The past 12 months of bass fishing have been nothing short of incredible for Hayden Marbut, a 21-year-old Auburn University student and college angler. The talented young Alabama pro won two of college fishing’s biggest trophies, the Bassmaster College Series National Championship and the Collegiate Bass Fishing National Championship on Pickwick Lake, with his partner Tucker Smith at the tail-end of 2023.
Marbut went on to notch an MLF Toyota Series win as a pro this February, as well as two handfuls of other top-ten finishes in 2024 tournaments since. Along with these achievements, he’s earned over $3,500 of bonus money via the Yamaha Power Pay contingency program based on being the highest-placing angler running a Yamaha outboard purchased within the past 60 months in college events and other weekend series trails.
But out of all these accolades, the tournament that gives the best glimpse into the character of Hayden Marbut was a 13th-place finish in the 2024 Collegiate Bass Fishing National Championship. Marbut fished solo in this event. He wanted nothing more than to defend his 2023 title and take the trophy back to Auburn.
He weighed in an impressive limit of nearly twenty pounds on day one, but it could have been much more. Marbut was forced to throw back his biggest fish in the middle of the day after he called the tournament director to self-report for having too many bass in his livewell.
“I realized I had six fish in my livewell and my heart just sank,” Marbut recalled. “I had gotten a school of bass fired up and, in the excitement, I didn’t add a cull tag to one of my fish. That cost me. I immediately called to report myself and they informed me I had to release my biggest fish, which was the nearly five-pounder I had just caught.
“It hurt, but I never even considered not calling myself in. I love this sport too much. Finishing a few places higher in the derby isn’t worth damaging the integrity of tournament fishing. I truly believe most of my competitors would have made the same decision.”
Since he was fishing alone, it would have been easy for Marbut to throw his sixth bass back into Pickwick Lake and continue fishing, but the aspiring future pro was raised to do the right thing, even when no one was looking.
Without a second thought, he made the right decision, dealt with the repercussions like a professional, and had a strong finish regardless of the rules violation. If answered honestly, I wonder how many people would have made the same decision in Hayden’s position.
Marbut proved his moral compass is as dialed in as his talents on the water and the Yamaha V MAX 250 SHO on the back of his Phoenix Boat.
