Beau Browning and McCoy Vereen remember what it felt like a year ago when they didn’t catch a fish in the Costa Bassmaster Junior Championship.
“It was tough,” Vereen said. “We had a long ride home. But we left knowing that we wanted a chance to redeem ourselves.”
Mission accomplished.
Browning and Vereen, fishing again for Arkansas’ Anvil Jaw Junior Bassmasters team in the 2016 Costa Bassmaster Junior Championship, stormed to nearly a 7-pound lead after the first day of competition on Tuesday, by virtue of a five-bass limit that totaled 14 pounds, 9 ounces. They followed with another impressive performance on Wednesday — a 6-7 sack of five bass that was decreased by 2-3 because of penalties.
Still, it was enough for a 21-0 two-day total and victory in the crown jewel of junior bass fishing. The boys, both 14-years-old, each won a championship trophy, and will split a $2,000 scholarship for their performance on Carroll County 1,000 Acre Recreation Lake.
“We’ve been thinking throughout the year about what we were going to do when we got back,” Browning said. “It feels great to come this far and win.”
The final day of fishing was not without a bit of drama, however. For starters, the boys didn’t have an early run on bass like they did on Tuesday, when they caught a limit within 30 minutes of launching. The brutal Tennessee heat bore down early on Wednesday and made the bite difficult for just about all of the 29 competing teams.
And to top off the early slack bite, the Arkansas team self-reported a rules violation by having too many fish on board at one time.
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Stephen Browning (Beau’s father and the team’s coach for the tournament), said there were five bass in the livewell, when a sixth keeper was caught. While Browning was measuring the fish, both boys began fishing again, which is not allowed.
The elder Browning informed the team of the violation, then called tournament officials, who docked them 2 pounds for the oversight. Another of their five fish expired before weigh-in, which knocked them down another 3 ounces.
“It’s like ‘dadgummit,’” Stephen Browning said. “Two pounds is a lot of weight. I mean, it’s a lot of weight; especially in a close tournament like this. We said, ‘We made the mistake boys. Let’s own up to it and keep grinding away.’”
And so they did. A 5-6 lunker was the big bass of the day, and the 5-10 bass the team weighed on Tuesday was the big bass of the tournament. Knowing that the lake can produce some big bags — last year’s winners boated 28 pounds on the final day of fishing — placed even more pressure on Browning and Vereen to perform.
The boys caught the majority of their bass on magnum shaky head worms in the red bug color in 10 to 15 feet of water. They said fishing on Carroll County 1,000 Acre Recreational Lake was similar to what they encounter back home in Hot Springs in August.
“Summer fishing is slow,” Beau said. “You have to fish slow, and you have to just grind it out pretty much. That’s what we fish around the house, but coming here, the practice was still well-needed.”
The New Hampshire duo of Jack Armstrong and Logan Daniels took the lead early on Wednesday. New Hampshire finished with 15-13 overall, and placed second in the championship.
Cameron Meadows and Austin Hubbard of Oklahoma had the big bag on Wednesday (10-7) and finished third overall with 12-10. Both teams collected trophies, while the New Hampshire team will split a $1,000 scholarship, as well.
Samuel Ambrose and Trevor Albanese of West Virginia also caught 12-10, but fell to fourth place overall on the heaviest-bag tiebreaker. Team Louisiana’s Hanson Chaney and Jackson Landry finished fifth with a two-day total of 9-7.
Anglers competing in the Costa Bassmaster Junior Championship could range in age from 7 to 14 years old. Each team was accompanied by a coach who could offer advice on the water, but not catch the fish.
The junior anglers are considered the future of the sport. Championship teams from 28 states, and another from Canada, took part in the title tournament.
2016 Bassmaster High School Title Sponsor: Costa
2016 Bassmaster High School Premier Sponsors: Toyota, Huk, Humminbird, Minn Kota, Triton Boats, Yamaha, Berkley, GoPro
2016 Bassmaster High School Supporting Sponsors: Carhartt, Lowrance, Phoenix Boats, Power-Pole, Rapala, Shell Rotella, Shimano, ABU Garcia, Academy Sports + Outdoors
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 500,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines , Bassmaster website, television show (The Bassmasters), social media programs and events. For more than 45 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.
The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series, B.A.S.S. Nation, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Costa Bassmaster High School Series, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro.
By: Helen White, Bassmaster
