PARIS, Tenn. — Many of the 300 boat captains taking part in the Mossy Oak Bassmaster High School National Championship presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors are related to one of the 598 anglers competing this week on Kentucky Lake.
They are fathers, uncles, school sponsors, family friends, fishing fans.
A few of them are brothers of the anglers too, but there aren’t many competitors who can say they have one of the Bassmaster College Series’ top competitors aboard.
But Ewing Minor and Eli Stendig are two teens who can. They’re here representing the state of Virginia and Orange County High School, and their boat captain is Nolan Minor –Ewing’s brother and one of the finest anglers in the current college ranks.
It’s a nice addition to the Orange County crew, for sure.
Nolan Minor is one half of the West Virginia University duo (along with Casey Lanier) that teamed to finish second in the 2019 Bassmaster College Series Team of the Year race. He also was runner-up in the 2018 College Classic Bracket, and he earned entry into that event after he and Lanier finished third in the college national championship a year ago.
Nolan’s not swinging a stick this week, though. Instead, he’s ferrying his little brother and Stendig all over Kentucky Lake, looking for the right bites to help make the cut to 12 after Friday’s weigh-in. The Orange County High team is within reach of that goal, sitting in 24th place after catching a five-bass limit on Thursday that weighed 11-5.
Ewing, who is 17 and about to begin his senior year of high school, appreciates his big brother’s experience in big tournaments. But still, he said the most valuable thing Nolan offers him is a steadying presence during competition.
“I’ve been in two or three big tournaments before this, and I don’t know exactly how to manage fish or time like he does,” Ewing said. “That’s a huge factor. But him being my brother, he wants me to do well…He wants us to win as bad as we want to win.”
Nolan said enjoys being the required captain every high school team must have to compete in a Bassmaster High School Series tournament. He even helped Stendig and another of his angling partners when they needed a captain in the Bassmaster Juniors Championship in nearby Carroll County (Tenn.) two years ago.
“Being a boat captain for these guys is probably the only time I can stand being on the water and not fishing,” Nolan said, only partly joking. “I try to boat captain for them at the state qualifiers back home in Virginia. I go home and they’ll practice Friday with the tournament on Saturday. It’s exciting to watch. Today when they caught their first fish, it was chaos and high stress, but I’m just there to witness. I take a back seat.”
Nolan, 21, was half of a duo that finished second in the high school national championship on Kentucky Lake in 2016. He said it wouldn’t have been possible without the boat captains who had time for him in the nascent stages of his time in competitive fishing.
“Those guys gave to me when I was starting out, and I feel like it’s important to give back,” he said.
But as appreciative as he is for his brother’s help, Ewing said he’s not always going to take his advice.
“The best advice he gives me is to keep focused and fish hard,” Ewing said. “I can get caught up in a moment and overfish, or sometimes I slow down and he’ll tell me to pick up the pace. But we disagree on some things.
Sometimes we do what he says and it’s right, sometimes we do what I say and it’s right. Sometimes none of it’s right. That’s part of it.”
Ewing Minor is not the only angler competing this week who has a talented brother for a boat captain.
Davis and Bryce Dimauro are representing the Seminole Junior Anglers on Kentucky Lake. Their brother Conner Dimauro, partnered with Bryan College teammate Cole Sands to finish second in last week’s Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops.
Sands also is captain for his own brother, Corbett, and angling partner Lance Frazier in this week’s high school championship.
This is only the second time the two younger Dimauro brothers have fished outside of their home state of Florida. They qualified for nationals by winning the Florida B.A.S.S. Nation Junior Championship on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, and they also won the points race in the Sunshine State’s junior standings.
They struggled on Thursday, however, and caught only one bass that weighed 2-2. Still, Bryce, who is 14 and an incoming high school freshman, said he’s learning how to be a better angler by being in the competitive environment the national tournament offers.
“I’m not used to fishing in lakes like this,” Bryce said. “But Conner is. Every time I go fishing, it’s with my brothers or my dad. It’s fun, and I’m always learning something.”
The on-the-water education is important, Davis said, but it’s not necessarily the most important thing happening on the Dimauro family boat this week.
“We’re making some great memories,” he said. “That’s a huge part of it, and it’s why fishing is such a great sport for us.”