Every year, more than 600 schools and nearly 10,000 college anglers battle to make it to the Carhartt College Bass Championship and Classic bracket. Those who do compete for a single qualifying spot in the most important tournament in the world of bass fishing — the Bassmaster Classic. To put that in terms of acceptance rate, the Bassmaster Classic is 500 times more selective than Harvard (.01 percent versus 5.4 percent).
Cue John Garrett, this year’s Classic representative from the college ranks, a.k.a. Mr. 0.01 percent. Garrett was born and raised in Union City, Tenn., compiling more experience in hunting and bass fishing than many of us will in a lifetime. He will no doubt fly under everyone’s radar as the Classic kicks off this month, but don’t sleep on this kid from Bethel University who cut his teeth in the backwaters of Reelfoot Lake and the famed ledges of Kentucky Lake.
It was on those ledges with his grandfather that John’s passion for fishing really began:
“One of the things that really stuck out to me was the first time I went ledge fishing on Kentucky Lake. It was way before Side Scans had come out, we were in an aluminum boat and just had those little Eagle depth finders. I was actually pretty mad sitting in the back of the boat. I didn’t want to be out fishing in the middle of nowhere. I was real young, 8 or 9, and had just started learning how to throw a baitcaster. It ended up being one of the best days I’d had at the time. We ended up catching fish on about every cast till it got dark.”
Garrett spent the winter splitting time between guiding duck hunters on Reelfoot and getting in his practice days on Texas’ Lake Conroe, site of the 2017 Bassmaster Classic.
But with spring now in full swing and the Classic at his doorstep, Garrett may be riding the right momentum into the biggest tournament in bass fishing. In the past two months, he has clocked a successful practice on Table Rock Lake in Missouri and just took a Top 10 finish in a 248 boat college tournament on Guntersville, all while balancing the demands of being a full-time student. Momentum is often overlooked in bass fishing, and Garrett may be fishing with a hot hand this month on Conroe.
Garrett and other Classic anglers should see much more favorable conditions on Conroe than they have experienced in recent Classics. There should be no ice in their guides or hand warmers in their pockets. The warm spring should have Conroe’s bass in all stages, some moving up to spawn, or somewhere in between. Whatever the case, it plays well into the young angler’s strengths.
“I’m kinda at home with a flipping stick in my hand. You know, I also like fishing offshore brush piles which I heard is a big thing down at Conroe. So, I feel like I’m going to like the way it fishes no matter what the situation is.”
Garrett will have every opportunity to shock Classic spectators and become the first high-finishing college angler since Carhartt pro Jordan Lee took sixth in the 2014 Classic.
Along with the pressure of fishing his first Classic against many of his lifelong heroes, Garrett knows he will have to catch a few full-grown Texas largemouth in order to stay in the mix. Fish weighing more than 8 pounds are not uncommon, and will surely go far in the hunt to stay competitive throughout the three-day event. But Garrett is no stranger to big fish.
“Ben Parker, he’s close to our family, came out with that big spoon. He gave us a few and me and my grandad went out to a little local lake. We went over a school of fish and graphed some awfully big dots. We thought they were catfish. We ended up going back to that school and catching five or six largemouth that were right around that 10 pound range. And that’s where I caught that one giant that weighed 11.12.”
Catching a fish bigger than that at Conroe would mean a whole lot more than just an update to Garrett’s personal record book.
But amidst all the pressure and expectations, Garrett has stayed relaxed, patient, and appreciative of each step in his Classic journey. March will come and he will hit the road south with his new purple Nitro that his friends have affectionately nicknamed “Barney.” The little moments with his grandfather and years of fishing with friends and Bethel teammates will culminate into just three short days of competition.
“I’m definitely going to go out there and try to win it. But I’ll be happy with whatever fish I catch.”
College fishing could not have asked for a better ambassador to represent a community of kids who lose sleep and travel thousands of miles in the pursuit of a single swimming adversary.