Tournament fishing on your home waters, especially bass tournaments, can be one of the most frustrating games out there. Just when you think you’ve got fish dialed in, they flip the script the very next day. Some anglers call it the “home water jinx.”
Stick too closely to what worked yesterday, and it can burn you fast. During the recent Bassmaster’s Classic held last month March 13-15 on Tennessee River out of Knoxville, Tennessee, many anglers in the event found this out.
I had the opportunity during media day for the Classic to interview the three anglers from Tennessee who would be fishing on their home state waters. They were Brandon Lester, Dillon Falardeau, and Dylan Nutt.
Home Water: Advantage or Disadvantage?
Brandon Lester fished the top circuit for years. He qualified by finishing 35 in the standings in 2025. During my interview with him, I asked if he felt any additional pressure being from Tennessee. At first, he said he did, then he tried to tell himself no, that this was going to be the third time he had fished in a Bassmaster Classic in Knoxville on the Tennessee River. With his previous two Classics there, in which he had two top ten finishes, he was feeling confident. The fishing was setting up his style of bass angling, and he had caught fish up to five pounds in practice.
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His prediction for winning the 3-day event would be around 51 pounds. Lester just may have succumbed to the home water Jinx and finished this event in 48th place with 17 pounds, 15 ounces.
The second Tennessean angler I spoke with before the start was Dillon Falardeau. Dillion got to the 2026 Classic by winning a Bassmaster Open tournament on the upper Chesapeake Bay.
His confidence after the practice days was high. He had caught 5 ½-6-pound largemouths and thought he would do all right.
“Being from Tennessee does put extra pressure on me wanting to do good in front of the home state fans,” he said. “But I am trying not to think about it.”
The top 25 anglers in the Classic qualified to fish the 3rd day. Dillon finished up in 24th place with a respectable 3-day weight of 37 pounds, 1 ounce. He fished muddy water with a tandem bladed chartreuse/white spinner bait with fluorescent orange blades including a minnow trailer.
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My Own Homewater Advantage
Being a former avid bass tournament angler, I have experienced the pressure wanting to do good on your home, local waters. I only live on one of them, but I consider both Finger Lakes Cayuga and Owasco to be my home lakes.
A few years back when I was active in tournament bass fishing, I had the opportunity to fish four bass tournaments on my home waters. The first two were won in Central New York team tournaments on Owasco Lake. The second two were good sized NY BASS Federation season tournaments on Cayuga Lake. The first one was a 200-boat field. Besides coming in with the largest five-fish for the event, I also caught lunker for that tournament, and it was the biggest bass of the entire year. The second Cayuga Lake Federation tournament I came in fourth and lost a couple of good fish that may have won it for me.
The key to placing well in those four events was similar. It was not only familiarity with the body of water but spending lots of time practicing and knowing what areas, baits and times the bigger fish will hit. It also paid to keep a positive attitude all day, fish hard and smart.
Bassmaster Classic
The third angler I got to interview on media day at the Classic was Dylan Nutt from Nashville, Tennessee. This 22-year-old qualified for the Classic by taking third place in the BASS Nation Championship on the upper Mississippi River. When talking to Dylan, I was surprised as his competent, almost mistaken for cockiness attitude. He informed me that he was power fishing a minnow body on a jig head and had fish located all over Fort Loudin Lake. In practice, he had located bass in the six to nine pound range and was confident he could do well. He told me that he thought it would take over 62 pounds to win.
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Most other pros were guessing in the low to mid 50-pound range. When asked if the home state pressure was barreling down on him, he responded: “No sir, just trying to keep my head level and do what I know I have to do.”
Well, Dylan backed up what he was saying and won the 2026 Bassmaster Classic on the Tennessee River out of Knoxville. He won with a three day limit of 66 pounds, 13 ounces. He beat the second-place angler by almost 10 pounds. He won $300,000 along with several incentives worth several thousand dollars. He was only the second Federation angler ever to win the event in the 56-year history of the Classic. Dylan used live sonar to help him locate fish. He used a prototype Berkley 7” plastic minnow with a 1/8-ounce jig head or a Damiki rig for most of his fish. By winning the Classic, he automatically qualifies for next year’s Classic event on Lake Hartwell along with the Elite field. Dylan spent a month before cut off practicing and staying at the home of a friend.
Dylan has a twin brother named Carter. The day before Dylan’s win, Carter won the National College partners championship on another Tennessee body of water. It looks like those twin brothers are going to be a force to reckon with for years.
If Dylan and his brother get to fish several tournaments over the years and keep a positive attitude all day, fish hard and smart, who knows what their limit will be? It will be interesting to watch.
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