Tomorrow morning marks the official start of the 2021 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops. The 124 four teams of eager, excited, and extremely talented college anglers are set to take on the famed St. Lawrence River for the most prestigious tournament of their season.
By Saturday afternoon, the new National Champions will be crowned and four teams will be headed to College Series Classic Bracket to determine who will take Trevor McKinney’s place in representing college fishing in the 2022 Bassmaster Classic.
Connor Nimrod — a junior majoring in marketing at the University of Louisiana Monroe, Brady Harp — a senior studying accounting who attends Auburn University and Cy Casey — an Emmanuel College business major going into his junior year were gracious enough to let us pick their brains for a few minutes leading into tomorrow’s competition.
Read their thoughts on the fishing, along with why they are all content with the incredibly long drive to make it to the smallmouth capital of the bass fishing universe, the St. Lawrence River.
How long was the drive from your school to Waddington, N.Y.?
ULM (Connor) – “Long! Something like 25 hours.”
Auburn (Brady) – “A 19-hour drive.”
Emmanuel (Cy) – “I thought our 17-hour drive was long, but I guess it wasn’t terrible after listening to these guys.”
What is the coolest thing you’ve done since arriving in New York?
ULM (Connor) – “I’m going to have to say catching my personal best smallmouth bass. A 5.58-pound beast.”
Auburn (Brady) – “I’ve gotta say the same thing, I caught a 5.5-pound smallie this week which beat my old personal best by half a pound!”
Emmanuel (Cy) – “Believe it or not, my answer is the same! I caught a 4.60-pound smallmouth in practice. A 3-pounder was my previous best.”
How much weight (per day) will it take to make the top 10 in this National Championship event?
ULM (Connor) – “I think 17 pounds a day will be strong.”
Auburn (Brady) – “There are a lot of big ones swimming around this place. I’d say 19 pounds a day.”
Emmanuel (Cy) – “I would think somewhere around 19 pounds a day.”
What are two techniques you believe will play a major factor this week?
ULM (Connor) – “A drop shot and a Ned rig, smallmouth 101.”
Auburn (Brady) – “Drop shot and a drop shot. That’s really the only thing that worked for us. I’ll guess I’ll throw a frog around some too.”
Emmanuel (Cy) – “A spy bait and a Berkley MaxScent Flatworm on a drop shot.”