John Garrett won the 2016 Bassmaster College Championship as a freshman at Bethel University. He lives in nearby McKenzie, Tenn., and is serving as a boat driver for the Bassmaster.com crew this week.
Garrett has been fishing the Opens for several years now and literally came within one point of making the Elite Series in 2021.
In the Opens Central Division, he finished the season tied for 3rd place with Joseph Webster (the top three finishers qualify for the Elites). But the tie-breaker, total weight for full-field days, went to Webster. However, the pain was magnified because Garrett also tied for 13th place at the Grand Lake Open, which was the final tournament for the Central Division. He lost that tie-breaker too, which went to the angler with the heaviest single day.
Asked just how much he thinks about barely missing an Elite qualification, Garrett said, “A lot.”
“You think about every single fish you lost,” he continued. “One at Grand Lake hurt me the most. I saw a 7-pounder in practice near a dock. I caught her first thing on the first tournament day, but she came off.”
So far, the 2022 Opens season has been tough for Garrett. He’s in 51st place in the Opens AOY standings.
“Instead of looking for bites I’ve spent too much time this year looking for the secret honey hole,” he said. “I see that I need to work on doing decent first, then try to win it.”
Today as Garrett drove us around Pickwick Lake it must have been tough seeing his college friends fishing the Elite Series. Cody Huff, KJ Queen and Garrett were travel partners at Bethel, and Huff was Garrett’s roommate.
“I want to be out here with them,” Garrett said. “It’s even worse being on the home lake watching them fish here.”
But Garrett was in great spirits today and enjoying being involved in an Elite tournament. The good news is, Garrett is just 26 years old, and clearly has a bright future in front of him.
