PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA
This kicker largemouth helped Morrison make the Top-30 cut on Lake
Eufaula .
Morrison relied on sonar and smallmouth to take a fourthplace finish at Stop 3 on Kentucky-Barkley Lakes .
PHOTO BY JODY WHITE
Morrison not only hung with the field of Texas hammers , he blew them away . Weighing a three-day total of 73-5 , Morrison set a Toyota Series record with his 24-pound margin of victory .
The dominant performance put Morrison ’ s name on the national radar and enhanced his belief that his fishing style worked . His confidence further ballooned as he went on to win one Phoenix Bass Fishing League event on Champlain and finish second in another as well as winning the Angler of the Year crown for the Toyota Series Northern Division .
“ Rayburn was definitely a huge turning point ,” Morrison said . “ I feel like I fished a specific kind of way , and I had a few good events on my home body of water , Champlain , in years past , but I basically never won anything . Once I was able to get that victory , I was able to kind of look at myself as an angler and realize , I can do this ; the way I like to fish works .”
Tech savvy , hard work sparked dominant season
Even as well as Morrison finished 2023 , he didn ’ t enter his rookie season on the Invitationals thinking about winning Angler of the Year or qualifying for the Bass Pro Tour . With Rayburn and Champlain both on the schedule , his primary goal was to win one of those two events .
“ I was like , I should probably fish ( the Invitationals ) considering two of them are places I feel really confident at ,” Morrison said with his typical nonchalance . “ So , that was really the main goal going into the season was to win those two events , and it ’ s really crazy how things kind of came together .”
While Morrison didn ’ t hoist the trophy at either event , he did finish among the Top 10 in both . Looking back at a season that he initially thought might contain some highs and lows because it included four fisheries where he ’ d never competed before , it ’ s his consistency that stands out .
Morrison made the cut at all six Invitationals events . He finished among the Top 10 four times , three of those being fourth place or better . His average finish of 8.67 is the best by an angler on the Invitationals / Pro Circuit since Bryan Thrift in 2010 .
“ He had 17 pretty much great days of fishing in a row ,” fellow Invitationals pro and New York native Brett Carnright said . “ He never slipped up one time , never had an off day , which is extremely impressive , because when you go to new bodies of water and only get three days of practice , usually a couple times throughout the year , you ’ re going to have a bad day .”
While his season contained no shortage of memorable moments , Morrison pointed to two that went the furthest toward propelling him to the points crown . The first occurred on Day 2 at Sam Rayburn , when he caught an 11-pound lunker . The second came during his first day of practice on Kentucky Lake . Morrison said he feared that event , the third of the season , more than any other on the schedule . But within his first few hours on the water , he found that he could use SideScan to identify smallmouth beds next to submerged stumps , allowing him to idle offshore bars and efficiently pinpoint fish . After finishing fourth , Morrison seriously started gunning for Angler of the Year .
“ He ’ s put in that work that everybody always talks about : Sleeping at the boat ramp , in the truck , thousands of hours on his boat motor . Learned how to catch them shallow largemouth fishing ; back home , deep-water stuff ; everything in between .”
“ I was real nervous about that one , and it all pretty much changed on Day 1 of practice ,” Morrison said . “ In three hours , I figured out what I needed to do to basically win . That was really kind of the turning point to kind of take a step back and be like , ‘ oh , man , ( AOY ) is a potential , for sure .’”
Morrison credits his ability to succeed on unfamiliar bodies of water in large part to his electronics prowess . Coming from a 20-something in the modern fishing era , that probably isn ’ t a surprise . However , while Morrison is certainly adept with forward-facing sonar , he thinks his willingness and ability to
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2024 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 47