Turner Tharpe (left) and Camdyn Cranfill of the Kingston Fishing Team
BY DAVE LINK
Turner Tharpe and Camdyn Cranfill are chasing career goals with a Garmin-like precision.
It’s all about reaching the top levels of professional bass fishing.
And they got to experience what it would be like during the 2026 Bassmaster Classic, which took place last weekend (March 13-15) out of Knoxville’s Volunteer Landing.
Tharpe was in a boat filming the Classic on Tellico and Loudon Lakes – and driving his own boat for a cameraman for the first two days – and Cranfill was a marshal for the Classic.
Cranfill and Tharpe want to compete at that level one day.
“That’s the goal,” Tharpe said, “is to try to go to the (Bassmaster) Opens, fish the Opens and see where it goes from there. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll probably just try again next year.”
First, Tharpe and Cranfill must work their way up the levels of bass fishing, and they’ve almost peaked at the high school level.
Two weekends ago, they won their second tournament of the year on the Tennessee Bass Nation’s East (Southeast) Trail, clinching the March 7 stop at Tims Ford Lake near Winchester.
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Cranfill and Tharpe have won multiple bass tournaments in their careers – including Tennessee Bass Nation events with different co-anglers – and last summer decided to become a power duo for the Kingston Team. Both are home-schooled seniors.
“I threw out the idea out to him,” Cranfill said, “like, ‘Hey, we’re both very good fishermen. We both care about it a lot. We both put a lot of time and effort into it, like let’s get together and do something this year.’
“I think our first high school tournament we won it, right out of the gate. It was at Watts Bar, the first Southeast tournament.”
They were amongst bass-fishing’s finest in the Bassmaster Classic, watching 22-year-old Dylan Nutt of Nashville soar up the leaderboard into first place on Saturday.
Nutt and his twin brother Carter were one of Tennessee Bass Nation’s top angling duos in 2021-22 as home-schooled seniors fishing for the Sale Creek High School’s Fishing Team.
While Dylan Nutt was being featured on live national television Saturday, Tharpe was driving his boat with a cameraman on board — like he did during the Classic’s practice day.
“I’ll be in my boat carrying Trey McKinney’s cameraman with me all weekend, filming him,” Tharpe said Wednesday by cell phone while on the water. “It’s a heck of an experience, for sure.”
Cranfill also spent Wednesday on the Loudon and Tellico, serving as marshal for Classic contestant Bob Downey of Minnesota.
“You literally just sit there in the boat and make sure they don’t break any rules and make sure everyone’s safe,” Cranfill said of his marshal’s duties for the Classic.
Cranfill and Tharpe used their connections through Tennessee Bass Nation fishing for work in the Bassmaster Classic; a tournament director told them about open positions.
“That’s a great opportunity,” Cranfill said. “Today is their last official practice day, so I got to see Bob break down the lake and practice how he would normally practice.”
Cranfill and Tharpe know how to break down a lake – and they know there is always more to learn in bass fishing.
They won at Tims Ford Lake in their first tournament on the lake.
“I’d never been there before,” Tharpe said. “I think that was Camdyn’s first time going too.”
Tharpe made the drive to Tims Ford for practice three straight days (March 4-6), but his time on the lake was limited because of battery problems in his boat.
“It was pretty good, the time that I did get to fish,” Tharpe said. “Other than my battery giving me problems, it was a pretty good practice.”
Tharpe said Tims Ford reminds him of Watts Bar Lake.
“It’s pretty deep. It’s real deep, actually,” he said. “It’s like Watts Bar, kind of, but more deep and clear.”
They won at Times Ford with the five-bass limit (four largemouth, one smallmouth) weighing 17.93 pounds, including a 3.85-pound largemouth caught by Cranfill.
Rex Reagan and Max Moody of Pickett County were second (16.27 pounds, 3.91 pounder), followed by third-place Aiden Roberson and Daniel Lowhorn of Mt. Juliet (15.87 pounds, 4.08-pounder), fourth-place Colin Bourne and Crews McFerrin of Karns (14.89 pounds, 3.01-pounder) and fifth-place Canyon Padgett and Levi Tomlinson of Temple Academy (14.37 pounds, 3.27-pounder).
Kingston Fishing Team after winning at Tims Ford Lake
Kingston won its second team title in a row. The Jackets’ Jackson Turpin and Alex Spakes finished eighth with 13.64 pounds and a 3.19-pounder. There were 127 boats competing in the tournament; 26 boats weighed in one fish and 29 boats had zeros.
Tharpe said they caught most of their fish in one spot using jig-head minnows.
“The fish were feeding on bait balls in creek channels and stuff,” Tharpe said. “The first two spots we stopped on weren’t really too good. (Then) we actually fished a little pocket. They were in it pushing bait in the back of it. We had both practiced there and both caught some there.”
Cranfill caught their big bass later in the day – and he and Tharpe needed it to win.
They had caught 15 to 20 keepers by that point, culling their first limit from about 11 pounds and increasing the weight throughout the day.
Then Cranfill got the big bite.
“It was cool,” he said. “It was right there towards the end of the day. We had a bunch of solid 3-pounders that we had caught earlier in the day, and we had culled up to a few times, and I think we had 15 or 16 pounds or so.
“Our smallest was like a 2.90 or a 2.80 or something like that. We were just going on this point with a spinner bait just trying to catch a big one and ended up catching like a (3.85). It wasn’t a great big one, but it was a good one for that lake, for sure.”
Cranfill and Tharpe lead the points race on the TBN’s East (Southeast) Trail with two victories this school year. Their first year as co-anglers are going well.
“We kind of expected to be doing really good together,” Tharpe said, “because we both put a lot of time in on the water and we both dedicate all of our time, pretty much, on the water. That’s about all we do is fish.”
And that’s the plan from now on, starting with the final push of their high school careers.
“We’re fired up about it,” Cranfill said. “We’ve got a long season ahead of us.”