Growing up in Colgate, Oklahoma, Luke Palmer was known for his prowess on the basketball court long before he was a professional angler.
“I was a shooter,” admitted Palmer. “I remember one night, I was like 0-7 from three-point range, which almost never happened, and I pulled up and hit about a 30-footer and we won the game. Had I been scared to shoot after going 0-7, I’d have never taken the shot and we’d have lost the game”
The Gill Pro and I have had an opportunity throughout the day to discuss a little basketball and the lessons learned from being an athlete in another sport. It’s been an uncharacteristically tough day for Palmer who admitted he’s going to have to shop for some weights, hooks and crickets if he’s fortunate enough to salvage a spot on Day 3 of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite Series at Lake Chickamauga.
I’ve counted somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-15 fish that have broken the Sooner State native off in the lay downs and bluff walls he’s fishing today. To his credit, he’s around fish and they’re biting, but he’s struggling to get them in his Phoenix livewells. At present time, Palmer has about 12 pounds on a limit of Tennessee River bass and still has plenty of fishing time left in his day.
We talked earlier about having a shooter’s mentality where, regardless of the outcome, you’ve got to take the next shot and believe it’s going in and that’s exactly what Palmer’s doing. He’s continuing to flip lay downs and docks in search of the bite that’s going to change his afternoon from a decent day to getting him back in contention this weekend.
Having two consecutive Top 10 finishes in his back pocket have kept him in the right frame of mind and the “shooter’s mentality” has Palmer ready to step up and register another big shot before the clock strikes on his fishing day.