After the nine 2023 Bassmaster Opens Elite Qualifier tournaments, Alabamian Wesley Gore clawed his way to seventh place in the overall EQ standings. With a Top 10 finish at the last event of the season, the 23-year-old punched his ticket to become a Bassmaster Elite Series pro — his lifelong dream.
Many of today’s young bass wizards grew up fishing with a father who is an avid tournament angler. Although Gore’s father, Ron, did fish on occasion, his passion is hunting whitetails.
“My dad had me tagging along with him outdoors as soon as I could keep up with him,” Gore said. “We used to go scouting through the woods to find scrapes, trails, places where deer feed and where to set up. I shot my first deer when I was 6 years old.”
Deer and bass fashing
Gore believes his early deer scouting adventures instilled a frame of mind that helps him when he’s searching for bass today. Both deer and bass have patterns. You must consider the cover, the forage, reproduction, the time of year and the current conditions, he asserted.
“Hunting with my dad gave me a different perspective when I’m fishing,” Gore said. “I’m always digging for more details to figure out what the bass are doing.”
His father also took him on casual fishing trips to Mitchell Lake, which is a short drive from Clanton, Ala., Gore’s hometown. It was on these waters that Gore realized his passion for fishing far exceeded his desire to hunt.
When Gore was 12 his father bought an 18-foot aluminum bass boat to support his son’s zeal for fishing. They teamed up and competed in weekday and weekend bass derbies. After upgrading to a larger fiberglass bass boat when Gore turned 16, he “went crazy” fishing high school tournaments.
Tournament crazy
He mainly competed in a high school trail devised by Airport Marine in Alabaster, Ala., that typically draws 200-boat fields. Gore won 11 tournaments, two state championship events and claimed the Angler of the Year title three times.
After high school, Gore matriculated to Alabama’s Montevallo University where he had received a scholarship to be on the collegiate fishing team. His high school tournaments had taken place almost exclusively in Alabama. In college, he competed all over the country.
“The biggest thing I had to learn about fishing outside Alabama was how to find bass in lakes where there isn’t any current,” Gore said. “Bass on the Coosa and Tennessee river lakes gang up on the same places depending on how the dam runs water. On lakes that don’t have a current, other factors determine what the bass do.”
Gore dropped out of college after his first year because he decided it was time to go all in on his goal of becoming an Elite angler. As a senior in high school, he began guiding on the Coosa River chain of lakes. He continued to guide while in college and now runs 100 trips a year as his full-time job.
“My favorite and probably best way to fish is in current and offshore,” Gore said. “I excel with electronics and finding fish off the bank.”
Fishing the Opens
Since 2020 Gore has competed in 21 Bassmaster Opens and earned checks in 11 of those events. An EQ event he fished last year at Watts Bar is especially memorable because he made the Top 10 cut. When he arrived at the ramp early for the final round, he was surprised to see his parents there. They had driven all night from Clanton to support him.
Another surprise awaited him after the tournament started. Several of his friends had been following his on-the-water movements via the Life360 app. When he got to his first fishing spot, his friends were there on the water to cheer for him.
Gore’s sponsors in 2023 included Blazer Boats, Mountain Dew, Hammer Fishing Rods, Trident Marina and Tri County Turf Equipment.
