WALKER, Minn. — Brody Robison and Peyton Sorrow made around 20 casts during their three days of practice for the Strike King Bassmaster College National Championship at Leech Lake presented by Bass Pro Shops. Instead, they did as much scanning as they could looking for cover that might hold big smallmouth.
It was admittedly a Hail Mary strategy, but it’s one that has the Montevallo duo on top of the leaderboard.
Robison and Sorrow battled strong winds and big waves to bring in 24 pounds, 1 ounce of smallmouth on Day 1 at Leech Lake, a fairly unknown body of water to much of the College Series field. The Montevallo duo will carry a 1-6 advantage over second-place Easton Drennon and Chase McCarter into Day 2.
“We were just able to break down the lake as the day went on,” Robison said. “We had a lot of places to check, and a lot of them were empty, but we just needed a couple bites. We had an idea of where the big ones would be sitting.”
It’d be awesome to win, especially with Brody,” Sorrow said. “We’ve spent a lot of time together and put in a lot of hard work. It would be awesome for it to pay off in a tournament like this.”
After finishing fifth in Legends Trail points during the regular season, Sorrow and Robison entered Leech Lake tied for eighth in the overall Team of the Year standings. Knowing they were likely in too deep of a hole to win TOY and claim a spot in the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s that way, they went all in on a strategy that would either produce a big bag or send them home empty handed.
“We were just trying to stay around the bigger bites and not have to filter through so many fish. It was a swing for the fence tactic, and it worked today,” Robison said. “We had stuffed marked in all depth ranges. As the weather changes, we can adjust and follow the conditions. It is more efficient to cast at fish that are comfortable rather than bass that aren’t.
“We’ve never won a Bassmaster event. We’ve been really close before, and we want to win.”
It wasn’t easy by any means, Robison and Sorrow remarked. When they reached their starting area, they only caught three keepers before the southwest wind became too strong to fish in and didn’t fill out their final limit until 12:30 p.m.
But the five bass they caught were the right size.
“It was honestly a lot slower than expected, but every bite we got was the right one,” Robison said. “We held out in (our first area) as long as we could, until we couldn’t keep the trolling motor in the water. We left with three fish and ran new water until we found two more good ones then culled one time.”
One presentation produced all their bites, but paying attention to specific, niche details from their practice period was essential.
“We have noticed little details that have shown us some bigger fish,” Sorrow said. “For the most part though, it revolves around rock. They are eating crawfish mostly, I think, but there are baitfish and perch around. I’m sure they take what they can get when there are big waves and a lot of water movement.”
While the majority of the field tried their hand at smallmouth fishing, McCarter and Drennon knew from the moment they qualified they would be hunting for big largemouth. It wasn’t until the final afternoon of practice that the Carson-Newman duo found their primary area.
“We never fished for smallmouth in practice,” McCarter said. “We wanted to keep to our strengths. It took us a little while, but there are good ones in our area. There’s good quantity and quality.”
On Day 1, the duo caught between 10 and 15 keepers on their way to their 22-11 total, which included a 5-8 largie that claimed Big Bass of the Day honors as well as another 5-pounder. Three presentations caught the bulk of their bass.
“It was awesome. We found that hot area the last day of practice and didn’t know what it was going to give up,” Drennon said. “The first one we caught was 5 pounds, and we thought it might be a good day. The train kept rolling and we got to what we needed to.”
Their bite revolves around vegetation, but similar to the smallmouth, depth didn’t seem to necessarily matter.
“I think we just have a really good area found,” Drennon said. McCarter added, “There are a lot of fish there, but there are a lot of places for them to hide. I think it is possible to repeat (though).”
Their Carson-Newman teammates Nicholas DellaPorta and Drew Pitts are third with all smallmouth weighing 22-3.
“We put a lot of preparation into this tournament,” Pitts said. “We got in the right rotation this morning and it happened quick.”
By 10 a.m., DellaPorta and Pitts completed their bag and were able to find some new areas they could target on Day 2. With nearly 30 rods on the deck, Pitts and DellaPorta moved between mid-depth and deeper rock structures. DellaPorta calls Lake Champlain home, and that helped him and Pitts figure out Leech Lake to some extent.
“It is similar in that they get on boulders, but Champlain has so many smallmouth. This place you really have to grind,” he said.
Team of the Year leaders Grant Pursifull and Ben Burns are fourth with 21-15 while Evan Sutton and Jaxson Freeman from McKendree are fifth with 21-2.
The full field of 135 anglers will launch from the Walker Public Dock at 6:30 a.m. CT and return for weigh-in at 2:30 p.m. The Top 12 teams at the end of the Day 2 weigh-in will advance to Championship Saturday and the tournament winners will punch their ticket to the College Classic Bracket. The overall Team of the Year will also be crowded and claim their spot in the Bracket.
The Leech Lake Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting this event.