Bassmaster AOY Trey McKinney and Other Top Stories from Fishing on SI

These 3 stories captured our Sports Illustrated fishing reader’s attention on Fishing on SI this past week.

What Finishing Second Taught Bassmaster AOY Trey McKinney About Winning; How and Where You Can Catch Big Catfish on a Fly Rod; Hawks Cay Resort: My Base for World-Class Florida Keys Fly Fishing | Kurt Mazurek | Kylie Therrien | Hawks Cay Resort

1.) What Finishing Second Taught Bassmaster AOY Trey McKinney About Winning

Trey McKinney came painfully close to winning Bassmaster Angler of the Year in each of his first two Elite Series seasons. In 2026, the 21-year-old finally broke through—and became the youngest AOY in B.A.S.S. history. | Kurt Mazurek

Trey McKinney understood the significance of the smallmouth bass fighting on the end of his line.

Already in his third year as a professional, the 21-year-old angler had spent most of the final day of the 2026 Bassmaster Elite season feeling something he had become shockingly good at suppressing: pressure.

“I was absolutely crappin’ myself probably,” McKinney told me a few days later. “I was just thinking, I’m not gonna mess this up. Everybody’s watching. I have a big one. I have to catch this big one. I need this big one. This is AOY. This is everything I’ve ever done.”

And when he finally lifted that 6-pound smallmouth into his boat, everything changed…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

2.) How and Where You Can Catch Big Catfish on a Fly Rod

This big cat hit a 3" chartreuse Clouser minnow being stripped back on a sinking line. | Photo by Kylie Therrien

It wasn't the most attractive river. The water was brown, and the shoreline was covered in large, broken limestone riprap—plastic bottles and fishing line littered among the rocks.

I was in Lockport, a small town 40 minutes outside Winnipeg, fishing with Elise Wood of Hunt Fish Manitoba and Kylie Therrien, an outdoor educator. They invited me to fish for channel catfish on a fly rod. For whatever reason, I didn't hear that part; I was thinking I'd try for some carp or drum. Fly fishing for catfish wasn't high on my wish list. 

Anglers lined the bank with heavy conventional rods and reels suited for saltwater fishing—more tackle than anyone should need for a freshwater river. I assumed these were weekend anglers fishing second-hand gear who simply didn’t know any better.  

We walked two hundred yards downriver where there was less of a crowd. We waded out about fifty yards and then back upriver. Kylie instructed that we wanted to get close to the dam and out of casting distance of the shore anglers…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

3.) Hawks Cay Resort: My Base for World-Class Florida Keys Fly Fishing

An aerial view of Hawks Cay Resort on Duck Key. You are right there in the middle of great fishing grounds, simple access to it, and easy livin. | Photo provided by Hawks Cay Resort

I wanted to hook a big tarpon; I wanted to chase some juvenile tarpon with an 8-weight fly rod, and I wanted to get some hours in sight-casting to redfish. If a snook crossed my path, that would be a bonus.

Hawks Cay Resort in the Florida Keys promised me they could help with all of the above. Plus, I would stay in a comfortable villa, and they would set me up with a guide who could put me on all these fish.

Everything I needed would be available to me; I could get lost in fishing for a few days, and all my basic comforts would be within walking distance.

I’d never fished the Keys. Growing up, it was a fantasy destination that was way outside my family's means. I'd read about the Keys in Outdoor Life or watched fly anglers fish it on The Walker's Cay Chronicles. I associated the Keys with Jimmy Buffett, Thomas McGuane, and Ted Williams. It was a kid’s dream…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.