Riley Faulkner (Left) and Blake Roberts of Campbell County won the Brandon Card Bass Open.
BY DAVE LINK
Campbell County’s Riley Faulkner and Blake Roberts spend plenty of time on Norris Lake – their home lake – and it paid off Dec. 4 in the sixth annual Brandon Card College and High School Bass Open.
Faulkner and Roberts repeated as the high school winners in the Brandon Card Bass Open, which is named for the event’s sponsor.
Brandon Card is a graduate of Campbell County High School and is in his 10th season fishing on the Bassmaster Elite Series tour.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is the proud sponsor of 5Star Preps Fishing. Click on the image to see what opportunities they have for your young man, lady or athlete — or simply to donate to FCA.
Card, who fished for Kentucky after graduating Campbell County, was the 2012 Bassmaster Rookie of the Year and is a mainstay on the Bassmaster Elite Series.
For Faulkner and Roberts, knowing a famous fisherman like Card is special.
“It’s just pretty cool because he’s from Norris, like us,” Roberts said. “He’s grown up around here, and we’ve known him from the past. My dad’s known him for a little bit. You would never know he’s a pro. He’s just a pretty normal guy.”
Faulkner is a senior at Campbell County and Roberts is a junior.
In 2018, Faulkner won the Brandon Card Bass Open as a freshman while fishing with Austin Smith, who now fishes for Carson-Newman, and in 2019 Faulkner and Roberts finished second in the Brandon Card event.
“Brandon’s a lifelong friend of ours,” Faulkner said. “My aunt taught him (at Lafollette Middle School), so we’re pretty close. We’re like distant cousins. My dad’s fished against him his whole life.”
Faulkner’s dad, Jack, was the boat captain last Saturday when Riley and Roberts won the tournament.
And Jack Faulkner played his role in them winning.
WINNING WEIGHTS AND CASH
Faulkner and Roberts caught the five-fish limit weighing a combined 10.23 pounds to win the high school division and claim a first-place check for $1,500, which they will split.
Each plan to put the money in the bank and save it.
“I mean, fishing costs a lot of money,” Faulkner said, “so if you want to go fishing throughout the week, you’ve gotta have it, so it’s best just to save it and spend it to fish.”
They learned from last year’s winning paycheck.
“We actually won a little more (money) last year because we won Big Fish (of the tournament),” Roberts said.
Rhea County’s Blake Wheat and Andon Goins were second with 9.02 pounds and split a $900 check. Anderson County’s Ian Neff and Mason Phillips were third (7.66 pounds, $850) and William Blount’s Carson Holbert and Landon Dial were fourth (6.49 pounds, $500).
Of the 24 boats in the high school division, only 10 finished with more than 3 pounds in their bags.
Bryan College’s Austin Goins and Timothy Herman won the college division with 8.41 pounds and claimed the $2,500 first-place paycheck.
Carson-Newman’s Ely Dennison and Brady Duncan were second (6.97 pounds, $1,000) and Eastern Kentucky’s Kobe Burkhart (no partner) was third (6.77 pounds, $700).
Faulkner and Roberts have already posted a big win earlier this year. On May 28 at Douglas Lake, the duo clinched Team of the Year for Bass Pro’s East Tennessee Region and won $128,000 worth of fishing scholarship money to Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. However, they haven’t committed to Drury.
HOME-LAKE ADVANTAGE
No doubt Roberts and Faulkner have an advantage fishing a tournament on Norris Lake.
“We’ve fished it our whole life, mostly year around,” Roberts said, “so it makes it a lot easier than having to go to other lakes and figure it out.”
Faulkner said they probably had eight keeper bass reaching the size limits: 12 inches for spotted bass, 14 inches for largemouth, and 18 inches for smallmouth.
Their bag consisted of one spotted bass, one smallmouth, and three largemouth.
“We caught them on about everything,” Faulkner said, “mainly a jig, but we caught them on a swimbait, a Fluke, an Alabama rig. We caught them on about everything, from inches of water to 20 foot of water.”
Faulkner caught the winning bass with about 20 minutes left in the tournament.
They were heading back to the boat ramp for weigh-ins when Jack Faulkner slowed the boat and asked Riley a question about a familiar spot.
“You think we should stop here?” Jack asked.
Riley thought about it for a second or two.
“I haven’t done any good on it this year, but you never know,” Riley said.
Jack stopped the boat, and within a few minutes, Riley hooked their biggest bass of the day – about a 3-plus-pounder — and Roberts got it in the net.
“That was probably about a 2-pound cull,” Faulkner said. “We wouldn’t have won without that fish.”