish on Clinton,” McKinney said. “There is a hot portion of the lake and then a cooler area so the fish are doing so many different things. Having knowledge of this fishery really helps.”
The teammates showed their versatility by fishing out of their comfort zone and deeper than they normally like to. Their key baits for the one-day tournament included a custom shaky head created by Richardson paired with a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm, meanwhile McKinney boated his fish on a Zoom 10-inch Ole Monster Worm.
Just like the college event, patience was a big factor as the early morning was slow as their starting spot had a dozen boats nearby.
“We weren’t thrilled when there was a lot of boats to start the morning, but we figured most would leave after an hour so,” McKinney said. “After most left we were able to hit the key spot we wanted to and we caught a 3-pounder and Dailus boated the 5-5 that anchored our weight.”
The weather changed once again as Sunday’s conditions featured a partly cloudy day, but with sustained winds in the teens and gusts up to 20 mph. Those windy conditions helped keep the pressure of tournament anglers from effecting Richardson and McKinney’s area because it was hard to stay on the main lake all day.
At the halfway point in their day they only had three keepers and they needed to change it up. The Benton anglers made an adjustment and went to the shallows to catch a couple keepers and fill their limit.
“We caught a couple solid fish shallow in practice so we knew we had confidence to do that,” Richardson said. “After fishing shallow we went deep to finish the day and we caught another 5 pounder before we came in.”
The seniors were named to the Bassmaster High School All-American list and will head to BASSFest to fish with Elite Series pros in their own competition later this week. The teammates already committed to fish for McKendree University on scholarship and in addition to their hardware they won today, they received more scholarship money as well.
Dayten Schureman and Chance Fears of Rogers High School Bass Club took home the Big Bass Award for their 5-010 largemouth.
The Top 6 teams from the Midwestern Open punched their ticket to the Costa Bassmaster High School Championship later this summer on Kentucky Lake pending double qualifications that may arise.