After high school, Cory Johnston had no interest in continuing his education. After all, he’d decided long ago what career path he would take. “I wanted to be a tournament fisherman my whole life....
For someone who fishes by the seat of his pants — who never goes into a tournament with a strategy all mapped out — it’s almost surprising that Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., has been laser...
Louisiana native Brett Preuett was one day past his high school graduation and preparing for a career as a college baseball player when his life took a turn no one could have predicted.He was...
To younger fans of professional bass fishing, Clark Wendlandt may seem like a total newcomer to the Bassmaster Tournament Trail.But actually, this year is a homecoming of sorts for the veteran...
Rick Clunn is 72 years old, yet he remains as exhilarated as a teenager about tournament bass fishing. That paradox of age and excitement begs the question made famous by pitching legend Satchel...
It seems that the sport of tournament bass fishing has almost been ingrained into the fabric of Luke Palmer’s life. Ever since he was young, his father, Tammy, was a fixture at local tournaments...
For Carl Jocumsen, the first Australian to fish competitively in America, reaching Bassmaster Elite status was so desirable he had to do it twice. But the 34-year-old believes things are all coming...
Six-year Bassmaster Elite Series pro and tournament veteran David Mullins didn’t plan on fishing for a living. In fact, he never considered it possible.It wasn’t that he didn’t fish. He did — and...
Try and try again, and even then you might not succeed. That's the brutal reality of pro fishing. But Millville, N.J., pro Greg DiPalma would have none of that, and 2019 marked the culmination of...
Winning a Bassmaster Classic is undeniably the ultimate goal of any professional bass angler. Believe it or not, winning the sport’s most coveted title never entered Matt Herren’s mind when he...
In the mid-1990s, David Fritts was revered throughout central North Carolina as the King of the Yadkin. He was known nationally as the crankbait guru who won the 1993 Bassmaster Classic on Logan...
There was a stretch between 2014 and 2015 when Shane Lineberger felt like everything was coming together for him as a professional bass angler.He ended 2014 with a sixth-place finish in the...
Gary Clouse has lost track of the number of times he’s worked at the Bassmaster Classic or a Bassmaster Elite Series tournament.Such opportunities avail themselves to the president and founder of...
The way Randy Pierson figured, he already was entering 2019 looking for a new job. But not in his wildest dreams did he think that gig would be as a professional angler on the Bassmaster Elite...
Clifford Pirch has a new mindset for the 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series season. He’s excited about the smaller field, the big-bass fisheries on the schedule and the wider gap between entry fees and...
Clent Davis always believed he could make it in fishing, and he did, but then he nearly gave it all up. He lost his Bassmaster Elite Series spot after two tough years from 2016 to 2017. He was...
Bassmaster Elite Series sophomore Chris Groh’s long hair may represent a fashion decision or a lifestyle choice, but more likely it reflects the fact that he can’t stop moving long enough to get a...
The old adage, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” is accurate when it comes to 30-year-old angling ace Brandon Lester. With 78 tournaments under his belt, four classic...
Veteran Todd Auten of Lake Wylie, S.C., is now in his third decade of fishing professional events, and his resume now records more than 140 total B.A.S.S. events alone.Like his peers, his love of...
Skylar Hamilton is fishing his third Bassmaster Elite Series season at age 24, and though admittedly young, the Tennessean is anything but a tournament neophyte.Hamilton began fishing club...
Somewhere inside Mark Menendez’s Kentucky home, in a dark space, tucked safely away from the rest of the world, is a yearbook from Paducah Tilghman High School that belonged to his late wife, Donna...
Some kids grew up idolizing mainstream athletes — Chris Johnston wasn’t one of them. As a young kid, he grew up around some of Canada’s best tournament fisherman like Bob Izumi, Rocky Crawford,...
As one gains years and experience, things from the past seem to shrink, and Cliff Prince is hopeful he can produce a tighter circle of finishes in his eighth Bassmaster Elite Seris season.Before...
Matt Arey has always been competitive by nature. The Shelby, N.C., pro grew up focused on sports like baseball and soccer. Unlike the rest of his family, he took an interest in the outdoors and...
Every angler who qualified for the 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series is grateful for the chance to compete. But none of them likely are as thankful as Yusuke Miyazaki.Miyazaki, the 48-year-old,...
Shane LeHew belongs to the new generation of Bassmaster Elite Series anglers who polished their skills in college bass fishing tournaments before rising to the pro ranks.The 30-year-old LeHew’s...
Editor's note: Paul Mueller won the Toyota Bassmaster Elite at Lake Lanier, the second Elite tournament of the 2019 season, with 69 pounds. His win came just a week after finishing 62nd at the St....
“Nobody on their deathbed has ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.’”Jason Williamson lives by that axiom. Now, he does his best competing on the Bassmaster Elite Series, but he...
Kyle Monti has worked a lot of jobs, despite being only 26 years old.They include supermarket clerk, bartender, telephone call center customer service representative and systems engineer for a...
Sometimes, the least dramatic tales can be some of the most inspiring. While some anglers “find” their way into professional fishing via life experiences, unexpected opportunities, or perhaps,...
In the history of B.A.S.S., Brian Snowden has one of the most fantastic anomalies in the big book of results – he finished a tournament with more overall weight than the event winner.All in...
Never underestimate Drew Cook’s desire to make his living as a Bassmaster Elite Series pro. Consider what the Florida resident overcame at the first Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Eastern Open of 2018...
Brock Mosley has been a competitor on the Bassmaster Elite Series since 2016. While competing on the Elite Series, the Collinsville, Miss., pro has managed to have a few top-flight moments to...
Georgia pro Micah Frazier burst onto the scene as a young phenom when he won a BFL at the tender age of 16. And the rest, as they say, is history.About that history, let's start at the beginning....
You can say that Ray Hanselman loves the thrill of the hunt. Be it on the water, in the blind or on the stalk, his dialed-in diligence and dogged determination fuel a perpetual quest for the next...
Bernie Schultz has mastered the art of professional fishing, and he’s picked up a few valuable pieces along the way. Spoiler alert — both statements address the literal as well as the figurative...
In 2003, Koby Kreiger underwent major life changes. He fished the Bassmaster Classic at the Louisiana Delta, which he qualified for by claiming the Bassmaster Northern Opens points championship the...
Jake Whitaker took the Bassmaster Elite Series by storm when he stepped up to the big time last year. He earned checks in five of the nine regular-season events, with his top finish coming at the...
The stars of bass fishing typically inspire teenagers to dream of following in their footsteps.Harvey Horne was different.His inspiration to join the pro ranks came from the very grass-roots level....
Most Bassmaster Elite Series rookies are fishing to reach their first Bassmaster Classic.Dale Hightower, however, already has taken part in the world’s most prestigious bass tournament, and it...
Brad Whatley of Bivins, Texas, finished third at the first Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Central Open of 2018 on Mississippi’s Ross Barnett Reservoir. He never looked back.After last year's Bassmaster...
Chad Morgenthaler's tale is actually told through three different careers. The second career led directly to the third, while the first career provided the financial fuel."I got started in the...
Beneath a mild and measured exterior, Tennessee pro Brandon Card has the heart of a daredevil.“I’ve been skydiving and cliff jumping, all those sorts of extreme things,” he said nonchalantly. “I...
From his very first cast in a Bassmaster event, Bill Weidler was swinging for the fences. He was “Bassmaster Classic or bust.”“I bought a brand new Skeeter FX rigged to fish when I entered the...
By finishing third in the 2018 Bassmaster Central Opens, Louisiana angler Derek Hudnall earned invitations to the 2019 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods and the Bassmaster...
Born and raised in San Jose, Calif., Chris Zaldain is what you’d call a self-taught bass fanatic. He spent a lot of time with his dad trout fishing along the Colorado River, but it was his years of...
Fresh on the heels of high school and a few years of college, Ed Loughran fully believed that he’d be a full-time touring bass pro by the time he was in his mid 20s. And why not? He’d been guiding...
When Tyler Carriere returned to tournament fishing after a lengthy hiatus, he discovered there was a definite learning curve. Heading into his third year on the Bassmaster Elite Series, he hopes he...
Jesse Tacoronte’s path to professional bass fishing began like most — with his father taking him fishing.“My dad and his friends would fish every Friday and Sunday evenings,” the second-year...
Keith Combs caught his first crankbait fish at 4 years old, and while his track record says that he’s mastered the craft, 39 years later he’s still searching for perfection. The external trademark...
With three tournament wins, including the all-time weight record, and close calls for Classic and AOY crowns, Steve Kennedy needs little introduction to the Bassmaster Elites. However, his...
At 12 years old, Kelley Jaye thought his life was over, when it actuality was just beginning. His parents split up and his mother moved him from the city to the country, which might as well have...
Gary and Cheryl Sullivan fished in plenty of club bass tournaments in north Texas back in the 1990s with their infant son nestled in the bottom of their boat.So when Bassmaster Elite Series pro...
Rick Morris had been a B.A.S.S. Iron Man until an ailing back caused him to take a medical leave from the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2014.Morris claimed he had never missed a single day of 228 B.A...
It takes a lot of caffeine to get Seth Feider anywhere close to fired up. He starts his morning with a couple of cups of coffee, then guzzles Mountain Dew the rest of the day, and he still can’t be...
When the Bassmaster Elite Series launched in 2006, one of its anglers was a rookie from southern Indiana. At season’s end the rookie was 25th in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings and had...
Receiving the invitation to join the Bassmaster Elite Series was a “bittersweet experience” for Robbie Latuso.It was sweet for Latuso because he reached a pinnacle he had always sought, but it was...
Although Garrett Paquette is only 24 years old, he has dreamed of making a living in the sport of bass fishing for more than a decade. He appears to be well on his way. A resident of Canton, Mich.,...
In 2018 Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., competed in the Eastern and Central divisions of the Bassmaster Opens. It was to be his first year of a three-year quest to become a Bassmaster Elite...
It’s not uncommon to hear anglers talk about “building” their fishing career, but for Scott Canterbury, construction has played a significant role in leading him to his present course. Making his...
Louisiana bass angler Quentin Cappo will be competing on the Bassmaster Elite Series for the first time in 2019. What makes this angler’s path to the Elites so remarkable is that he fished the...
A passion for hunting has gotten Elite rookie Rob Digh off to a slow start in his preparation for the 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series.“I’ve been hunting hard since the Bassmaster Opens Championship at...
Jamie Hartman recognized early on there would be hard knocks along the way when going up against the sport’s top anglers, but he could have never anticipated what happened on June 20, 2018.At the...
