PARIS, Tenn. — Clint Knight’s lifetime of fishing Kentucky Lake gave him complete confidence in his final-round game plan, but calling an audible set him up for a rain-soaked victory at the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Kentucky Lake/Lake Barkley presented by Battery Tender.
Kentucky's Clint Knight has won the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Kentucky Lake/Lake Barkley presented by Battery Tender with a three-day total of 62 pounds, 6 ounces.
Photo by Andy Crawford/B.A.S.S.
With the morning’s light drizzle turning into afternoon downpours, Knight tallied a three-day total of 62 pounds, 2 ounces and edged Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series rookie and fellow Kentucky Lake hammer Tristan McCormick by a margin of 1-3.
“I’m just speechless, right now,” Knight said of his accomplishment. “I think the world of Tristan. Me and him have been good friends for the last three or four years. We’ve learned a lot just growing up fishing the way we fish, so I’m really happy for his (Top 10 finish)."
Knight’s day started with an equipment issue, as his side imaging transducer was not working. He’d later make a wise adjustment that kept him in the hunt, but probably his best call was to delay his initial plan of running down to the Kentucky Lake Dam.
“I took off this morning thinking I was gonna swing for it, but I just had a gut feeling that things were going to change with all the rain, so I started on a little spot right out in front of Paris (north side of US Highway 79 Bridge) that I haven’t even fished this week,” Knight said. “I wanted to make sure I had a limit before I went swinging for it.
“It was just a gut feeling. I was on my way to the dam, but I had a feeling I needed to start there. It’s just a big community hole; a high spot in 20 feet on the edge of the river.”
The plan worked and Knight boated his first keeper — a 4 1/2-pound smallmouth — 11 minutes after the 6:30 a.m. takeoff. Quickly gathering a decent limit, he proceeded to his primary game plan of starting at the dam and working his way back to the Paris Landing area.
Knight caught those early fish with a jighead minnow. Most were eating the bait near the bottom, but when the fish came up schooling on baitfish, Knight would burn his minnow across the surface to draw aggressive bites.
“That made me feel good knowing that I made the right decision,” Knight said. “I fish with more confidence when I have a limit in the boat.”
From the Dam, Knight fished 30 to 40 spots, mostly bars and ledges. With today’s exception, recent weeks have seen minimal rain fall across the region, so the Tennessee Valley Authority has moved very little water through Kentucky Lake.
“When there’s a lack of current, those fish have no reason to be where they’re supposed to be,” Knight said. “I was not very efficient today because I didn’t have my SideScan. All the places I’d look for schools, I just put the trolling motor on 10 and looked for them.”
Describing his strategy, Knight said he’d make a strategic cast to likely areas and watch his forward facing sonar to see if he spotted any fish coming off the bottom to chase his bait.
Along with the jighead minnow, Knight caught the rest of his fish on a 3/4-ounce Green Fish Tackle Living Rubber Jig with a Berkley MaxScent Creature Hog, and a Hideup Coike Fullcast Neko rigged with a 3/0 flipping hook.
Earning his first Bassmaster win, Knight took home the $39,176 top prize and received an invitation to fish the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour, March 19-21 at Lake Hartwell.
“I was scared to death this morning when I realized I didn’t have any side-imaging,” Knight said. “I had been finding new schools about 1 or 2 o’clock every day, so I didn’t know how this was gonna work out, but it did."
McCormick, who lives in Bon Aqua, Tenn., finished second with 60-15. A Day 1 limit of 21-9 put him in third place, but McCormick added a second-round bag that went 25-4 — the event’s heaviest catch — and surged into the lead. A disjointed final round yielded 14-2.
Since Day 1, McCormick has made a long run upriver to New Johnsonville, which he considers his “home” section of the lake. Unfortunately, Championship Friday required multiple changes, the last of which delivered a late-day opportunity that he was unable to fully exploit.
“I checked a couple places where I expect them to show up and they did not show up,” McCormick said. “I ran all the way down there and all the way back up, past Paris and then I ran all the way down about halfway to New Johnsonville.
“I just couldn’t get in a grove. Everywhere I pulled up, I wasn’t getting a bite and I just knew that if I just kept going and kept going, I’d run into them.”
On his way back to weigh-in, McCormick finally found what he was looking for, but time was not on his side.
“Literally in the last 10 minutes, I scanned over a spot and there they were,” he said. “I turned around and made three casts and caught my three biggest ones. I just ran out of time.”
McCormick caught his fish on a jighead minnow with a Strike King Wing Minnow on a 1/8-ounce head, a Strike King 6XD crankbait, and a Hideup Coike Fullcast.
Trey Schroeder of Theodora, Mo., finished third with 57-12. His daily weights were 21-2, 16-5 and 20-5.
Schroeder did most of his work on a set of bars in 10 to 16 feet not far from the tournament site. He found the fish in different positions throughout the event, but noted that he looked for the aggressive fish that were in a feeding position.
“Every day around at about 1:30-2 o’clock, there was water running and that’s when those fish would set up on the point,” Schroeder said. “If they would set up, you could get right in a hurry.”
Schroeder caught his fish on a football jig, a jighead minnow with a 7-inch Deps Sackamata Shad on a 1/4-ounce head, and a Rapala DT-20.
Jack York of Emory, Texas won the $500 Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with an 8-1.
Zane Parker of Kingwood, Texas leads the Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens presented by Battery Tender Division 2 standings with 569 points. Yui Aoki of Minamitsurugun, Japan is in second with 561, followed by Brody Robison of Dawson, Ala., with 559, Wyatt Burkhalter of Coker, Ala., with 550, and Ethan Fields of Carlyle, Ill., with 548.
Henry County Tourism Authority hosted this event.
2026 Div 2 Open 3 Kentucky Barkley Lake 5/20-5/22
Kentucky and Barkley Lakes, TN.
(BOATER) Standings Day 3
Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$
1. Clint Knight Russellville, KY 15 62-02 0 $39,176.00
Day 1: 5 21-08 Day 2: 5 20-15 Day 3: 5 19-11
2. Tristan McCormick Bon Aqua, TN 15 60-15 200 $15,670.00
Day 1: 5 21-09 Day 2: 5 25-04 Day 3: 5 14-02
3. Trey Schroeder Theodosia, MO 15 57-12 199 $11,753.00
Day 1: 5 21-02 Day 2: 5 16-05 Day 3: 5 20-05
4. Cole McAusland Tuscaloosa, AL 15 56-05 198 $10,969.00
Day 1: 5 16-00 Day 2: 5 21-00 Day 3: 5 19-05
5. Garrett Paquette Canton, MI 15 55-11 197 $10,186.00
Day 1: 5 15-10 Day 2: 5 20-11 Day 3: 5 19-06
6. Jace Lindsay Beckville, TX 15 54-08 196 $9,402.00
Day 1: 5 19-00 Day 2: 5 19-00 Day 3: 5 16-08
7. Jack York Emory, TX 14 53-09 195 $9,119.00
Day 1: 5 23-00 Day 2: 4 17-05 Day 3: 5 13-04
8. Matt Robertson Kuttawa, KY 15 51-15 0 $7,835.00
Day 1: 5 19-12 Day 2: 5 19-04 Day 3: 5 12-15
9. Riley Nielsen Salt Lake City, UT 15 51-14 194 $7,835.00
Day 1: 5 23-05 Day 2: 5 13-02 Day 3: 5 15-07
10. Zane Parker Kingwood, TX 15 49-05 193 $7,835.00
Day 1: 5 16-10 Day 2: 5 19-10 Day 3: 5 13-01
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BIG BASS OF TOURNAMENT
Jack York Emory, TX 08-01 $500.00
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Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 105 678 1990-03
2 95 633 1828-12
3 10 50 164-00
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210 1361 3982-15
