The University of Minnesota’s Trevor Lo earned a berth in the 2016 Bassmaster Classic by defeating Texas A&M’s Josh Bensema in the final round of the 2015 Bassmaster College Seres Classic Bracket.
Lo caught three fish that weighed a combined 6-03 from the Wisconsin River Flowage. Bensema boated just a single 2 1/2-pounder.
“(It) feels good,” Lo said. “I don’t know, I’m just overwhelmed right now. I have so many emotions going through me. I’m just so thankful for all my family coming to support me. I never thought I’d make it this far, and I’m just so thankful.
“I fish a lot of river systems back home, and I did what I know how to do,” he said. “I looked for outside bends in the main channel. I found current breaks and fished deep laydowns. I started with that game plan on the first day and it worked so I stuck to it.”
Lo’s primary bait was a weightless Gary Yamamoto Senko, rigged both wacky- and Texas-style.
“I didn’t even bother to pick up another rod ‘cause that’s what they were biting,” he said.
In addition to the Bassmaster Classic berth, Lo receives a fully rigged Toyota Tundra accompanied by a sponsor-provided, fully rigged boat-and-motor combo to use for the year. Lo was also awarded $7,500 cash by Carhartt to use for expense money in the 2016 Bassmaster Opens. As if that wasn’t enough, Lo’s entry fees for all nine Opens have been waived.