Dillinger, Benson win Arkansas State Championship

Carson Dillinger and Dylan Benson have been putting together an impressive resume of victories on the Ark-La-Tex Bassmaster Tournament Trail this year which prepared them for the Arkansas State Championship on Lake Dardanelle.

The tag team of Dillinger and Benson finished in first place in four of the five regular season Ark-La-Tex Bassmaster Tournaments (Millwood, Wright Patman, Caddo, and the 2-day Millwood/Patman tournament). This preparation throughout the year led to a birth in the Arkansas State Championship.

May 1-2, the pair went to Lake Dardanelle with no on lake pre-fishing opportunities, and they broke the lake down and found key areas where they isolated a specific frog pattern and brought in five fish for 9.54 pounds to the scales on the first day of the 2-day tournament.

This was good enough for a fourth place standing after one day of competition.

As the anglers moved into the Championship Day the fishing conditions changed and they were forced to adapt and dial in on what the fish were feeding on.

After four hours of grinding out various locations and patterns Dillinger and Benson found a flipping pattern that produced five fish for 11.85 pounds of fish to take to the final weigh in.

This brought their 2-day total to 21.39 pounds, and it brought the Arkansas State Championship to the Ark-La-Tex Bassmaster Tournament Trail.

Carson and Dylan earned a berth into the B.A.S.S. Bassmaster High School National Championship on July 29-31, on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tenn.