By B.A.S.S. Communications

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — When Trey McKinney is at his best, the 20-year-old can dissect one big area of a body of water and find where the bigger bass are within that location.

That strategy has worked to perfection through three days of the Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair as McKinney has combed through one area to catch a three-day total of 72 pounds, 4 ounces.

“I do like this style of fishing,” he said. “I know I’m going to see fish, and if I do my thing right, they are going to be pretty nice ones. I’m an area guy. I find an area and find where they go within that area. (This lake) is fitting my style pretty well.”

The second-year pro from Carbondale, Ill., has never trailed in this tournament, opening the tournament with 24-11 before catching 23-10 on Day 2. His leads were just ounces over the second-place angler the first two days, but with a 23-15 limit of smallmouth on Semifinal Saturday, he increased his lead to 4-10 over Logan Parks.

In total, McKinney now has nine Top 10 finishes in Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series competition and is five quality smallies away from winning his second blue trophy in as many years. The 2024 Dakota Lithium Rookie of the Year also finds himself in an unofficial tie for first in the 2025 Progressive Angler of the Year race with five days left of competition.

“We’ve done good for three days,” McKinney said. “We’ve got one more day to go. It hasn’t been terribly hard, but it hasn’t been easy either. I keep thinking, ‘Do I have enough to still catch 21 or 22 pounds?’ I don’t really know. There is a lot of stuff going on. You can stumble really bad here, and that is the scary part. We’ve been on top of them the last few days, but tomorrow is a scary animal.”

McKinney has spent all his time weaving between other competitors in a large section of Anchor Bay where short sand grass mixes with taller vegetation. While he has landed keepers elsewhere, one half mile to a mile long drift has produced the bulk of his weight and the majority of his 4 1/2-pound to 5-pound smallies have come around a 100-yard stretch within that drift.

“I caught my three big ones today in the same 100-yard stretch and saw quite a few more big ones,” McKinney said. “Every time I go through there, I see a good one.”

In several instances, McKinney has had to chase a 5-pounder with his forward-facing sonar, making multiple casts to the bass before it decided to commit to his presentation. He chased one particular bass for 300 yards before it bit.

Three baits have come into play, including a 5-inch jighead minnow and an unnamed finesse bait with a 1/32-ounce nail weight.

That unnamed bait was key to his Day 3 success.

“I threw it out there and the first one shot up and ate it. That was a 4 1/2,” McKinney said. “I threw it back out there and a 4 1/4 eats it. Then another 4 1/4 ate it. I went back to my big fish hole, threw it out there, and caught a 4-13. I don’t think a lot of people are throwing it and it is something I like.”

The first two days, McKinney was able to find success early in the day. While Day 3 wasn’t painfully slow by any stretch, it did take McKinney most of the day to catch every bass that made his team. In fact, with a half-hour to go before check-in, he landed his biggest bass of the day, a smallmouth that registered 5-0 on BassTrakk.

“I caught one big one in the morning, one big one around 9 or 10, and my last one (late),” he explained. “I caught fish all day, but I didn’t catch the big ones all day.”

McKinney’s best area has also produced big bags for several of his competitors, and he has noticed the smallmouth have become less willing to bite with each passing day.

“I’ve never seen fish that are as educated as these,” he remarked. “We are going to do the same thing tomorrow though. I’m probably going to hunker down more tomorrow. I know that area has them, and if I land on them, I can catch 5-pounders.”

Parks jumped into second on Semifinal Saturday, adding 22-5 to his 19-12 and 25-9 limits to increase his total to 67-10. Although consistently in the Top 50 all year, this is the Auburn, Ala., pro’s first Top 10 of the year.

After spending much of the first day out in deeper water, Parks moved shallow on Day 2 and caught 20 of his 25 pounds in one main area. That same area produced the bulk of his weight again today, although the smallmouth were a bit more finicky on Semifinal Saturday.

“I was worried going into today that they may not reload and they really didn’t. There are still some there, but they are really wise. They didn’t like my drop shot nearly as much today and I had to break out the Berkley Stunna, which is terrifying. Smallmouth and treble hooks don’t mix well. Luckily, I caught one big one that ate it headfirst and then jumped off a nice one.”

With three bass in the livewell, Parks made several moves to achieve a limit, losing several key smallmouth in the process. After several trying hours, the former College Series champion returned to his best area with an hour to go and landed a 5-pounder and a 4 1/2-pounder.

“We made some major upgrades there. They definitely seem to bite there in the afternoon,” Parks said. “I’m going to learn from what I did today and not waste as much time tomorrow.”

With bags of 22-13, 23-1 and 21-2, Japanese pro Kyoya Fujita remained in third place with a total of 67-0. It is Fujita’s fifth Top 10 of the season.

Fujita noted the fishing pressure in his area has made it tougher and tougher to get a bite. While he saw several 5-pounders on his forward-facing sonar, he could not get them to bite and only brought 4-pounders back to weigh-in.

“Very, very tough today,” the two-time Elite Series champion said. “They chase but not bite.”

One bait has done much of his damage: a drop shot rigged with a new bait from Jackall.

Ontario pro Evan Kung caught the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 3, a 5-11 smallmouth. Kentucky’s Matt Robertson holds Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament honors with his 5-14 from Day 1.

Carl Jocumsen earned the $1,000 BassTrakk contingency award for accurate reporting.

McKinney and Johnston are tied for the Progressive Angler of the Year lead with 690 points followed by Fujita in third with 650 points. Wisconsin’s Jay Przekurat is fourth with 648 points and Patrick Walters in fifth with 638 points.

Here's the 10 anglers who qualified for the final day of competition:

1. Trey McKinney – Carbondale, IL – 15, 72-04 – 104
Day 1: 5, 24-11 – Day 2: 5, 23-10 – Day 3: 5, 23-15

2. Logan Parks – Auburn, AL – 15, 67-10 – 103 – $1,000
Day 1: 5, 19-12 – Day 2: 5, 25-09 – Day 3: 5, 22-05

3. Kyoya Fujita – Yamanashi, Japan – 15, 67-00 – 102
Day 1: 5, 22-13 – Day 2: 5, 23-01 – Day 3: 5, 21-02

4. Tucker Smith – Birmingham, AL – 15, 66-14 – 101
Day 1: 5, 21-15 – Day 2: 5, 26-02 – Day 3: 5, 18-13

5. Matt Robertson – Kuttawa, KY – 15, 64-05 – 100 – $1,000
Day 1: 5, 24-00 – Day 2: 5, 20-00 – Day 3: 5, 20-05

6. Evan Kung – Pickering, Ontario – 15, 64-03 – 99 – $1,000
Day 1: 5, 21-06 – Day 2: 5, 21-03 – Day 3: 5, 21-10

7. Paul Mueller – Naugatuck, CT – 15, 64-01 – 98
Day 1: 5, 22-07 – Day 2: 5, 21-00 – Day 3: 5, 20-10

8. Alex Redwine – Blue Ash, OH – 15, 63-15 – 97
Day 1: 5, 20-02 – Day 2: 5, 22-09 – Day 3: 5, 21-04

9. Cole Sands – Johnson City, TN – 15, 63-14 – 96
Day 1: 5, 21-01 – Day 2: 5, 22-09 – Day 3: 5, 20-04

10. Brandon Palaniuk – Rathdrum, ID – 15, 63-13 – 95
Day 1: 5, 20-01 – Day 2: 5, 21-04 – Day 3: 5, 22-08