TBF junior state qualifiers compete for champion titles: Robbins and Smith of Tennessee out on top
This week, Lake Dardanelle State Park and Russellville Tourism in Russellville, Ark., welcomed 79 TBF junior champion teams from across the US plus their boat captains, sponsors, and families. Teams from 29 states fished to qualify in their respective states and punch a ticket to the esteemed championship event. Thousands of dollars in scholarships and prizes are up for grabs this week, and with everyone reaching for the titles, one thing, besides the heat, is for certain: the lives of these young anglers will never be the same.
The top three teams are separated by a mere 9 ounces. Teams are battling the heat, and most are factoring in the rain shaking things up tomorrow. In the end, they’ve all got one common goal: catch enough to make the final day cut and leave enough to finish world champions.
Day one leaders are Gunner Robbins and Drew Smith of the Upper Cumberland Junior Bass Club representing the Tennessee Bass Federation. The team had a three-fish limit of bass weighing 13 pounds 9 ounces.
“I thought we were gonna place pretty good, but I didn’t think we were gonna be leading it,” Smith said. “It’s sunk in now, and we’re pretty excited. We got enough tomorrow to qualify out there; we just got to have a really good bag Friday.”
The duo calls Dale Hollow Lake “home lake,” nestled on the Tenneseee/Kentucky borders, renowned for its crystal clear waters. They’ve had to adjust to navigate Lake Dardanelle waters, which are like the opposite side of a coin.
“Coming off a bad tournament, it’s good to be in the lead for once,” the team’s boat captain, Paul Robbins, said. “It was a little bit of luck, but we are hoping it will happen again tomorrow.”
Sitting solid in second are Parker Smith and Cooper Anderson with a limit of bass weighing 13 pounds 3 ounces. Smith and Anderson are with the Scotts Hill Jr. Anglers representing the Tennessee TBF. “Once we got a decent bag, we spent the rest of the day scoping and marking,” Anderson said. “If we put a gold mark on it, that means it’s good.”
The West Tennessee team calls Lake Pickwick home. “The lakes are kinda setting up similar, but the main difference is at home we catch a lot of fish in 20- 25 ft on a big jig or flutter spoon; here we’re seeing a lot more fish shallower in 8-10 ft of water,” Smith said. “The rain might be a little bit of an issue for us tomorrow. But we hope it turns the bigger fish more active. A lot of them weren’t pulling the trigger.”
The team’s boat captain, Nick Hart, has been a longtime TBF federation angler, avid fisherman, and now proudly leads and supports these young anglers on the national stage. “I’ve been doing this a long time,” Hart said. “These guys are the real deal. They’ve been so solid; they’ve been unreal.”
The team has several state and one national championship title under their belts, but Hart mentioned their latest feat happened at a Thursday night tournament. “They broke the record; that record had stood at 18 pounds for the longest time,” Hart continued. “This team caught three fish for 20.3 pounds.”
In third by just three ounces and a limit of bass weighing 13 pounds are Brooks Beaty and Caleb Coburn from the Calvary Baptist Academy Jr. Anglers in Shreveport, La., representing the Louisiana Bass Federation.
“We knew we had a decent bag and somewhere right around the top three is right where we wanted to be,” Brooks said. “The rain coming might make it a little bit different, but right now we still have enough fish. We’ll just see what this weather does and see how to adjust to catch three more good ones.”
The pair’s favored home lake is Caddo Lake. They’ve found fishing is similar to Caddo, although Dardanelle isn’t swampy and covered in cypress trees; they’re both somewhat shallow, and that’s where they’ve found the sweet spots.
“We found fish prefishing two weekends in a row,” Brooks stated. “Those fish are still there, and we’ve found new fish.”
“Actually, I have a funny story from pre-practice,” Coburn chimed in. “I went to cast my dropshot and the weight came back and hit me on the back of the head.” Their response to what’s going on in your heads now? “We’re excited to see how we do tomorrow. We just want the least amount we can but enough to make it to advance.”
Tomorrow, the field will be cut by TBF divisions. The largest division will advance three teams, the next two largest divisions will advance their top two teams, and the two smallest divisions will advance 1 team each.
After crowning the top nine division champions from the five divisions, an additional five teams will advance based on combined overall weight. Tomorrow night, a lucky dog drawing will also be held to advance one final team, rounding out the field to 15 teams.
All weights will be zeroed on championship day, and it will be a shootout for the title of 2026 Junior World Champions. One thing the anglers can all agree on: the stifling humidity, calm skies, and scorching heat made for a tough day of fishing, no matter what fate took to the scales. Tomorrow, we’ll see what the rain stirs up as the hunt continues on Lake Dardanelle.
Full results:
https://www.bassfederation.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Day-1-results.pdf
