Lake Murray hosted some of the nation’s best college anglers this past weekend for the beginning of the 2024 Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops.

Over 400 participants journeyed to Dreher Island State Park and toughed out a week of crazy weather to get things started for the Bassmaster series Legends trail. 

The tournament was hosted by Capital City/Lake Murray Country and brought teams from all over the nation, including teams from California, Kansas and Wisconsin.

This year’s competition started with challenges brought by chaotic weather and a tragic crash. 

The fatal accident happened during a practice round the day before the event began in earnest. Two boats holding four participants collided on the water, sending three to the hospital, according to Stephen Fastenau of the state Department of Natural Resources. 

Western Kentucky’s Johnathan Brian, 21, was one of the anglers sent to the hospital and was pronounced dead at Prisma Health Richland Tuesday morning, according to Newberry County Coroner Laura Kneece. 

The other two anglers, including Brian’s partner, have been released from the hospital, according to Bassmaster. 

The temperature jumped to the 70s, rain came and went and thick fog covered the lake during the days before the tournament. 

“It’s been super foggy out here, so our practice has been kind of partially limited,” North Alabama angler Jake Brown said. “Practice was a little tougher than you would expect it to be with weights like they are right now. But these boys are going to catch them no matter what.”

The weather had a clear effect on the anglers’ strategy with many having to change their approach on the fly. 

“It’s pushing our fish up,” University of South Carolina angler Butler Cochran said. “We’re going a little bit shallower than we would like, and a lot of guys seem like they’re going to humps and stuff, and we just can’t catch anything out there, so we’re staying shallow and beating the bank.”

Cochran’s hometown is West Columbia. He has spent countless hours fishing on Lake Murray and spent months practicing on the lake before the event. But as he learned you can’t practice what you can’t control, and he felt the weather led to an underwhelming performance. 

“We caught fish in different areas than we thought we were going to, and more recently, it’s been heating up, and that kind of helped,” Cochran said. “The fog yesterday changed a lot of what happened today. It got a lot more clear than we thought it was going to get, but this heat is definitely changing stuff.”

Cochran wasn’t the only participant who was disappointed with their hauls. The anglers clearly had higher expectations and had to quickly adjust on the fly. 

“I think that when the sun came out and it got really calm and the wind wasn’t blowing, it made it really tough and you had to really trick them fish into eating,” USC Union angler Mark Kershaw said. “I was not happy with our performance.” 

Despite the weather both days saw some impressive bags. Brown and his brother Walker led through day one after bringing a 23-pound, 14-ounce bag to the weigh-in. Their biggest bass weighed seven pounds, 14 ounces and was the largest of the competition. 

University of Montevallo anglers Peyton Harris and Dalton Head earned the top spot through both days after compiling a weight total of 43 pounds, 12 ounces. The duo totaled 20 pounds, 10 ounces on the final day of competition to add to their day one total of 23 pounds, two ounces. 

Five of the 222 teams totaled over 40 pounds across both days, and 35 teams went for over 30 pounds. 

Nine Gamecock teams registered for the event, but they all struggled, despite the home lake advantage. The highest placing local duo was Evan Eckstrom and Ben Williams who placed 90th. 

This competition was just the beginning of the college Bassmaster series. This was the first of three scheduled events on the Legends trail, with the other two taking place in April and June. 

The Lunkers trail begins in February with events also taking place in March and May. 

The top 10% of the field at Lake Murray punched their ticket to the Strike King Bassmaster College National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops, which will be announced at a later date.