MECKLENBURG COUNTY, Va. — Day 1 of the Strike King Bassmaster College Series at Buggs Island presented by Bass Pro Shops well exceeded the expectations of Easton Drennon and Chase McCarter, who landed a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 5 ounces to take the lead over the 200-boat field.
The Carson-Newman duo holds a 3-ounce advantage over North Alabama’s Nathan Reynolds and Jake Brown. Lucas Washburn and Braylon Eggerding from Adrian College and Will Wester and Jackson Thomas from Emmanuel College are tied for third with 18-9.
“We are amazed. Today was a true blessing,” Drennon said. “We honestly struggled in practice. We didn’t see many fish over 2 ½ pounds. It was a tough practice, so we went out with the mindset that we were going to grind out some bites and it went our way.”
Anglers enjoyed warm and sunny conditions on Day 1 of the two-day tournament, which resulted in an overall great day of fishing from the field. A total of 176 limits were caught and over 2,265 pounds of bass hit the scales.
McCarter and Drennon both hail from Tennessee, McCarter from the eastern side of the state and Drennon from the Nashville area. While neither one had seen Buggs Island prior to the week, McCarter’s experience using forward-facing sonar on Douglas Lake played a role in their Day 1 success.
After a lackluster practice, McCarter and Drennon found a small area with shallow and deep-water access that both prespawn and postspawn bass were utilizing.
“The fish had both deep and shallow to dwell in,” Drennon said. “I think that is what made the biggest difference. We had some postspawners and some that still seemed to be prespawn in our bag.”
They filled their bag of 4-pound largemouth using a jighead minnow, but getting the bass to bite it took more convincing than McCarter expected.
“You just had to make a lot of good casts. They weren’t just going to run out and get it; you really had to talk them into it. They wanted it a certain way,” he explained. “Most of them were cruising along the bottom and some of them were stationary. It is a pretty special spot, honestly.”
Although their starting spot didn’t pan out like they hoped, McCarter and Drennon quickly moved to what turned out to be their best point. There, they quickly filled out a limit and landed three of the bass they would take back to weigh-in. A short distance down the bank on another point, they landed two more quality keepers.
“It was unreal. They were just biting,” McCarter said. “I’d say we started catching them around 7:30 and we were done by 11. We left that area after that. We culled a 3.39 and we didn’t think the lake could produce much more than a 20-pound bag. We didn’t want to waste any fish.”
The Carson-Newman team spent the rest of the day trying to expand on their area and found a few more promising spots for the final day. McCarter believes they will need around 17 pounds to keep the lead on Day 2.
Reynolds and Brown anchored their 20-3 Day 1 limit with the Big Bass of the Day, a 5-2 largemouth.
The full field will launch from Occoneechee State Park tomorrow beginning at 6:15 a.m. ET and return for weigh-in at 2:15 p.m. The Top 10% of the field will punch their tickets to the 2025 Strike King Bassmaster College National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops at Cherokee Lake scheduled for July 10-12. Teams will also earn points towards the Lunkers Trail Team of the Year race.
Mecklenburg County, Virginia, is hosting the tournament.