Last 2023 Bassmaster Opens event offers final opportunity for Elite-Qualifier AOY points race

Graduation Day: Trey McKinney Looks to Punch Ticket to 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series on Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes

Last 2023 Bassmaster Opens event offers final opportunity for Elite-Qualifier AOY points race

 

PARK FALLS, Wis. (October 12, 2023) – The St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Series rolls into Leesburg, Florida today for the final event of the 2023 season. A full field of boaters and accompanying co-anglers will compete on over 75,000 acres of water on the storied Harris Chain of Lakes. At stake is a total payout of over $250,000, an invitation for the pro-division tournament winner to the 2024 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Toyota, as well as one final shuffling of EQ points that will graduate the top nine EQ anglers of the 2023 Opens season to the 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series. Competition begins today and wraps up on Sunday.
 
Current St. Croix 2023 Bassmaster Opens EQ Standings – Top 15
  1. JT Thompkins – 1480
  2. John Garrett – 1461
  3. Trey McKinney – 1417
  4. Robert Gee – 1372
  5. Kenta Kimura – 1355
  6. Kyle Patrick  –1304
  7. Logan Parks – 1294
  8. Kyle Austin – 1286
  9. Tyler Williams – 1271
  10. Jamie Bruce – 1263
  11. Wesley Gore – 1262
  12. Sam George – 1256
  13. Logan Johnson – 1255
  14. Joey Nania – 1251
  15. Bobby Lane Jr. – 1248
With six top-20 finishes and three top-5 finishes so far this season, St. Croix pro, Trey McKinney, sits in 3rd in the Opens EQ AOY race going into this week’s event. If he manages to catch and weigh even a few fish, the 18-year-old Junior National and World Champion from Illinois should easily secure one of the nine 2024 Elite Series berths.
 

McKinney says finding multiple pockets of bass and then managing those fish will be one of the keys to doing well on the Harris Chain. “We got on something really nice early in practice but some other anglers found out about it,” he says. “So, you just have to keep looking for those strategic locations that have everything, find the sweet spots on those areas, and then hope they hold up. It’s hard to say what anyone else may have found, but I just hope what I found is enough.”

Meanwhile, McKinney acknowledges that his comfortable, third-place standing in the EQ AOY points race puts him in a unique situation. “The fact that I’m very likely going to be fishing the Elite Series next season still really hasn’t even sunk in with me yet, so I’m just going to go out and have fun doing what I know how to do in this final Opens event,” he says. “I’ll worry about next season later.
 
“I’ve always wanted to have a tournament where I can go out and swing for the fence without the pressure of needing a really high finish, and we’re blessed to have that privilege this week. My comfort pattern would be using my 74H Victory rod and fishing grass with a Strike King Structure Worm or a Strike King Cutter Worm. That’s going to yield a lot of bites… maybe some big ones… maybe not. I very well may do that, but I’ve got another big-fish pattern I’ll more likely spend the most time with, just because of the unique situation I’m in.”
 
Bassmaster photo.

Even though he’s just 18, McKinney came into this season on the Bassmaster Opens as a seasoned, accomplished, and proven competitor. So, what did he learn from this season of next-level, intense competition that he’ll be able to lean on next year in the Elites? “The main thing… my arsenal was not very big coming into this season,” he says. “I had my jig and some other confidence baits, but now after fishing north and south… all these new waters against so many talented anglers…  I have so many new confidence baits and presentations. I’ve just become so much more versatile and I’ve learned what to do and what not to do when something unexpected happens. It’s just that experience, right? Inside or outside of fishing, when you get thrown into new situations, experience teaches us how to make better and more mature decisions. I certainly know I’ve made some wild ones in the past!”

McKinney also credits his faith in God. “The Lord has certainly blessed me by putting so many people in my path,” he says. “I’ve met so many good people and made new relationships in the Opens this year. These are people who may not realize it, but they have helped me immensely, and there have been cases when I’ve been able to help them, too, which I also appreciate. I’m so very grateful.”

Follow McKinney’s progress and the rest of the dramatic grand-finale action from the 2023 St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Harris Chain at bassmaster.com/opens.
 
Follow Trey McKinney on Facebook and Instagram.