{"id":1410968,"date":"2026-03-01T14:55:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/?post_type=article&p=1410968"},"modified":"2026-03-01T16:32:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:32:04","slug":"junior-phillips-and-mullins-take-the-title-at-sam-rayburn","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/junior\/news\/junior-phillips-and-mullins-take-the-title-at-sam-rayburn\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior: Phillips\u00a0and Mullins take the title at Sam Rayburn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JASPER, Texas \u2014 On a day marked by chaotic drama, Aiden Phillips<\/a> and Weston Mullins<\/a> of the Scotts Hill Student Anglers sacked up a five-bass limit of 17 pounds, 4 ounces to win the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Junior Series at Sam Rayburn Reservoir<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finishing with a winning margin of 1-9, Phillips and Mullins made a 20-minute run north of the take-off site at Umphrey Family Pavilion.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe fished shallow pockets in 5 feet of water,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cWe focused on the ditch and got all of our fish in one spot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mullins added this: \u201cWe were catching prespawn staging fish. They were moving up because the water was warming up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around noon, Phillips hooked his team\u2019s biggest bass \u2014 a 6-3. After a tense battle, the eighth grader brought their kicker to the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was very exciting,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cThat fish was very strong and it was ripping a lot of drag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to boating their day-maker, Phillips and Mullins successfully navigated a challenging moment, with help from their boat captain, Jared Phillips (Aiden\u2019s father).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt one point, Aiden hooked a 3-pounder and I\u2019m trying to help them dip it and the net broke,\u201d the elder Phillips said. \u201cThe net was floating and he just gently put the fish in the net, so I dropped the handle and dipped the fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWeston\u2019s in the back yelling, \u2018I got one!\u2019 so I\u2019m trying to get treble hooks out of the net and get back there to help him. We got them both in. I broke a net and I broke a rod tip today by kneeling on it, but it was worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winners caught eight keepers and made their final cull shortly after noon. They fished watermelon Rapala Crush City Mooch Minnows weightless and on a Carolina rig, but they caught most of their fish on a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was popping the jerkbait really hard and fast,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cI\u2019d pop it two times and pause. The bites were extremely aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drought conditions have Rayburn\u2019s water level approximately 9 feet below normal. Phillips said he and Mullins saw this as an advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it helped us, because the fish had less water to hide in,\u201d Phillips explained. \u201cWe used Garmin LiveScope the whole time and we made our range longer so we could see the fish from farther away. We set it at 200 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory earned Phillips and Mullins a spot in the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Junior National Championship<\/a>, July 24-25, 2026, at Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tenn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It means a lot that we qualified for the National Championship early in the season,” Mullins said. “This takes the press off of us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter Beach<\/a> and Austin Jefferson<\/a> of the Fighting Fishsticks Jr. Bass Club finished second with 15-11. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooks Beaty<\/a> and Caleb Coburn<\/a> of Nwla Bassmasters placed third with 15-6. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phillips and Mullins won the $500 Big Bass award for their 6-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This event was hosted by Jasper Development District No. 1<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aiden Phillips\u00a0and\u00a0Weston Mullins of Scotts Hill Student Anglers take the win at the 2026 Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Junior Series at Sam Rayburn Reservoir with 17 pounds, 4 ounces. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":1410973,"template":"","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":6255,"post_id":6631}}]},"bassmaster_plugin_short_title":"","bassmaster_plugin_photo_attribution":[{"id":1015506,"title":"Mark Cisneros"}],"bassmaster_plugin_caption_attribution":[],"bassmaster_article_column":false,"bassmaster_article_columnists":[],"bassmaster_dfp":[],"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_bool":false,"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_length":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100874],"sponsors":[],"people":[],"tournaments":[115800],"tournament-series":[1374],"byline":[6255],"class_list":["post-1410968","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-junior","tournaments-2026-bassmaster-junior-series-at-sam-rayburn-reservoir","tournament-series-junior"],"yoast_head":"\nJunior: Phillips\u00a0and Mullins take the title at Sam Rayburn - Bassmaster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/junior\/news\/junior-phillips-and-mullins-take-the-title-at-sam-rayburn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Junior: Phillips\u00a0and Mullins take the title at Sam Rayburn - Bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aiden Phillips\u00a0and\u00a0Weston Mullins of Scotts Hill Student Anglers take the win at the 2026 Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Junior Series at Sam Rayburn Reservoir with 17 pounds, 4 ounces.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/junior\/news\/junior-phillips-and-mullins-take-the-title-at-sam-rayburn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-01T22:32:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/NZ8_1885.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"David A. 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