Haywood Anglers reel in prestigious junior tournament win

Two of Haywood County's own brought a pair of Bassmaster trophies back from a junior tournament in South Carolina last weekend.

Kollin Brown, a 5th grader at Bethel Christian Academy, and Cord Shook, a 7th grader at Heritage Christian Academy, won the Bassmaster Junior Series tournament at Santee Cooper Lakes.

These types of junior tournaments typically see eighth grade competitors celebrating wins, making the pair's victory even more impressive.

Brown and Shook competed under the Haywood Anglers banner, adding to the long list of accomplishments the team has under its belt.

And this wasn't any old tournament - 35 teams from around the nation were in South Carolina to compete. But Brown and Shook were the two to come away with the trophies.

Annually, there are only four Bassmaster junior tournaments for anglers in eighth grade or below to compete in.

Before the one-day tournament, the boys had a couple of practice days on the lake prior. But those practice days didn't go all that well.

"Practice was not that good. I didn't even catch a fish till the tournament," Shook said.

"The Jungle"

Once the tournament came around, the team made a crucial decision.

The Santee Cooper Lakes are man-made lakes that were created in the 1940s. However, one of the two connected lakes wasn't cleared before it was flooded.

"There's an area of the lake called the stump hole," said Dustin Brown, Kollin's father and the pair's boat captain. "It's just a big flooded timber area of nothing but trees and cypress. We've nicknamed it the jungle because it sounds like birds and monkeys and all kinds of stuff going crazy up there. You've really got to pay attention up there because something's trying to sting you, poke you or bite you."

One wrong turn on the way out to their fishing spot could have spelled disaster. If the motor caught a stump, they'd be stranded in the middle of the lake and would never make it back for weigh-ins.

"God overshadowed us all day, kept us safe, kept our equipment good, didn't let anything bad happen to us. That run up there is very sketchy," Dustin Brown said.

And the boys were focused throughout the day. Dustin Brown recalled the group having snacks and listening to music. But his son was quick to correct him on the music side of things.

"The only reason I didn't play music is because I knew we were going up on those trees, and we were gonna be close to those trees - those vibrations," Kollin Brown said.

At the first set of trees the team found, Brown pulled in a couple of small fish, and Shook got a small one of his own.

A couple of sets of trees later, Brown pulled in the big prize - a fish weighing in at more than five pounds.

"I pulled out that five, and the boat just got crazy," Kollin Brown said. "It was fighting. That fish just got my blood pressure so high. It just got me so excited."

The pair pulled in a couple more fish throughout the day, replacing some of the smaller ones they had initially caught with slightly larger fish.

And that was critical. The boys only took the win by 14 ounces over the second-place team.

"That fish that I caught at the end of the day, that really helped us. If we didn't catch that, we probably wouldn't have won," Kollin Brown said.

"And my fish," Shook chimed in.

On the hot seat

Once they got back in from the lake, things began to sink in. During the chatter before weigh-ins, someone asked Dustin Brown if they had hit their limit of five fish.

When he told them the team had, Brown was told the boys were probably going to nationals.

Brown and Shook were the third team to take the hot seat during the weighing. Their haul overtook a team with 15 pounds, 3 ounces worth of fish.

"When I heard they had 15 (pounds), I was like wondering if your scale was off," Shook said.

But the scale was right, as the boys officially weighed in with 16 pounds, 1 ounce.

"I was really emotional. I started crying a little bit. They got me up there on stage, and I couldn't even talk," Dustin Brown said.

The win was truly a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience.

"It may never happen again. You have to be okay with that, as long as you fish," Dustin Brown told the pair.

But they have plenty of chances to do so with a couple of more years left to fish the junior scene.

Heading to Nationals

Later this summer, they'll have a chance to travel to Kentucky to compete in the Bassmaster Junior National Championship.

"I'm pretty excited to go fishing at a lake I've never fished before," Shook said.

In the meantime, they'll continue to fish local and regional tournaments for Haywood Anglers.

"If it wasn't for Haywood Anglers and Kollin needing a partner, I probably wouldn't have this right now, because it motivated me to fish," Shook said.

And the team has provided a lot of guidance for both of the boys.

"Kevin (Moore) has poured so much into these kids and the Haywood anglers, and has built this program with his son," Dustin Brown said. "These junior boys, they look up to those guys that have come through the program."

Moore was also quick to thank the sponsors who have poured into the team and helped support the success they've seen so far.

"This sport is not cheap. You've got the boat, you've got the fuel, you've got to take time off from work," Moore said.

"It's cheap for us, not for them," Shook retorted.

Speaking of sponsorships, Shook did have an idea for the next deal for the boys.

"We need us a Can Am or a Honda sponsor. Or Polaris," he said. "Get them to sponsor us and send us a four-wheeler."

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