JEFFERSON COUNTY, Tenn. – There are a number of historically notable sets of brothers in bassin’, and some are very much in action today. But there probably isn’t a hotter set than twins Carter and Dylan Nutt, who have made it look easy most times they launch their boats. In Stop 4 Presented by Phoenix Boats of the Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech, the pair finished 1-2 at Douglas Lake, and their biggest competition was each other.
Earning his first Pro Circuit win, Carter weighed a massive 18 pounds, 8 ounces on the final day for a 48-0 total and the $100,000 payday. Finishing second, Dylan racked up 17 pounds on the final day for a 47-10 total and a $23,900 payday.
The win also qualified Carter for REDCREST in 2027, and he took over the lead in the 7 Brew Angler of the Year race, ahead of fellow University of North Alabama angler Banks Shaw. While the Nutt brothers stuck offshore, Keith Poche finished third with 47 pounds that he caught off the grid, and Will Harkins fished docks to catch a big bag on Day 3 and moved into fourth.
Offshore skills fuel Nutt
Growing up in Tennessee, Carter is well-versed in the offshore game. He learned it in high school before forward-facing sonar, and he’s perfected it in college. This week, the depth of knowledge that both brothers have was on full display. Each day, Carter caught the majority of his fish on a crankbait, and most of his weight in the event came with minimal aid from LiveScope.
“I was running the whole lake every day, from the dam to pretty far up the river,” he said. “I was just running around, scanning a bunch of stuff, trying to find places where they were set up good. Run and gun, and stumble on a couple places where they were biting.”
TOP 10 BELOW
Pretty early in practice, Carter realized the smart play was to put some hours on his Mercury and devote a lot of effort to scanning.
“The first morning of practice, I spent the first hour looking for a shad spawn,” he said. “I didn’t see any shad spawn activity, and nobody we were staying with saw any kind of shad spawn. So, at that point, I stayed out deep the entire time. I feel like that’s one of my strengths, I felt really comfortable with what I was doing.”
During the event, it wasn’t uncommon for Carter to go 15 or 20 minutes between casts, as he ran and idled, looking for the best places to stand up and fish. That’s difficult for anyone not trained on the Tennessee River, but easy when you have the history and know the potential of the strategy.
“I scanned a lot of the same stuff every day, but I fished different places every day,” Carter said. “I would scan all the same areas, depending on if they were set up really good or not, I would fish them. I want to see a whole bunch of fish down there, out here, they move around a lot, and if someone fished them before you, they can scatter. You really want to be fishing for the fish that haven’t really been messed with, and are grouped up pretty good. Especially fishing for them without ‘Scope, that’s the best.”
Douglas is famous as a lake where fish are caught super deep, but this week, Carter did most of his work in fairly reasonable depths. He and Dylan also concentrated a lot of effort in the upper region of the lake, which may have helped separate them.
“I recognized in practice, it seemed like there was better quality up there,” Carter said. “Down the lake, there were so many small ones in those schools. There were also a lot of big ones, but those big ones were super smart.
“Pretty much all the fish I weighed came fairly shallow, I’d say 18 to 20 feet, but I weighed a couple that were 25. I had schools that were in 35 foot, I just never caught any big ones out of them.”
A handful of deep crankbaits did most of the damage for Nutt, with a Berkley Dredger 25.5 among them. He also caught fish on a jig with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Crud Craw, as well as a Berkley Lab Series Minnow. Using 12-pound Berkley GinClear line was key for his cranking, and he also used pretty fast reels. For his deepest, biggest baits, he used a 7-foot, 11-inch, heavy Fenwick World Class stick, paired with a 6.8:1 Abu Garcia Zenon X. For his slightly lighter duty cranking, he used a 7-11, medium heavy Abu Garcia Veritas Winch, with an 8.3:1 Zenon.
Finally Carter’s time on top
Carter has won in solo competition at the BFL level and elsewhere, but when it comes to signature wins, Dylan has thus far had the edge. Sunday, it was Carter’s time to shine.
“I went out every day not really knowing what was going to happen, not really knowing where I was going to catch them,” he said. “I just figured it out as the week went on, and I had a couple places that were really, really good, and caught some big ones. Today was unbelievable.”
It started off hot – Carter popped a big one out of a school that had been good for about 12 pounds every day, but no giants. Still, he didn’t really expect to be sharing the stage with Dylan when it came down to it at weigh-in.
“I knew it was a possibility, but how big of a bag I had, that was totally out of left field,” he said. “I caught a 4 1/2 pretty early this morning. Then, I caught a 2 1/2 and a 3-pounder, and I knew I was putting myself in the right position. When I had over 18 pounds, I knew it was a possibility. Then, Dylan pulled up, and he only had four, and he caught a 3 1/2 and had an ounce more than me on his Bubba. After that, I wasn’t as stoked, I was trying to catch another. I thought he was going to win it.”
Pulling into the same spot as Carter, Dylan quickly minnowed up his fifth fish late in the day, and it was a big one. It was a moment that resonated on MLFNOW! – was Carter really OK with Dylan whipping in for a quick fish?
According to Carter, he was totally in the clear.
“I was a little less cool when he had more than me, but we fish as a team,” he said. “Scanning a lot in practice, you don’t really get to sample a lot of the schools. So, we were able to talk about where we were finding better size, and baits they were biting better. We scanned the entire lake, and we found pretty much every school in the lake.”
And, considering Carter finally got a big win of his own, it’s probably safe to say that he’s fine letting Dylan catch a fish or two in front of him.
“He’s had his moments. I’m super happy to finally get one for myself,” Carter said. “It’s super cool. To get a win on this level, it’s unbelievable. It’s crazy.”
Top 10 pros
1. Carter Nutt – 48 – 0 (15) – $100,000
2. Dylan Nutt – 47 – 10 (15) – $23,900
3. Keith Poche – 47 – 0 (15) – $19,300
4. Will Harkins – 45 – 14 (15) – $17,400
5. Aaron Yavorsky – 42 – 3 (15) – $16,500
6. Harbor Lovin – 42 – 0 (15) – $15,600
7. Colby Miller – 41 – 13 (15) – $14,700
8. Brody Campbell – 41 – 9 (15) – $13,700
9. Bobby Lane – 41 – 7 (15) – $12,800
10. Drew Boggs – 41 – 6 (15) – $11,900
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