Couple years ago I was like, Who is this kid Trey McKinney I keep hearing about? Eventually I started to pay attention and wow: 17 years old, traveling the country, fishing, winning. Fast forward just a little and here he is on the Elites...at just 18, making him the youngest qualifer ever (Bradley Roy used to be at 19).
Pretty sure that's enough of a reason to Q&A Trey, here we go:
1. Why do you think you've done so well so fast and so young?
> "I feel like having an imagination...like being able to experiment, try new things. Sometimes I catch 'em on a lot of colors that are not [pretty] to the human eye. It's kind of off the wall, try a lot of stuff.
> "I feel like I break down lakes different than most people. My buddy [mentor and coach] Rick Cheatham is really an amazing shallow-water guy. He taught me so much about shallow-water fishing. I kind of took from him and built my own puzzle. Anybody I get on the water with, I take a little piece of their puzzle and add it to mine.
> "....I'm trying to find out what strengths suit me and what I can just roll with."
Follow-up: Can you talk a little more about imagination and experimenting?
> "Time on the water is huge. ...I'm always on different bodies of water, fishing for different strains of fish – FL and northern strain [largemouths] are totally different creatures. I'll be on the water and a little thing like seeing how a fish reacts will give me a weird idea. Those are the best ideas.
> "Most of the places I find aren't even on the map. Going down the bank with [Lowrance] ActiveTarget, I'll stumble upon something. Some days [he'll expand on that and] run this pattern and it never works out. It's just that one spot.
> "So weird areas, weird types of places, maybe it's not something everyone else is doing – that always strikes my interest.
> "...I pick those areas that sometimes might not get as much pressure. They might not have as many fish, sometimes they're harder to find, but most of the times [those fish] bite better. Whatever is a burden to get to is kinda where I like to go."
2. If all the electronics went out on your boat, do you still think you could catch 'em pretty well?
> "Everyone says ActiveTarget makes [his success]. It is a part of the game and I play that game. If you don't do that game, some tournaments you're just not going to compete as well....
> "At Toledo Bend last year I caught all my fish shallow, flipping bushes and stuff like that. I never involved ActiveTarget. I never even had it on – just running on that little spirit you have inside you, you know.
> "There's no better feeling than going shallow-water junk fishing for me. I love it. If I can get hands on with 'em, I love it."
3. What's your favorite bait to fish?
> "#1 definitely would be a jig. I have one jig I throw – it's multi-purpose. If I'm in 2' of water or 20' of water I'll be throwing it. I tell people: Get confidence in a jig you can use multi-purpose and roll with it. ...if it's a tough bite, pick up your rod with it and go."
[He said he got into jigs fishing around home in IL.]
> "...[Strike King Denny Brauer Structure Jig], sometimes regular, sometimes the Baby. Most of the time it's b/b or natural. [Trailer is] a Strike King Rage Menace. Sometimes I like it not to match, sometimes I do."
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