I’m normally not one to pick on my elders, so I hope you don’t interpret what I’m about to write as me picking on Bassmaster Magazine Senior Writer Louie Stout, but I’ve gotta say, it’s a good thing Louie only catches small bass.
Please … hear me out on this one.
Back in January, Louie called to update me on a story he was working on at the time. After we got done commiserating about the brutality of living through a Midwestern winter, he filled me in on a little situation he’d been dealing with.
Louie tore up his shoulder last fall. I think he said he was midway through an Ironman triathlon or maybe hauling a family out of a burning building when it happened. Or maybe he was lighting his grill. I can’t remember the exact details.
Regardless, Louie wound up in the exam room of a northern Indiana surgeon, a sports injury expert who keeps all the Notre Dame football players in prime shape for playing golf during the College Football Playoff. That’s when the doc delivered some bad news.
“He looked at the scans and said, ‘Oh no … This is really bad,’” Louie recalled. “Then he looked at me and said, ‘It’s really bad. You need surgery.’”
That’s tough news to hear, especially when Louie learned he was on the hook for a six- to eight-month recovery. I respect the heck out of him for his response.
“I told him I’m 75 years old. I just got a new trolling motor and lithium batteries. Can we put it off until fall?”
Atta boy, Louie. I fully support that level of dedication. Even better is that the doctor agreed. He told Louie to take it easy. No wrestling matches or rock climbing or that sort of thing.
“He said I can’t lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk,” Louie told me.
“Then you’d better make sure you only catch small fish this season,” I replied.
“My fishing partner would tell you that I’ve been doing that my entire fishing career.”
Jokes aside, folks in the Bassmaster universe are pretty crazy when it comes to their love of tournament fishing, whether they’re actually fishing in them, which Louie does with his club back home, or they’re reporting on them, as he has done for decades. If he would’ve gotten surgery in the winter, Louie not only would’ve lost much of his fishing season, but he would’ve still been in a sling and babying that newly reconstructed shoulder during the Bassmaster Classic, which would’ve made a tough job nearly unbearable.
His commitment to being there to cover the Classic is one more example of how this Bass Fishing Hall of Famer always delivers the mail — or in his case, the article — through rain, snow, heat or severely damaged shoulder. You can read Louie’s story about the Classic winning pattern in the June 2026 issue.
I give Louie a lot of credit for how long he’s been in this game and all the work he’s done. That’s not an age joke, either. That’s real. Covering bass tournaments and living deadline to deadline isn’t for everyone. It takes a lot of passion for it.
That’s the common thread I see that holds this entire industry together: passion.
I bet a lot of you understand what I mean. You love this sport like crazy, just like Louie. And I hope you keep at it, no matter what it takes to stay out there doing what you love. In that regard, be like Louie. Well, mostly.
“My doctor told me, ‘Here’s your problem: Your body is 75, and your brain is 35,’” Louie said.
So be like Louie, but don’t forget to take care of yourself, too.
Originally appeared in Bassmaster Magazine 2026.