By David A. Brown
ANDERSON, S.C., Aug. 24,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- After a decent start,
Garrett Smith and Andrew Blanton of Lander
University saved the best for last by smashing a huge Day 3
limit and tallying a three-day total of 49 pounds to win the Strike
King Bassmaster College National Championship presented by Bass Pro
Shops at Lake Hartwell.
After placing 22nd with an opening weight of 12-6, Smith and
Blanton added 16-1 on Day 2 and moved into third. Championship
Saturday saw them weigh 20-9 — the event's heaviest bag — and edge
Day 2 leaders Parker Guy and
Tyler Campbell of Emmanuel
University by 1-3.
"Fishing on this level has been a dream of mine since I was a
little boy, and Garrett and I have dedicated our lives to it,"
Blanton said. "Being the first to win a National Championship for
Lander is amazing. I'm so happy that we get to cherish it with all
(our teammates) that were at the weigh in.
"The Lord has blessed me and (Smith) beyond measure. I can't
believe this. It's great."
Smith added: "This all came down to making good decisions and
executing. We just want to thank our parents and our school for
putting us in position to do this."
While many of their competitors, including Guy and Campbell,
targeted the bass that were following blueback herring on the main
lake, Smith and Blanton took a dramatically different approach.
"We focused on the Tugaloo River and the Seneca River, because
we wanted to fish shallow and chase fish that would be feeding on
bream," Smith said. "We spent all of our practice in those
areas.
"We chose to go to the bank and fish the way we were most
comfortable, because we felt it was almost impossible for us to go
out there and beat the (more experienced) herring guys. So, we
chose to go give ourselves a chance to win it our way."
Blanton said he and his partner fished in 5 feet or less and saw
most of their fish before they bit.
"We had to be around steeper pockets more so than just flat
pockets," he said. "That was weird for us because we fish here a
good bit in the summer and we usually fish flatter pockets and
flatter banks for shallow cruisers and bream eaters.
"This week, the water continued to drop, so we had to fish in
steeper pockets and a lot of them had bream beds. The key for us is
the areas we were fishing — whether we were throwing at the bream
beds or not — had to have a big population of bream."
Smith, who's pursuing a master's degree in business
administration, and Blanton, a junior majoring in business, fished
reaction and finesse baits.
"We caught 90% of our fish on a buzzbait, but we also threw a
wacky rig and we caught a key Day 1 fish on a prop bait," Blanton
said. "We beat the bank all week. We had a great time today."
The winners caught about 15 keepers on Day 3, including a 6-1.
Biting a wacky rig around 1:30, that fish gave them the cull that
pushed them over the edge — but not without a double dose of
drama.
"Today was one of those days when everything just went right,"
Blanton said. "Once we got that big one in the boat, I felt like it
was our time, because you don't have things happen like what
happened today unless it's your time.
"As soon as Garrett hooked that big one, it wrapped him up in a
brushpile under a dock twice. It came out and jumped a bunch. Any
other day, I feel like we wouldn't have gotten that fish in the
boat, but we were able to get it to come out of that brushpile and
catch it."
Smith and Blanton earned the $5,000 first-place cash prize, along with
$10,000 in Minn Kota/Humminbird
merchandise. Also, the winners advance to the Bassmaster College
Classic Bracket presented by Lew's. This head-to-head style
competition will send the winner to the 2025 Bass Pro Shops
Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors March 21-23 on Texas'
Lake Ray Roberts.
Guy and Campbell finished second with 47-13. Their daily weights
were 16-6, 15-2 and 16-5.
Sticking with the game plan that produced all week, Campbell and
Guy committed themselves to a run-and-gun strategy that took them
all over the lake. With the lake in drought condition and current
generation minimal until later in the afternoon, the morning bite
proved most productive.
Targeting brushpiles and cane piles in 15 to 30 feet, Campbell
and Guy hit approximately 300 spots. Guy and Campbell caught their
fish on a variety of topwater presentations, including a Berkley
Krej waking bait and unweighted Texas-rigged Zoom Super Flukes.
Campbell, who guides on Hartwell, said he wouldn't change
anything about his team's decision. He also said the final field of
12 teams proved advantageous.
"No regrets about the week; everything went perfectly, execution
was good and they bit better today than they have all week due to
less pressure on the lake," Campbell said. "The only thing I didn't
account for was somebody catching 20 1/2 pounds."
Lane Clark and Tallis Morrison of
Erskine College placed third with 45-3.
They caught limits of 13-11, 15-1 and 16-7.
Clark said he and Morrison fished
the lake's lower end, where they expected to find Hartwell's bigger
fish, along with the largest population of blueback herring. They
fished cane piles, brushpiles and timber in depths of 20 to 70
feet.
"We caught our fish on chartreuse and white Zoom Super Flukes
and buzzbaits," Clark said. "We were running and gunning and
putting our bait in front of as many fish as possible."
Dylan Akins and Chase Carey of Emmanuel University won the
Strike King Bassmaster College Series Team of the Year honors.
Finishing fifth in the tournament, Akins and Carey received
$2,500 cash, $5,000 of Minn Kota/Humminbird merchandise and a
spot in the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket presented by
Lew's.
Smith and Blanton won big bass honors for Day 3 with their
6-1.
Contact:
Chad Gay
cgay@bassmaster.com
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