MN College Kid Is Going To the 2024 Classic On Grand

Easton Fothergill from Grand Rapids won the Bassmaster College Championship for the right to go to next year’s Bassmaster Classic at Grand Lake. Trevor Lo of Omnia Fishing won it for the U of M in 2015 and fished the 2016 Classic at Grand Lake. Austin Felix also won an FLW College Championship. The top-level college anglers are really good fishermen. The Fothergill kid has a great backstory of overcoming recent brain surgery. He also won a Toyota Truck, a fully rigged Nitro Boat, and entries to a division of the Bassmaster Opens next year; I’m guessing he is going to choose the St. Clair, Leech Lake, La Crosse Division.

That’s great for the young man. Both College and High School bass fishing is getting Big. It may really help in getting more kids involved in outdoor activities. The # of youth involved in both fishing and hunting has really fallen off in the last 10 or so years. When I was in Highschool almost every kid fished and hunted. I asked one of my buddies kids who goes to the same high school as I did how many kids hunt and fish. He said only a few fish and even less hunt. This is in rural Minnesota.

Cool to see! Good luck to the young man!

Kinda off topic, but curious what skills / attributes go into being an elite professional tournament fisherman? I’m a high school teacher, and if one of my students said they wanted to play in the nfl and willing to do whatever it takes, I’d be skeptical to say the least on their ability to do so.

On the other hand, what would you say to a high school kid who said the same thing about being an elite bass tournament angler when they grow up? Is that practical? What would you say to them?

phoyem wrote:

Kinda off topic, but curious what skills / attributes go into being an elite professional tournament fisherman? I’m a high school teacher, and if one of my students said they wanted to play in the nfl and willing to do whatever it takes, I’d be skeptical to say the least on their ability to do so.

On the other hand, what would you say to a high school kid who said the same thing about being an elite <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass tournament angler when they grow up? Is that practical? What would you say to them?

Hope mommy and daddy have deep pockets.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>phoyem wrote:</div>
Kinda off topic, but curious what skills / attributes go into being an elite professional tournament fisherman? I’m a high school teacher, and if one of my students said they wanted to play in the nfl and willing to do whatever it takes, I’d be skeptical to say the least on their ability to do so.

On the other hand, what would you say to a high school kid who said the same thing about being an elite <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass tournament angler when they grow up? Is that practical? What would you say to them?

Hope mommy and daddy have deep pockets.

Or just learn from bearcat how did your highschool season end up being a captain? I know you guys seemed like you were crushing it.

We ended 2nd place overall. It was a good season. The boys did good. I received a 50 dollar holiday gift card in return. So I have to be the daddy with deep pockets. From what I read about fishing pro and also knowing my uncle did it for 15 years, unless you are on top there isn’t much money coming in, it’s all going out. It’s fun as heck but to make a living I think you need to have money already or place top 3 in every tourney

phoyem wrote:

Kinda off topic, but curious what skills / attributes go into being an elite professional tournament fisherman? I’m a high school teacher, and if one of my students said they wanted to play in the nfl and willing to do whatever it takes, I’d be skeptical to say the least on their ability to do so.

On the other hand, what would you say to a high school kid who said the same thing about being an elite <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass tournament angler when they grow up? Is that practical? What would you say to them?

The great thing about fishing is almost anyone can become really good at it. That can not be said about many of the more main stream sports. I’d say its far more practical for a kid to possible become a professional fishermen than most any other professional sport. I would tell that kid to get him some basic equipment, Do some internet search on basic bass fishing, and get out there as much as possible. The one thing that is similar to other sports is that to get better at it you have to practice, practice, practice. after a kid starts to get the basics down if they are still interested, I’d have him look into joining a local Bass Club. Most bass clubs have spots for non boaters. In a bass club a young kid will get to be in the boat with lots of different fishermen and learn lots of different techniques. Also have the kid look to see if they have a local fishing team in the area. More and more schools are starting teams. If there are no teams in the area maybe see if one of the club members would be willing to help getting one started. Getting from there to the Pro’s is a whole different subject and there are lots of resources out there discussing that.
Lots of people here say to be a professional fishermen, You need lots of money or have someone with lots of money to back you. I would say that that would surely make it easier but not 100% necessary. Some people think that professional fishermen only make money from their tourney winnings. For some that is a rather small part of their income from the sport. They also think that the fishermen are paying all of their expenses associated with tourney fishing. Both of these are incorrect. There are many different ways professional fishermen make money from the sport and help cover expenses. This often involves writing articles, working shows, creating video content, promoting products, ect. Often times even younger and rather unknow fishermen have a part or all of their expenses paid for by various people who endorse them. Sadly the amount of sponsor $ has fallen way off from what it once was.

phoyem wrote:

and if one of my students said they wanted to play in the nfl and willing to do whatever it takes, I’d be skeptical to say the least on their ability to do so.

On the other hand, what would you say to a high school kid who said the same thing about being an elite bass tournament angler when they grow up? Is that practical? What would you say to them?

Not really a fair comparison. Unless you’re a kicker, you’ll need to be in world class physical condition and depending on the position, you might need to be pretty big to end up playing the NFL.

The physical skills to fish professionally are minimal. You definitely don’t need to be in top physical condition. As already stated, you are gonna probably need a decent sized boat, a reliable towing vehicle, and a lot of time dedication to fishing may different bodies of water if you want to make it as a pro angler.

phoyem wrote:

Kinda off topic, but curious what skills / attributes go into being an elite professional tournament fisherman? I’m a high school teacher, and if one of my students said they wanted to play in the nfl and willing to do whatever it takes, I’d be skeptical to say the least on their ability to do so.

On the other hand, what would you say to a high school kid who said the same thing about being an elite <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass tournament angler when they grow up? Is that practical? What would you say to them?

Time on the water and being versatile (confidence in many different techniques) are probably the biggest two.

phoyem wrote:

Kinda off topic, but curious what skills / attributes go into being an elite professional tournament fisherman? I’m a high school teacher, and if one of my students said they wanted to play in the nfl and willing to do whatever it takes, I’d be skeptical to say the least on their ability to do so.

On the other hand, what would you say to a high school kid who said the same thing about being an elite <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass tournament angler when they grow up? Is that practical? What would you say to them?

I would say follow your dreams. No matter what they may be.

phoyem wrote:

Kinda off topic, but curious what skills / attributes go into being an elite professional tournament fisherman? I’m a high school teacher, and if one of my students said they wanted to play in the nfl and willing to do whatever it takes, I’d be skeptical to say the least on their ability to do so.

On the other hand, what would you say to a high school kid who said the same thing about being an elite <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass tournament angler when they grow up? Is that practical? What would you say to them?

Jim Moynagh, Bob Downey, Seth Feider, Josh Douglas, Austin Felix, Andy Young, and Derek Remitz all showed getting to the top level of the sport is achievable. Then you have industry guys like the Lindner Clan, Scott Bonnenma, Mark Fisher, Matt Johnson, Sam Sobi, and Glenn Walker who have their hand in a little of this and a little of that.

Hellabass did an iivestream with Easton last night.