Cranfill, Tharpe named Tennessee Bass Nation State Trail’s Co-Anglers of the Year

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BY DAVE LINK

Co-Anglers Camdyn Cranfill and Turner Tharpe of the Kingston High Fishing Team had a remarkable season on the Tennessee Bass Nation high school trail.

And they capped it with a remarkable showing May 29-30 in the TBN’s State Championship on Watts Bar Lake.

Tharpe and Cranfill won the championship and the TBN State Trail’s Co-Anglers of the Year Award with a two-day limit of 10 bass weighing 49.81 pounds — or almost 5 pounds per bass — all largemouth.

“It was special, for sure,” Cranfill said. “I figured we would do good, top five, but I didn’t expect us to blow it out. I didn’t expect us to catch the weight that we did. Twenty-four pounds on Watts Bar is pretty good and then to go and catch 25 the next day, that’s something special right there.”

Their Day 1 total weighed 24.42 pounds and included a 6.95-pounder caught by Cranfill. On Day 2, their weight was 25.39 pounds and included a 7.53-pounder caught by Tharpe, who’s largemouth won Big Fish of the tournament.

“I knew we were around some bigger fish,” Tharpe said, “but the thing was whether we could get them to bite or not, and we just got them to bite. God blessed us pretty good.”

They also were Anglers of the Year for the TBN’s West Division Trail and finished second in the AOY race for the East Division Trail. They’ve only fished as co-anglers this past school year.

“It definitely meant a lot to both of us for sure,” Tharpe said. “That’s what we worked hard for all year. We tried to win all three of the points races, but we ended up winning two of them. We didn’t win the Southeast Trail. Our last tournament from that was on Nickajack (Lake) and I think we got 12th or something down there, and we needed to do better than second.”

That day became a distant memory during the State Championship in late May.

Here’s how it unfolded for Tharpe and Cranfill…

THARPE: ‘IT WAS CRAZY’

Although they fish for the Kingston Fishing Team, Cranfill and Tharpe are home-schooled, live in Dayton, and consider Chickamauga their home lake. However, they’re very familiar with Watts Bar – but not the weights they got in the state championship.

“I’ve caught a 20-pound bag up there before but never a 24 or a 25,” Tharpe said.

Same for Cranfill.

The tournament launched out of Kingston City Park’s boat ramp.

“I’ve caught a bunch of high teens and low 20-pound bags on Watts Bar,” Cranfill said, “but I had never busted 25 pounds on Watts Bar until the last day of that tournament. It was special. We had two 7-pounders, basically one the first day and the second day, and that helped us out a bunch, and then we had solid four- and five-pound fish. I think we had another one the first day right over 6 (pounds).”

They won the tournament by 14.67 pounds.

Second-place Ainsley Lynn and Tanner Howerton of the Karns Fishing Team were second (35.14 pounds) and Greer Gammon and Brody Brinson of Mt. Juliet Fishing were third (34.72 pounds).

Karns won the Commissioner’s Cup awarded to TBN’s top high school team of the year.

Parker Smith and Luke Roberts of Scotts Hill Junior Bass Anglers won the TBN Championship juniors division (36.47 pounds) and Brody Bible and Sawyer Mynatt of Karns Junior Bass were second (31.85 pounds).

Nobody got too close to Tharpe and Cranfill.

“It was crazy,” Tharpe said. “Really, I didn’t expect it to take more than 20 pounds probably that first day to lead the tournament. I figured if somebody would have caught 20 pounds the first day and 18 pounds the second day, they definitely would have took it home.”

Cranfill was using a jig on Day 1 when he caught the 6.95-pounder.

He said a combination of factors led to the big weights.

“I think that we just found some fish that were fresh off the (spawning) bed,” Cranfill said. “They were fresh post spawners.

“They had just got out to get ready to feed back up for the summertime, and I just think we just ended up landing on the right couple of places at the right time. When we had a couple of schools found, a couple of brush piles that had some big fish in them, that’s kind of what we ran with.”

Tharpe got the Big Fish award winner at about 10 a.m. on Day 2 using a dive-style bait in deeper water.

“We were fishing pretty deep most of the day,” Tharpe said. “We pretty much stayed about 25 to 40 foot deep the whole tournament.”

They were on the fish fast on Day 2.

“We set the boat down at like 7:05, and I think we had 19 pounds in the box at 7:25,” Cranfill said. “It happened quick the second day, and then we went to another spot and caught a 7-pounder and then kind of slowly culled our way up to 25.”

LOOKING AHEAD

Before taking separate paths for their fishing careers, Tharpe and Cranfill will compete in the 2026 Strike King Bassmaster High School Championship at Kentucky Lake from July 30 to August 1.

Their first tournament of the past school year was on Kentucky Lake last September, and Tharpe and Cranfill finished third.

“I think it’s going to be pretty tough,” Tharpe said. “I think the weights are going to be kind of small, but I think we should be able to do pretty good in it.”

If they’re in the top 25 after the first two days, Cranfill and Tharpe will qualify for the championship Day 3.

“It’ll be pretty special,” Cranfill said. “I’ve spent a lot of time on Kentucky Lake and I’m going to continue to spend a bunch of time over there until the (practice) cutoff, trying to learn and figure out how that lake fishes.

“It’s the last one. Hopefully we can end our high school careers with a bang and possibly get to go to the high school classic next year.”

Tharpe will fish for the Carson-Newman Eagle Anglers starting this fall, while Cranfill will compete locally in bass tournaments before embarking on a pro career next year. Their 2025-26 high school season was memorable.

“We’ve had an unbelievable season,” Cranfill said. “We were very close to winning all three of the points races of the year. The (East) Championship, we slipped up a little bit, but besides that, we’ve had a great season.”