Trey McKinney Claims 2026 Bassmaster Angler of the Year — Powered by a Full ABYSS BATTERY® System

Trey McKinney has done it. On the final day of the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series season, the 21-year-old pro from Carbondale, Illinois, closed out the Angler of the Year race at the St. Lawrence River and made history as the youngest AOY champion B.A.S.S. has ever crowned.

Everyone at ABYSS BATTERY® is proud to say Trey ran a complete ABYSS lithium system through every cast of that championship season. From cold-morning starts to the last graph still glowing at weigh-in, his boat ran on ABYSS power. Congratulations, Trey — this one is yours.

A Season Three Years in the Making

McKinney finished second in the AOY standings in each of his first two Elite Series seasons, both times behind Chris Johnston. In 2026 he finally flipped the script, outlasting Chris's older brother Cory Johnston by a razor-thin four points, 735 to 731, across a nine-event schedule.

The road there was anything but smooth:

• Strong open: Top-20 finishes at Lake Guntersville, Lake Martin, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, the Arkansas River and Lake Murray built an early cushion.
• The stumble: A 90th-place finish at Santee Cooper handed the points lead to Johnston mid-season.
• The rally: An 11th at the Pasquotank River and a 21st at Lake Champlain put McKinney back in front heading into the finale.
• The closer: On Johnston's home water, McKinney entered the St. Lawrence River event trailing by two points, weighed his second career Century Belt, and finished second in the tournament to lock up the title and a $100,000 payday.

The clincher came late on the final day, when a 6-pound smallmouth turned a nerve-wracking morning into a championship afternoon. According to Bassmaster, McKinney summed up the moment in three words: "This feels unbelievable."

The previous youngest AOY was Kevin VanDam, who won his first at age 24 in 1992. McKinney is now 21 with a title, two Century Belts and more than $900,000 in career earnings.

The Power Behind the Pursuit

Elite Series anglers put more strain on a boat's electrical system than almost anyone on the water. Multiple forward-facing sonar units, large-format graphs, a high-thrust trolling motor and a big outboard all draw from the same batteries for 8-plus hours a day, tournament after tournament, from Alabama in the spring to New York in late August.

Trey's answer was a fully integrated ABYSS BATTERY® system built around two products.

Cranking and House Power: 2x ABYSS® 12V 150Ah Dual Purpose Lithium Marine Batteries

Trey runs two ABYSS® 12V 150Ah Dual Purpose Lithium Marine Batteries to start his outboard and power his entire house electronics package. A true dual-purpose lithium battery lets a bass angler do both jobs from one bank without sacrificing cranking amps or run time.

What made it the right choice for a season-long grind:

• 300Ah of usable house capacity — enough to run multiple live sonar units and graphs all day without voltage sag.
• Compact GC2 footprint at roughly 34 lbs each — hundreds of pounds lighter than an equivalent lead-acid setup, which matters when you are running rough water and shallow flats.
• Alternator-ready charging — the batteries recharge directly from the outboard on the run, no converters required.
• Emergency Start Power Reserve — a built-in push-start backup so a low-voltage morning never becomes a missed blast-off.
• Bluetooth® monitoring — real-time state of charge, voltage and diagnostics through the ABYSS Battery app.
• True IP67 waterproof construction and a heavy-duty BMS rated for 4,000+ cycles.

Trolling Motor Power: The Complete ABYSS INFINITE™ Series System

Up front, Trey runs the full INFINITE™ Series, our integrated 36V trolling motor power ecosystem. It is one battery, one charger and one monitor engineered from the ground up to work together.

SEAL™ 36V 105Ah Lithium Trolling Motor Battery — a single 36V battery that replaces three 12V batteries, saving up to 150 lbs versus lead-acid. It holds steady voltage from full charge down to 10%, so the trolling motor pulls just as hard at 3 p.m. as it did at first light. The SEAL™ is also the world's first lithium marine battery with built-in fire suppression, backed by a marine-optimized BMS, integrated cold-weather heating and IP67 sealing.

SHARK™ Bi-Directional DC-DC Charger — the SHARK™ keeps the trolling motor bank topped off from the outboard's alternator while you run between spots, and its bi-directional design lets the system move power where it is needed. For an angler making long runs on the St. Lawrence or Champlain, that means arriving at the first spot with a full trolling battery and never rationing thrust late in the day.

CRYSTAL™ X3 Smart Battery Monitor — a dash-mounted display and Bluetooth app that shows voltage, current, state of charge and battery health at a glance, so Trey always knows exactly how much fishing time he has left.

The whole system installs with plug-and-play quick-connect terminals and a pre-configured cable kit, including inline fuse, circuit breaker and CAN communication cables. Clean, fast and tournament-ready.

Why Pro Anglers Choose ABYSS BATTERY®

A season like Trey's is decided by margins — four points over nine events, one late-day bite, one more run to one more spot. Power is one of the few variables an angler can fully control before the boat ever leaves the ramp. When the batteries are not a question, every ounce of focus goes to the fish.

That is what ABYSS BATTERY® is built for: lithium marine power that is lighter, safer, smarter and backed by our industry-leading transferable warranty, so serious anglers can run harder and longer without a second thought.

Trey chose ABYSS to power his pursuit of Angler of the Year. We could not be more proud to have been in the boat with him.

Build Your Own AOY-Ready System

Whether you fish the Elite Series or a Tuesday-night club tournament, the same system that carried Trey McKinney to the 2026 title is available today.

• Shop the ABYSS® 12V 150Ah Dual Purpose Lithium Marine Battery
• Shop the INFINITE™ Series 36V Trolling Motor System
• Find an Authorized ABYSS Dealer near you
• Read the ABYSS Marine Battery Buying Guide

Have questions about outfitting your bass boat? Call our battery experts at 1-855-719-1727 or email info@abyssbattery.com.

Congratulations, Trey. Power Your Pursuit.™