Browning And Vereen Claim Bassmaster Junior Championship Title

 Mission accomplished.

HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — 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.”

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.

STANDINGS BOATER DAY 2

Carroll County 1,000 Acre – Recreational Lake – Huntingdon, TN
8/2/2016 – 8/3/2016
Junior Bassmaster Championship

Today’s Activity
# Fish Lbs – Oz
Accumulative
Name # Live # Fish # Live Lbs – Oz
1 Beau Browning – McCoy Vereen AR – Anvil Jaw Jr Bassmasters 5 4 6- 7 10 7 21- 0
2 Jack Armstrong – Logan Daniels NH – NH Jr Bass Masters 4 4 7-14 9 9 15-13
3 Cameron Meadows – Austin Hubbard OK – OKC Jr Bassmasters 4 4 10- 7 6 6 12-10
4 Samuel Ambrose – Trevor Albanese WV – Berkeley Springs Jr Fishing Club 5 4 8- 4 10 9 12-10
5 Hanson Chaney – Jackson Landry LA – Jr Southwest Bassmasters 5 5 4-12 10 10 9- 7
6 Bennett Bauer – Hunter White NC – Southfork Jr Bassmasters 4 3 5- 3 9 8 9- 5
7 Rein Golubjatnikov – Garrett Lawton NY – Rochester Jr Bassmasters 5 5 4- 9 9 9 8- 1
8 Miller Dowling – Chandlar Hollingsworth AL – West Alabama Jr Bass 4 4 3-13 9 8 7- 8
9 Bradlee Parish – Tyler Guin MS – Monroe County Youth Bassmasters 3 3 2- 7 8 8 7- 1
10 Gavin Enders – Cadin Sheesley PA – Susquehanna Valley Fishing Team 4 4 3- 5 8 8 6-14
11 Andrew Lavoie – Matthew Lavoie RI – RI Jr Bassmasters 3 3 2- 9 8 8 6-12
12 Remington Barkley – Nathan Elsey Michigan – Junior MI Bass Anglers 2 2 1-12 7 6 6- 8
13 Jake Rossi – Charles Jones OH – SS Minnows 4 3 3- 1 6 5 5-11
14 Chris Mussat – Matthew Piho ON – Hamilton Jr Bassmasters 2 1 1- 7 7 6 5- 7
15 Kurtis Swanson – Chaney Weick KY – Bottomline Jr Club 3 3 2-12 6 6 5- 7
16 Ryder Mains – Daniel Gutgesell KS – Kickback Jr Bass Club 4 2 3- 0 7 5 5- 6
17 Dylan Draper – Luis Flores IL – Off the Hook 5 4 3-13 6 5 4-11
18 Roger Weigle Jr – Jeffrey Worthy Jr FL – Lakeland Jr Bassmasters 1 1 0-15 5 5 4- 9
19 Hayden Hedrick – Cale Carr VA – 2 1 2- 0 5 4 4- 7
20 Reece Keeney – Bryce Moder WI – Waupaca Jr Bass Busters 3 3 2- 7 5 5 3-15
21 Noah Jones – Manning Feldner SC – Conway Middle School 4 4 3-14 5 5 3-11
22 Cullen Behen – Bode Meader ME – Mainely Jr Bass 1 1 1- 3 3 3 3- 1
23 Ty Keller – Clayton Capilla CO – Denver Jr Bassmasters 1 1 0-15 3 2 2-10
24 Jake Schiavi – Lorin Valenti CT – Bass Lightning 2 2 1-10 3 3 2- 9
25 Brayden Stotler – Ezra Elkins IN – Southside Anglers 0 0 0- 0 3 3 2- 7
26 Jameson Peterson – Jordan Bryant TX – East Texas Youth Bass Club 2 1 1-10 2 1 1-10
27 Joseph Gorman – Bryan Oelrich MN – Bassinators 1 1 0-13 2 2 1- 8
28 Bentley Fletcher – Tristin Wilcox IA – Cedar Rapids Jr Bassmasters 1 1 0-12 2 2 1- 7
29 Lanie Birdsong – Hunter Davis GA – Bainbridge Basscats 1 1 0-13 3 3 1- 4
Name City,State Lbs-Oz
BIG BASS
Day
1 Beau Browning – McCoy Vereen Hot Springs, AR 5-10
2 Beau Browning – McCoy Vereen Hot Springs, AR 5- 6
Day # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits
TOTALS
# Fish
1 91 86 90-14 10
2 85 75 92- 7 5