DAYTON, Tenn. — The young 2025 season has been a profitable one for Dylan Nutt. The 21-year-old won last month’s Central Division opener for the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats on Pickwick Lake, earning nearly $40,000 in the process. Then, last week, he added victories at both a B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier and a Bill Dance Giant Bass Open, also on Pickwick.
The second event of the Central Division season sent Nutt and the rest of the field east from his home lake to Lake Chickamauga. That doesn’t seem to have slowed his momentum. Nutt sacked up 31 pounds, 13 ounces on Day 1 to return to the top of the standings.
As showy as that weight might seem, Nutt only leads Dillon Falardeau by 11 ounces after a banner day that saw three bags of more than 30 pounds hit the scales and six top 27. It took 23-11 to crack the Top 10, and a 10-6 lunker courtesy of Fisher Anaya took Berkley Big Bass honors. Hayden O’Barr sits in third place with 30-4, while Anaya is fourth with 28-9. In the co-angler competition, Alex Moore leads with 19-2, nearly 2 pounds clear of Joseph Chilcott.
New lake, no problem for Nutt
Prior to Day 1, there had been some thought that the recent thunderstorms in Tennessee, which inundated Chickamauga with dirty water, might put a damper on the weights at this event. So far, though, it’s on pace to surpass the opener on Pickwick, which Nutt won with 84-4 after bringing in 30 pounds on Day 3.
Clearly, that sort of slugfest suits Nutt, who competes collegiately for North Alabama. He got off to a strong start Tuesday morning, catching a 22-pound limit in the opening hour. From there, he made a few adjustments and ultimately landed on a wad of big ones. In fact, he said his total could have been even bigger.
“I fished around for a while, kept catching a bunch of little ones, and then I made a little adjustment and started catching some more big ones,” Nutt said. “I caught a 6 1/2 and an 8 and lost one about 10 pretty much back-to-back-to-back.”
Nutt said Chickamauga, a fellow Tennessee River impoundment, is setting up “somewhat similar” to Pickwick. The areas he’s fishing have gotten dirtier since practice, but not to the point that it’s hurt his bite.
“It definitely dirtied up a bunch,” he said. “But didn’t seem to matter; the fish are still biting.”
With conditions likely to continue changing each day, Nutt admitted he’s not sure how he’ll be able to back up his big bag on Day 2. He figures he’ll need to find some new, productive water to contend for a second straight Central Division trophy.
“I’m just going to have to fish some new water and incorporate some other things into it,” he said. “I think I can catch some fish these next couple days, but catching 30 pounds again is going to be very tough.”
At this point, it would be tough to bet against Nutt figuring it out. He’s on a roll, and each additional accomplishment only bolsters his confidence.
“It just gives me the confidence to know that I can compete against these guys,” Nutt said. “It makes me fish with an open mind, not necessarily worried about what’s going to happen. It makes me not feel like I could get embarrassed.”
Falardeau makes the right adjustment
Upon launching Tuesday morning, Falardeau found the water conditions on Chickamauga to be “horrible.” A guide on the lake, Falardeau had been strategizing about this event for months, and over the past few weeks, he felt like a winning game plan was coming into focus. Unfortunately, the recent rains drove muddy water into his best areas, which killed the bite.
“Everything was lining up perfect,” Falardeau said. “I mean, in the last five years, when the water temp is right here and when the water’s clean like it was last week, it’s just the perfect storm. Friday, I went and checked those fish, and I had an 8 and a 7 in like five minutes, and they were everywhere. I was so pumped. And then that rain hit. I thought it was clearing up; I was still really excited. And then I showed up this morning, and my two best areas, I didn’t even put the trolling motor down. Just straight chocolate milk.”
It took some adjusting, but Falardeau still managed to use his knowledge of the fishery to find the big females. He wound up starting on a spot that produced a limit but no big ones – at noon, he had about 14 pounds in his livewell. So, he relocated to a staging area that has produced quality bites for him in the past.
Like Nutt, once Falardeau found them, he amassed weight in a hurry. He, too, lost his biggest bite of the day.
“There were some big fish areas in the past when it gets warm and the water comes up that they like to stage,” Falardeau explained. “I tried them in practice, never got a bite. But everything I was doing this morning, I just could not upgrade. So, I decided to just take a little risk and hit those areas again just to see if they’d moved up, and sure enough, I pulled up on my second cast I jumped off like a 10-pounder.”
While Falardeau would have loved to include that fish in his limit, it showed him that the fish had moved into the staging area. He proceeded to catch two 8-pounders, including an 8-6, on back-to-back casts. Then, he ran to another similar spot and caught one over 7.
“It’s all current related,” Falardeau said. “I had to sit down for a second and think, and knew another current-related spot, ran over, and my second cast, caught a 7. And I was like, ‘all right.’ Then I went and checked a few more for tomorrow and left them alone.”
While clean water can be hard to find right now on Chickamauga, Falardeau is optimistic about the fact that he wasn’t fishing around many other boats Tuesday. He believes he can follow a similar program on Day 2.
“I don’t think 30 pounds is there again, but I think I can get a couple really good, key bites off of each one of those stretches,” he said. “I just have to mix in three or four other things and not get dialed in onto one thing.”
Top 10 pros
- Dylan Nutt – 31-13 (5)
- Dillon Falardeau – 31-2 (5)
- Hayden O’Barr – 30-4 (5)
- Fisher Anaya – 28-9 (5)
- Tripp Berlinsky – 27-14 (5)
- Jake Lee – 27-6 (5)
- Preston Kolisek – 24-14 (5)
- Lake Johnson – 24-10 (5)
- Kevin Meunier – 24-8 (5)
- Nicholas Dumke – 23-11 (5)