I grew up with a rod in my hand in a small town in central New Jersey called Pittstown. My dad had taught me the basics of fishing for trout when I was a young kid at around age 8. Once I got a taste of what it felt like to have a rod bent, I was hooked and spent all my free time learning on the water. A few years went by, and I met a friend named Jack who was very into fishing with his father as well, but mainly bass fishing. He took me out to a local pond on a little boat, and I laid into a giant largemouth bass. It was at this point I knew I would be fishing for the rest of my life.
PENN STATE BASS FISHING
Fast forward to my freshman year here at Penn State… I had finally made it onto the Penn State Bass Fishing Tournament Team which was a goal I set before I got here. A tournament member named Stephen at one of the local club outings picked me up. I could tell really knew his stuff, and we got along well. He had asked me if I wanted to fish the MLF Smith Mountain Lake Virginia tournament, and without hesitation, I agreed.
This was a scary feeling fishing in my first tournament with little boating experience compared to the other competing anglers and schools. I remember feeling very intimidated. I was staring at $80,000 rigs provided by varsity-level bass fishing teams down south and felt so behind on a little old Ranger bass boat.
We began fishing, and I caught a few average-sized fish, but could not help but soak in the surroundings. It was a beautiful spring day with the sun shining, and the water was a crisp blue/green color. At this moment, I was so content in life, and the feeling of intimidation and being overwhelmed faded away. That is until I thought about winning.
We had 5 fish weighing around 9 pounds, but we knew that was not enough to put us in the top 20 to qualify for nationals. I grew up playing numerous sports and am a very competitive guy. Yeah, I was happy to catch our limit, but the problem was that I did not want to be average. I did not want to be another name at the bottom of the leaderboard. I wanted to make a name for myself and Penn State Bass Fishing. Stephen and I buckled down and put our heads together to figure out how we were catching our fish, what pattern they were following, and how they were behaving. We concluded that the big females were making beds and starting to spawn near cover.
the one.
We came in hot to this one isolated dock on a point in a branch off the main lake. I skipped my worm deep underneath this dock and before I could even set the hook my line was running sideways. I had a big fish and anxiously reeled her in not realizing how big it was until it landed in the net. We went crazy. This was the fish we needed and I felt it really set us off on the right foot to succeed.
We fished the rest of the day and managed to upgrade a few solid fish, but not enough to put us where we needed to be. We weighed 13 pounds 9 ounces for five fish which put us in 21st place, tying with Liberty University. This was heartbreaking because the top 20 teams in this tournament were eligible to fish the national championship which is a dream. To think we needed one more ounce to make the cut was a slap to the face.
In the end…
Nonetheless, we had a phenomenal tournament and I learned a tremendous amount. This first tournament really gave me a taste of the competitive bass fishing world and left an impression of a lifetime. To my now good friend Stephen, thank you for all you have taught me about boating and fishing. This will remain one of the best tournaments and best trips of my life, and I think about it daily. Missing the cut by 1 ounce hurt, but made me even more hungry for a win. It really hurt to lose. However, I had never expected myself to be fishing a college tournament. Especially during my freshman year and actually hanging in and competing against the best colleges in the country. This trip further proved that anything is possible and reminded me why I set goals in the first place.
To this, I will look back on time and time again. Not only as a great memory but also a lesson and a building block to my knowledge of a competitive bass fisherman.
Check out the ABOUT ME page to learn more!
Here is the video trailer for the event or use this link