Soddy Daisy duo wins 2024 Bassmaster Junior National Championship

DAYTON, Tenn. (WDEF) —  Soddy Daisy’s own William Collins and Kyler Jenkins have taken home first place at the 2024 Bassmaster Junior National Championship, Saturday, July 27.

Collins and Jenkins needed 6 pounds and 1 ounce to take home the title, and ended up weighing over that at 6 pounds 5 ounces, making their total weight for the tournament 20 pounds and 9 ounces.

“This means the world to me. I couldn’t have done it without having Kyler as my partner,” Collins said.

Collins has been in the fishing game for a while now, but this was Jenkin’s first year fishing with Collins and Bassmaster.

“It feels pretty good, especially since it is my first year fishing with Will and with Bassmaster,” said Jenkins. “I’m happy about it, but I know it means a whole lot to Will. He’s been doing it for a while.”

Collins and Jenkins said their day was slow, only catching a fish weighing in at 3 pounds to start their morning.  Things could’ve turned out differently for the group had they not gotten a bite near the very end.

“We only had one fish in the boat at that point.  We caught that last one in the last 15 minutes. It was pretty close,” said Jenkins.

The duo’s boat captain, Willie Collins, said no matter what happened, he was proud of them and the work they did during the tournament.

“I’m just really proud of them.  They fished so clean both days. I kept telling them, ‘You left it all out there. If it comes up short, I’m still really proud of you.’  They never quit. They fished down to the last minute and never gave up.”  said Willie.

William Collins and Kyler Jenkins holding their trophies / B.A.S.S.

On Friday, July 26, 2024, Collins and Jenkins weighed in at 14 pounds and 4 ounces yesterday, putting them atop the leaderboard for day one.

“I feel pretty amazing right now.  Today was a really fun day. I’m pretty excited for tomorrow. I’ve been praying about it. We had our bite (dialed in) between two practice days. The third day we pretty much eliminated water,” said Collins.

Collins and Jenkins consider Chickamauga Lake their home course, as they live five minutes from the nearest boat ramp.

Collins caught a new personal best on day one of the tournament, weighing in  at 6 pounds and 14 ounces.

William Collins and Kyler Jenkins / B.A.S.S

They ended up catching two more fish weighing over 3 pounds, pulling them to first place.

“I threw beside a clump of grass and caught that (big one).  I was pretty much jumping up and down when I caught it. It bit right beside the boat. I set the hook and (Jenkins) netted it really quickly,” said Collins.

With Collins and Jenkins familiar with the waters, they knew they’d have to repeat their success on day one to claim first place for the whole tournament, and they did.

Congratulations to William and Kyler for bringing the junior national title to Soddy Daisy, Tennessee!