Dylan Akins and Chase Carey have been fishing together since high school, and in their final college season, they achieved their greatest accomplishment.
The now graduates of Emmanuel University in Georgia claimed the 2024 Bassmaster College Series Team of the Year title, collecting 958 points between three regular season events in the Legends Trail and then the 2024 Strike King Bassmaster College National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops.
With their Team of the Year title, Carey and Akins punched their ticket to the College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s at Tims Ford Lake for a chance to make the 2025 Bassmaster Classic at Lake Ray Roberts.
“Ever since I started college, Team of the Year was something I aimed for and dreamed of accomplishing,” Akins said. “It still feels surreal, even now, just thinking about it.”
Carey and Akins finished third in points in the Legends Division, notching sixth-place and 12th-place finishes at Lake Murray and Kentucky Lake before rounding out the regular season with a 23rd at Saginaw Bay, earning 712 points.
Entering the National Championship, the Emmanuel College team found themselves in a 20-point hole for the overall points lead. They thought they would need to win at Lake Hartwell to have any chance at Team of the Year.
“We were so far behind coming into the tournament, so we were just looking to win. I think that really helped,” Carey said. “We knew the other teams in the Team of the Year standings, and we didn’t think there was any chance they would finish below a certain spot. So we wanted to win, and if Team of the Year came with that too, it would be great.”
They may not have won, but a top five finish on their home waters was enough to lift them over the second-place team of Caleb Hudson and Tanner Hadden of the University of South Carolina – Union by just three points. Carter and Dylan Nutt from the University of North Alabama finished third with 940 points.
“To go to Hartwell, our home lake, and finish it out there and come back from the amount of points we were down, it was really something special for us,” Carey said.
The two anglers have been close to winning Team of the Year before. In 2021, Akins and Carey finished fourth in the standings during their freshman year and have been chasing another chance at the title ever since.
“Freshman year we came so close, and it felt like each tournament day, we were one day away,” Carey said. “That fueled our fire and this year it came together. The way we did it this year, it seemed like we would always have a good first day and the second day we figured out a way to catch just enough to stay in it.”
While very different fisheries, Akins and Carey felt comfortable at each of the three lakes where they competed. Lake Murray, for one, set up much like the blueback herring fisheries they are used to fishing. At Kentucky Lake, some of those same herring techniques coaxed quality smallmouth into biting on the Tennessee River reservoir.
It was the third time the two anglers had visited Saginaw Bay, so Akins and Carey knew what to expect.
“The one we really had circled was Kentucky Lake,” Akins said. “We hunkered down and really researched a lot for that one. I knew it was going to be our toughest one, and it worked out. We weighed in five smallmouth every day, so it was similar to what we do at home.”
The season came down to two critical moments, however. In South Carolina, Akins and Carey made a critical move to overcome a slow morning.
“That was our highest finish we had up to that point for Bassmaster,” Carey said. “The second day we were struggling for the first three hours. We decided to pull up in this cove where we caught some the first day of practice. We caught a couple of fish and put them in the livewell, but then I saw a bass on our forward-facing sonar that was sitting on a stump. As soon as my bait went down, we saw this huge blob go down to our bait and eat it. It ended up being a 6 1/2-pound largemouth, and it really boosted our bag.”
Wind and waves made Saginaw Bay an adventure for anglers. In fact, the lake was off limits on Day 1 and anglers struggled to navigate the big waters on Day 2. So much so that many anglers elected not to go back to weigh in, instead having someone else bring their trucks and trailers to another boat ramp.
Akins and Carey, however, braved the rough conditions, and it paid off in a big way as they landed a 5-pound smallie before filling out a reasonable limit. They made it back to weigh in with 13-6.
“They let us out in the lake and we had 20-plus pounds of smallmouth marked on beds. We decided to run 30 miles out there. It was terrible,” Akins said. “We were spearing waves and couldn’t put the trolling motor down. But we caught a 5-pound smallmouth and that was pivotal. We pulled up in a canal after that and caught some key bass. We ultimately decided to run back to weigh in instead of putting it on the trailer. If we would have decided to trailer, there’s no way we would have come close to winning TOY.”
Now, the duo will look ahead to the College Bracket at Tims Ford Lake, a fishery neither one of them know a lot about. The Bracket will feature a slightly different format from previous years. All eight anglers will compete the first two days. The top four finishers after those two days will move on to the bracket portion, where they will go head-to-head for a chance at the Classic.
“We are pretty confident going in. Dylan and I are going to work together the best we can so we can both hopefully be there on the final day,” Carey said. “I don’t know much about the lake, but I feel confident I can find some fish and do well.”
