From left: Isaac Chandler, boat captain Randy Berryhill, and Jacob Berryhill of the Cherokee Chiefs Fishing Team
BY DAVE LINK
Jacob Berryhill and Isaac Chandler of the Cherokee Chiefs Fishing Team should’ve known it was their lucky day a couple of Saturdays ago.
The seniors at Cherokee High School were fishing in the third stop of the Tennessee BASS Nation’s Southeast Division circuit on Cherokee Lake.
It was early in the morning, Nov. 11.
Berryhill threw out a Spook lure.
Boom.
The Spook got hit twice, and Berryhill hauled in what felt like a 5-plus-pounder.
It wasn’t.
When they saw what Berryhill had, it was two largemouth hooked onto the Spook.
“I didn’t know I had two till I got ’em to the boat,” Berryhill said. “We all just about went crazy when they came up and there were two heads hooked on that thing.”
One weighed about 2.5 pounds, the other 2.75 pounds.
“I didn’t know what he had until it hit the top,” Chandler said. “Pulling that dead weight, I figured he had a catfish or something.”
Turns out, they were the two smallest largemouth in their 15.89-pound bag (they also had a lunker largemouth and two smallmouth) that won the tournament on their home lake.
It was the first-ever win for Berryhill and Chandler, who just started fishing together this season.
They posted a seventh-place finish in a TBN event Oct. 21 at Percy Priest Lake.
“We do pretty good together,” Berryhill said.
HOW THEY STARTED
Berryhill’s fishing partner last season was Landon Davis, who decided not to fish this season, while Chandler hadn’t fished on the TBN circuit.
Berryhill had known Chandler since their sophomore years at Cherokee and they became friends – and now co-anglers.
“We’d pleasure fished some,” Berryhill said, “but fishing tournaments, we just started this year.”
Chandler had only fished from a boat a few times before he started with Berryhill.
He wasn’t a stranger to bass fishing, though.
Chandler catches plenty while bank fishing on the Holston River near his home.
“We just fish for smallmouth in the shoals most of the time,” he said. “We catch mostly smallmouth. We catch largemouth every now and then.”
He’s getting used to boat fishing.
“It’s a lot more fun,” Chandler said. “You get to cover a whole lot more water.”
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WINNING AT CHEROKEE
Berryhill fishes two or three times a week on Cherokee Lake, often with his father Randy, his and Chandler’s boat captain.
Their practices on Cherokee the week leading up to the tournament weren’t good.
“We practiced all week long and it’d been horrible,” Berryhill said. “You’d go out and catch one or two keepers and that was it.”
That changed on tournament day.
They caught their four keepers in the morning – including thetwo-for-one deal caught by Berryhill – all caught on Spooks and Rattletraps.
After lunchtime, they were looking for their fifth keeper.Berryhill was fishing in shallow water using a Spook when it got hit.
“I knew it was big,” Berryhill said. “The whole fish came out of the water. It pulled a little drag and I just eased him in. It took a minute.”
The 4.42-pound largemouth pushed their bag to almost 16 pounds and into a comfortable victory.
It was a much better day than practices earlier in the week.
“We just ended up fishing the same stuff we had been,” Berryhill said, “but the fish had just moved to the areas we were fishing the day of the tournament. They hadn’t been there all week.”
Chandler said he’s learning a lot from Randy and Jacob Berryhill.
“Them boys know what they’re doing,” Chandler said. “I try my best to listen.”
Walker LaRue and Joe Vaulton of the Alcoa Fishing Team finished in second place (five bass, 12.04 pounds, 3.41-pounder), and Rex Regan and Max Moody of Pickett County were third (five bass, 11.6 pounds, 2.54-pounder).
Alcoa Fishing won the team title.
Knox White and Grayson Sanford of Mt. Juliet Junior Fishing won the junior division (five bass, 9.93 pounds, 3.22-pounder)ahead of second-place Elijah Booker and Baylor Cooksey, also of Mt. Juliet Junior Fishing (three bass, 6.75 pounds, 2.64-pounder).