Mahomet teens headed to 2025 Bassmaster Junior Nationals
There aren’t too many sports that routinely involve 3 a.m. wake-up calls. There aren’t too many teenage boys that don’t complain about 3 a.m. wake-up calls — when it comes to their favorite thing to do, at least.
Ask Mahomet teens Austin Shroyer and Troy Cunningham about their early mornings to head to bass fishing tournaments and you’ll hear how they are used to 3 a.m. alarms that have them on their way to tournaments around Illinois for 5 a.m. boat launches.
Teammates for two years, Austin and Troy became friends after being in the same fifth grade class, where they learned they both shared a passion for fishing. They began fishing regularly around Mahomet together and one year later, they entered their first tournament on the water as teammates. Captained by Austin’s grandfather, they began to quickly pick up the many ways boat tournaments were different than fishing on shore. And, inspired by professional Bassmaster anglers, they both decided competitive fishing was something they wanted to continue to pursue.
They began practicing with the Mahomet-Seymour High School bass fishing team and learned what they could from the high school anglers and their coach. Fishing in the juniors division, they entered many of the same tournaments as the high schoolers, with their results stacking up against other fishermen (and fisherwomen) their age.
There have been times they’ve ventured out for a tournament on a cold, rainy day and caught no fish that met the requirements to qualify for weigh-in at the end of the tournament. Yet, they still continued to learn and stick with it.
“Tournaments are different than just fishing for fun,” Troy said. “They are competitive and you are up against people that are actually really good from all around the state.”
Austin and Troy just wrapped up their eighth grade season of fishing in the Illinois B.A.S.S. Nation (IBN) bass tournaments and had an exciting few final weeks of the season. They had an impressive showing at the final tournament in the regular IBN season (weighing in nearly nine pounds of fish) and qualified for the two-day state tournament at Clinton Lake.
At state, they had the ability to weigh in up to five fish per day, and the total weight from day one is added to the total weight from day two to determine the winner. Sitting in first place (narrowly) on day one, they ended up coming in second place in the state, just 0.02 pounds behind the winners, with a total weight of 18.53 pounds. While the close loss was disappointing, they were excited to learn their last season as juniors wasn’t quite over yet.
They’ve qualified for the Bassmaster Junior National Championship in Evans, Ga., in July.
They’ll compete against more than 100 teams from around the country on a lake 15 times the size of nearby Clinton Lake. The recent heat wave in Illinois has been a good way to prepare them for what is to come when visiting Georgia at the end of July.
With their first turn on the “big stage,” they’ll have their weigh-ins on the same stage professional Bassmaster fishermen do, and they’ll get similar recognition, too.
And while all of this is exciting, they still have plenty of fun fishing at their favorite spots around Mahomet, like Champaign County Forest Preserve District locations including Lake of the Woods and River Bend. That is how Troy got his start, in fact, attending a free “Take Me Fishing” event at a young age and finding how much he enjoyed the sport.
Austin was interested early on, as well, and says there are a lot of reason he loves to fish. “I like fishing because there is always something new to learn and ways to improve. One of my favorite parts of bass fishing is there are so many ways to catch them and so many bodies of water to explore.”
We are cheering on these local teens as they venture south to compete and can’t wait to hear how they do on the “big stage” this summer!
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