Switching his field of study from business to bass last year, Ryan Lachniet is hoping he makes an Elite grade this year.
The 22-year-old from Gum Spring, Va., suspended work on his master’s degree in business administration in hopes of graduating with a master’s in B.A.S.S., aka the Bassmaster Elite Series.
Lachniet is back in school this year, competing among the 158 anglers fishing the four Division 1 events of the Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens, which starts this week on Lake Kissimmee. A top 50 in points for the division will send him to the three Elite Qualifiers, where the best 10 receive Elite caps and gowns.
“I hope I make it this year,” Lachniet said. “Since I started fishing tournaments when I was like 11, the end goal was to make the Elites.”
Lachniet only needed a couple more credits in last year’s EQs. After a C-minus, he stormed up the dean’s list but finished 12th in the EQ standings, remaining an underclassman.
“It was really, really close last year,” he said. “I had that one bad tournament at Wheeler that set me back. Then I almost got back into it but ended up missing it by seven points. So super disappointing last year, but hopefully I can make it happen this year.”
After finishing second in points in Division 1, Lachniet started well in the EQs with a 15th-place finish at Lake Champlain. A 55th at Wheeler Lake knocked him down to 24th in EQ points. Although acing the season finale at Lake Okeechobee, including the big bag of 27-1 on Day 2 that helped him finish eighth, Lachniet was left lamenting his poor midterm.
“Wheeler’s kind of been my kryptonite,” he said. “Over the last two years of fishing big tournaments, it’s been the only time I’ve missed the top 25. Both of them were at Wheeler, and I don’t know why. I just always kind of struggled at that place. Hopefully I don’t have to go back there anytime soon.”
Lachniet was a quick study in bass fishing, learning from youth events that fueled him to do more schooling. He started the bass program at his high school and took fourth in the 2021 National Championship on Lake Chickamauga. He fished college bass at Campbellsville University, where he broadened his fishing knowledge.
Last April, he won the B.A.S.S. Nation qualifier on the James River, which he considers his home body of water. That came in the middle of the Opens schedule, where he discovered his desired career trajectory.
“I graduated with a business entrepreneurship degree in two years, and then I started doing my master’s while I was fishing the Opens last year,” Lachniet said. “I was studying business for my master’s, but I ended up dropping that because I wanted to focus more on the EQs. That’s a little more important to me than the actual master’s degree.”
Finding success opened Lachniet’s eyes that he could compete on the pro level, and that he really wanted to. He posted two Top 10s in the Opens and never finished worse than 20th.
“I never really knew if it was like actually a possibility until last year,” he said. “When I finished second in the points, I thought this is possible. This is something I could really do. I think that was the first time I ever mentally pictured it actually happening. And it kind of changed my perspective on it.
“I don’t think I can live without it. I’m just going to do it until I make it. I hope it’s this year, but if not, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I’m going to do them till I make it.”
Once again, there will be stout EQ competition in 2026. There are 17 former Elite anglers in the Division 1 field of 158, along with 25 or so cherry picking the event. Several other hopefuls finished just below Lachniet in last year’s EQs.
“There’s obviously some people that are really good,” he said. “Honestly, at this point, there’s so many people that are so good at fishing now that it doesn’t really matter who ends up in your tournament.
“You’re going to have some people who smoke them every time. So it doesn’t really matter who’s there. You’re going to have to beat some really stiff competition.”
Like last year, Lachniet hasn’t previously fished many of the venues on this year’s schedule, which after Kissimmee takes anglers to Lake Eufaula in Alabama, Lake Norman and Lake Erie.
The Top 50 from Divisions 1 and 2 move on a three-event EQ sprint starting at Norfork Lake in September. The field moves on to Toledo Bend in October then finishes on Lake Guntersville in November.
Lachniet said going to new fisheries doesn’t really faze him, but he will pre-practice on some.
“I’m kind of a fan of going places I’ve never been,” he said. “I’ve always liked being able to break somewhere down without having preconceived notions of what I’ve done before. I’m looking forward to that.”
Admitting his strength is tidal fishing – there are none on the schedule – Lachniet adds he enjoys fishing grass and is proficient with LiveScope. The Opens schedule adopted rules similar to the Elites with respect to forward-facing sonar, with it being allowed in half the tournaments.
It is off limits for the season-opener on Kissimmee, where B.A.S.S. recently held junior, high school and college events. Seven college teams averaged more than 20 pounds over their two-day event, with the winners bringing in 47 pounds, 12 ounces. There were several bass over 8 pounds and the biggest was 2 ounces short of 10.
Lachniet said winter storm Fern, expected to blow through the region on Monday, will make things tougher.
“Cold fronts and Florida bass never seems to be a great combination, so it’s definitely going to be interesting,” Lachniet said. “It’s going to make it tough for everybody. I guess I’m just going to have to drag my Big Bites Trick Stick real slow.”
Thursday’s first day of competition will open with temperatures in the 30s, but it should warm to around 60 in the afternoons through Championship Saturday, where the Top 10 will be covered on Bassmaster LIVE.
“It was really cold last week, and then it got super warm, so it might push some up on bed,” Lachniet said. “I don’t know if they’re going to stick around for the tournament. After practice, everything’s going to change so much. It’s going to be hard to adjust. It’ll definitely be interesting.”
Lachniet is hoping a good tournament will put him near the head of the class.
