LAUREL HILL, Fla. — A rising star from the Florida B.A.S.S. Nation junior ranks is on a torrid pace in his quest to become a pro angler.
Shawn Odor Jr., 12, plans to go to college and become a member of the school’s fishing team. After college, his goal is to “try to go big” and fish professionally.
“I love bass fishing,” he said, “and I’ve been competing on the water for the past five years,” he said.
The sixth-grader joined the Junior Bassmaster program to fish competitively and has an impressive record in several club and Nation tournaments throughout Florida, Alabama and Georgia.
As a member of the Quincy Junior Bassmasters, Odor has recorded four second-place finishes on Lake Talquin and won the big fish award on Lake Wimico in 2012. He won the Non-Boater of the Year Award and took second place on Lake Eufaula in 2010 as a member of the Hub City Bassmasters adult club. This year, Odor won the 11- to 14-year-olds age division of the Florida B.A.S.S. Nation Junior State Championship and qualified for the state team that will compete in the 2014 Southern Divisional in Alabama.
The Florida youngster also earned a perfect score of 150 to win a CastingKids contest at Destin, Fla., in 2010. B.A.S.S. member Tony Bigot had hosted CastingKids events for more than a decade, and he noted in the August 2010 issue of B.A.S.S. Times that Odor’s achievement was the first perfect score he had ever seen.
Odor admits it’s tough fishing in the junior ranks, but he appears to be taking care of the competition just fine on his rise to the next level.