PARIS, Tenn. — Tournament anglers often self-motivate with the phrase “Go big or go home.” Tristan McCormick did both and that aggressive strategy delivered the Day 2 lead in the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Kentucky Lake/Lake Barkley presented by Battery Tender.
Day 1 saw the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series rookie from Bon Aqua, Tenn., place third with 21-9, but McCormick rocked the second round with the event’s heaviest catch — 25-4. Tallying a 2-day total of 46-13, he heads into Championship Friday with a lead of 4-6 over Clint Knight.
“It was a really special day,” McCormick said. “It started out really slow, I was losing fish and getting really mad, but I had all my buddies out there and they were telling me, ‘Stay calm.’
“I finally ran into them and I caught like 20 pounds pretty quick and then I ran back down here (to the Paris area), scanned a couple places, turned around and caught ’em.”
Fishing a mix of traditional offshore current breaks and wood, McCormick targeted a mix of spawning fish, fry guarders and big postspawners. He caught most of his fish on a jighead minnow with a Strike King Wing Minnow on a 1/8-ounce head. A Strike King 6XD crankbait produced one of McCormick’s better fish.
McCormick started his day by running upriver to New Johnsonville, about an hour west of his home. With a lifetime of experience on Kentucky Lake’s 160,300-acres, he knew that was where he’d find his best options.
“I call New Johnsonville ‘home’ and I’ve never fished a major tournament up there and I’m literally the only guy up there,” McCormick said. “Usually, when we have an event here, I go north, or we run out of Kentucky Dam Marina.
“This time, I told my buddies, ‘If I’m gonna win this thing, it’s gonna be going home.’”
Essential to that objective was leveraging his understanding of geography and seasonal progressions.
“This lake is so big and vast and I grew up here, so I know what areas go off first,” McCormick said. “I know where they get offshore first and where the heavier fish are gonna be. It’s just time behind the wheel.
“I have probably 16,000 waypoints out here, everything from stumps, to schools, the whole 9 yards.”
McCormick, who weighed a mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth said he’s optimistic about his final-round potential.
“It’s definitely not fast and in a hurry, but I like what I saw in the last 30 minutes, so I’m excited to start on that hole in the morning, because I know what lives there,” McCormick said. “I only made one cast on that spot and caught one.
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen tomorrow, but I’ve dreamed of this a long time on this lake, so I’m excited to get back out there.”
Knight, who makes his home in Russellville, Ky., is in second with 42-7. After placing fourth on Day 1 with 21-8, Knight added 20-15 and gained two spots.
“I found a school yesterday afternoon pretty close to takeoff and I started on them this morning but they weren’t there,” Knight said. “I actually ran all the way to Kentucky Dam and caught a limit but it wasn’t but 12 to 13 pounds. I just started working my way upriver and checking things.”
As Knight observed, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kentucky Dam release schedule is pulling such a low level of current through the lake that the fish are simply not as active as he’d like. He addressed this limitation by using the lake to his advantage.
“I ran pretty far upriver and the more narrow it gets in the area I fished, the more current it creates (due to a more constricted flow),” Knight said.
Knight kept his bait details guarded, but he said he’s using a slow presentation.
Jack York of Emory, Texas holds the third-place spot with 40-5. York placed second on Day 1 with a limit of 23-0, but yielded one spot with a Day 2 bag of 17-5.
Notably, York missed his 5-bass limit by one fish, but with over a 4-pound average, he was around the right quality. Ultimately, he surmised that the schools he fished on Day 1 had fractured with the day’s weather.
“I think that with two days of overcast conditions and really strong rain yesterday afternoon, the two schools I was rotating through weren’t setting up right,” York said. “I know I’m around the right kind, they’re just not tight.
“When I get a bite, it’s a big one. Yesterday, I only caught seven and today, just the four. But I’m around the fish to do really well, if I can just catch five of them tomorrow.”
York caught his fish on a 7-inch Sixth Sense Shendo minnow on a 3/16-ounce jig.
York holds the Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with an 8-1 from Day 1.
Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. CT at Paris Landing Marina. The weigh-in will be held at the marina at 2:30 p.m.
Follow along with all of the action from the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Kentucky Lake/Lake Barkley presented by Battery Tender on Bassmaster.com.
Henry County Tourism Authority is hosting this event.
