I graduated from Murray State University with a degree in Fisheries Biology. I loved to fish and the reason I went to the school is largely because I could be in the water in 15 minutes from campus. Now, Murray State University has a College Fishing team that operates with only students running the team – they don’t have a Coach. Thay have an advisor from the school, but the students run the team, raise the funds and plan the season.
I recently fished the Murray State Fishing Team fundraiser to support the team’s efforts. As an alumnus and a sponsor of the team, I’m very proud of the efforts that they make to do things on their own. They show a tremendous amount of drive and intelligence to manage their college careers, their travel and competition schedules on their own. To top all of that off, they are typically in the running for Team of the Year in one circuit or another.
The tournament was on Kentucky Lake out of Moor’s Resort and they really caught ‘em pretty good. The winning weight was 24 pounds, there were several bags in the 220 to 23-pound range and they all caught them on forward-facing sonar techniques.
I went to support the team and participate, so I just showed up and went fishing. I picked up a vertical jigging spoon and a Strike King KVD Jerk 300 Deep jerkbait and caught a few fish. Nothing to write home about, but it was a fun deal and I was proud to be there to support it and witness the kids in action.
Part of what has driven me over the years is to leave a legacy of participation in the outdoors. Having made my living fishing for so long, I know that having new people come into the game will keep the sport going for many years to come. My son Max likes to fish, but his real love is bird hunting. He’ll take his G3 / Yamaha duck hunting boat out there and really enjoys that pursuit. I support the Murray State Fishing Team because it is my way of contributing to the future of bass fishing, I hope more people do things like this in the future.
Along with fishing that, I’m getting my new Skeeter FXR21 and Yamaha 250 SHO ready for the 2025 Bassmaster Elite Series season. The boat is at Hitec Outdoors in Benton Kentucky getting the Power Pole Blade One Shallow Water Anchors installed along with the Power Pole Charge and the Power Pole Move trolling motor. They’ll rig up my electronics and accessories as they come in and have me ready to take the rig down to Accel Graphics in Fort Payne, Alabama to get wrapped.
2025 is going to be an interesting season on the Bassmaster Elite Series, I’m looking forward to getting started in February; it’s just around the corner.
