During the past 18 months, I know I’ve become known as that angler who recovered from brain surgery to win the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s just two months later.
And while some anglers might resent having one incredibly difficult series of events permanently tied to their careers, I welcome it.
For those of you who don’t know, in August 2023, I was diagnosed with what doctors first thought was a brain tumor. It turned out to be an infected brain abscess, but it didn’t matter. When doctors tell you something is inside your brain that shouldn’t be there, it changes your perspective on a lot of things.
I had surgery to remove it in mid-August and then won the Classic Bracket on Milford Lake in Kansas in early October, earning a spot in the 2024 Bassmaster Classic.
When I say that revealed God’s plan for me, I believe that with all my heart.
I still think about it pretty much every day. Straight up, I almost died. Then just two months later, to get the biggest win of my career — that tells me it was just meant to be.
That has continued every day since then with the way things have just fallen into place.
Fishing the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN last year, there were so many fish catches that came so easy to me. It was like this was the path I was supposed to be on, and I just couldn’t help it.
Winning the overall points title in the Tackle Warehouse Elite Qualifiers division was another dream come true for me — and now fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series this year will be a continuation of that dream.
The biggest thing I’m looking forward to on the Elites is just making friends with everyone I’ve idolized since my childhood. The bump tank conversations, the rules meeting conversations — just a chance to talk to guys that I’ve looked up to for so long — is the thing I’m looking forward to the most.
At the same time, I understand how competitive those guys are. I know there are guys in the field like Brandon Palaniuk who’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but at the same time, he wants to go out and kick everyone in the teeth on the water.
I want to be exactly like that. I’m one of the most competitive people you’ll ever meet, but as soon as I weigh my fish in, I just want to help people.
Helping other anglers will be a big focus of my career. I’m looking forward to using my platform to teach younger anglers and other anglers in general.
I think all that I’ve gone through will help me do those things even when I face adversity. I’m at a point where I cherish every sunrise and every sunset, and I really think that’s what contributed to my success last year in the Opens. I was just so calm and just so happy to be there.
The mindset that I’ve grasped since my health scare is something that will never leave me — just being grateful. I’m gonna bring that with me for the rest of my life and certainly to the Elite Series.
I feel like I handle adversity now better than I ever have before — not only because of the health scare, but because of the experience I gained fishing the Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops with the University of Montevallo.
I faced all kinds of adversity in college on the water, during travel, with the truck, with the boat. I feel like I’m ready for anything.
With all of this said, I want everyone to realize I’m going into this challenge with humility. I understand how tough it’s going to be to fish the Elite Series.
But I feel like I’m as ready as I can be — and when things don’t go exactly the way I want them to, I have some tough times and some real triumphs to draw from so I can stay focused on the new task at hand.
