Today Trey McKinney set a B.A.S.S. record for four-day weight at St. Clair with 96 pounds 1 ounce. It’s becoming humdrum – just another in a long line of records, firsts, accomplishments and accolades he’s earned before he’s completed his second Elite Series season or before he can legally drink a beer.
He savored his early success today with a seemingly endless incantation of “oh my gosh,” punctuating the line with only more and more hooksets. For a guy who entered the tournament a distant and almost-forgotten third in the Angler of the Year race, now he has to turn his attention not just to individual battles but to finishing out the overall season-long war. Records are meaningful and they matter, but titles are the foundational bricks that build a Hall of Fame career.
That might be putting the cart before the horse. It’s certainly hyperbolic, but it’s still plausible. But I don’t want to let this moment pass. The Elite Series has been to St. Clair a bunch, but this tournament deserves a lot of love. Accordingly, rather than focusing on the future, here’s what I saw, thought and heard on Day Four from Michigan, in a season drawing rapidly to a dramatic close:
Elite Margins of Victory – One record that I thought McKinney would set, but which he ultimately fell short of, was the one for St. Clair Elite Series regular season margin of victory; That was set in 2015, when Todd Faircloth beat runner-up Brandon Palaniuk, who finished 5th this week – by 6-01. Thanks to a heavy charge over the last three days, Logan Parks ultimately came within 5-11 of McKinney’s winning weight. During the three-day, reduced-field AOY championship here in 2019, Seth Feider won by more – 6-8 – over runner-up Stetson Blaylock. The past three Elites at St. Clair, in 2017, 2020 and 2023, have been won by 2-03, 8 ounces and 1-02, respectively.
What Could Have Been – In that 2019 AOY Championship, Feider averaged just a hair under 26 pounds a day. If he’d had a fourth day and he’d matched his lowest limit of the three days, 24-13, he would’ve earned the first smallmouth Century Belt. He caught enough for a belt at Fork earlier this year with 101-8, but the Llama has yet to notch 100 pounds of smallmouths in a single event.
Parks and Recreation – Logan Parks (2nd) tallied 90-6 for four days, which would have been enough to win most of the past Elite events held on St. Clair. Joey Cifuentes had 91-8 in 2023, the only other time Parks would have fallen short. Kyoya Fujita (3rd, 88-1), Matt Robertson (4th, 87-2) and Brandon Palaniuk (5th, 86-14) had more weight this week than the winners in 2020, 2017, 2015 and 2013.
Twenties – Seven of the top ten had 20 pounds or more today and four of them had 22-plus. McKinney, Kyoya Fujita (3rd, 88-1), Matt Robertson (4th, 87-2), Brandon Palaniuk (5th, 86-14), Evan Kung (6th, 85-0) and Cole Sands (7th, 84-6) were the only ones to top 20 pounds every day, although all members of the top ten averaged over 20 pounds. McKinney had over 23-10 every day. Fujita was the only other angler who topped 21 each day.
Trey’s Spotify List – Our winner played plenty of tunes this week but Sinatra will be more fitting next year: “When I was twenty-one/It was a very good year.” That’s scary, because 19 was great and 20 appears to be even better.
Every Silver Lining Hides a Cloud – If you’re a glass-half-empty type of person who wants to poke holes in McKinney’s exceptional track record, I suppose you could argue that he always comes up a little bit short of setting the big records. When he won at Fork last May, he amassed “only” 130-15. That put him not just behind the all-time Elite weight record of 132-8 set by Paul Elias at Falcon in 2008, but also in fourth all-time. This week he failed to set a margin-of-victory record for St. Clair and he failed to hit 100 pounds. I guess you could go there if you’re really desperate to hate on the kid, but you’d be grasping, for sure.
Adolescent Boys Around the World Laughed – When Logan Parks dropped a “That’s what she said” on a big smallmouth early on Day Four.
Playing With House Money – By the time an angler makes it to the top ten, they can generally afford to take a risk because there’s not much room to fall. Five of our top ten had their worst weight of the week: Kyoya Fujita, Evan Kung, Tucker Smith, Paul Mueller and Alex Redwine. Redwine had a 3 pound penalty today that knocked him down to 17 pounds, but even without the penalty, it still would have been his smallest bag. He had 20-2 on Day One. Brandon Palaniuk was the only member of the top ten who had his best day today.
Tommy Sanders to Sooch at 8:30am — “Dare we even think of the possibility of a Century Belt?” Alas, with 96-1, Trey McKinney fell nearly 4 pounds short, but he did set a record for the largest four-day Bassmaster smallmouth catch in a location other than the St. Lawrence.
Ups and Downs – Every point counts, but on Day Four there’s not an opportunity to gain many, nor can you lose many. Four anglers held onto their Day Three position, including the top three. Tucker Smith (8th, 82-12) was the only angler who dropped more than two places – he went from 4th to 8th. Brandon Palaniuk was the only angler who rose more than two spots – he went from 10th to 5th.
Ups and Downs, Dos – Not only did Brandon Palaniuk’s weights go up every day, but he managed to touch all of the bases, with 20+, 21+, 22+ and 23+. He was the only angler to accomplish that upward trend over four days. Paul Mueller was the only angler in the top ten whose weight went down every day.
Evan Kung — “I probably used five gallons of gas all week.”
Fujita’s Charge – This tournament marked Kyoya Fujita’s fourth top ten appearance in the last five Elite Series events. That’s one thing that McKinney can’t match, although if you include the Classic, he’s been there in six of his last eight events, and seven of the last 10.
Strikes Are For Show and Spares are For Dough – Chris Johnston enters the final event of the season effectively tied for first in the AOY race, and he’s yet to make a regular season top ten this year. He was 8th at the Classic but his best regular season finish was 11th this week, coming on the heels of also finishing 11th at Tenkiller. He’s been between 11th and 15th in five of eight tournaments. He’s made eight cuts to Day Three, which means he’s fished 24 days. Meanwhile, co-leader Trey McKinney missed one cut to Day Three, but progressed to Day Four on five occasions, which means he’s competed on four more days (28 total).
Mark Zona — “The dude is absolutely unstoppable and he’s not even 21.”
Top Finishes – Congratulations to Cole Sands, Logan Parks and Evan Kung, who earned the top Elite Series finishes of their young careers. Sands had not crashed the top ten – his previous best was 15th at Smith Lake last year. Likewise, Kung’s prior top spot was 16th at the St. Johns earlier this season. Meanwhile, Logan Parks made the top ten at Wheeler last year, finishing 8th, but moved his PB up six spots to 2nd.
Tucker Smith — “I kind of have that Brandon Palaniuk mentality.” He was talking about his tendency not to look at the points race as the rookie of the year campaign winds down with him closely trailing Paul Marks. Nevertheless, it just seems like the comparison extends more broadly to this lowercase-p-prodigy.
Matt Robertson, Whose Wife is Over 40 Weeks Pregnant – “Hopefully that thing’ll come out of her.” He’s got 11 hours of road time to get home after his best Elite finish of the season. He promised to “pry out” young Stone Cold Robertson. “I don’t know if he knows it or not, but he’s coming out in the next four days.”
Brandon Palaniuk – “You’re killin’ me, Smalls.” He was speaking to a particularly energetic smallmouth, which is good, because the line might’ve been lost on most of the top ten. Seven of them were not yet born when the cinema classic “The Sandlot” was released in 1993. The average age of today’s remaining competitors was just a hair under 30. Paul Mueller is the only one who’s crossed the line into his forties, and just barely.
It was a stone cold killer of a raft up in Michigan. We’ve got one more event to go, on a familiar playing field in the land of cheese curds and Spotted Cow. Like the Elites, I’ll be back at it in less than two weeks.
