Editor’s note: B.A.S.S. has designated 2019 as the Year of the Fan. To celebrate, B.A.S.S. is profiling some of the sport’s biggest supporters.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Personality goes a long way for B.A.S.S. super fan John Holtz, in himself and the pro anglers he follows. Holtz is a gregarious sixth-grade social studies teacher who competes in local circuits and enjoys spreading his love of bass fishing.
Getting the fishing bug early in life, Holtz jumped into tournament fishing recently, attempting to incorporate the tips and tactics of his favorite Elites. He said he enjoys most things Bassmaster, especially how pros interact with fans, but he’s all about learning how to improve his game.
“I kind of really like getting into the pro tips,” he said. “Once you like the personality, then you want to know what they’re doing. I think the thing of it is, how many sports can you actually talk to people who are higher up in the echelon, and they talk back?”
Growing up in Olathe, Kan., Holtz got the bass bug early by fishing the family pond. Catching his first fish at 3 years old began his fascination — he has a photo of himself and his dad holding up the fish. With no cable TV, his fever grew quickly.
“We’d go to the public library, and I’d always hit up Jimmy Houston Volumes 1 and 2,” he said. “I’d get out the Roland Martin stuff, and I’d go out to the pond. I just loved it. I loved it because a lot of kids in my class didn’t have a clue. There I was, when the teacher would ask something about stream biology, I knew it. I lived it.”
His dad was a river fishermen in central Missouri and they often went out for crappie, but bass filled his dreams. An uncle, Don Bundell Jr., hooked him up with Bassmaster Magazine to fuel that fire, and he’s since been a devout member of B.A.S.S.
Holtz fished and fished, and he vividly remembers his first foray into tournament fishing. In sixth grade, a cousin took him to a Thursday night jackpot event where he caught his first derby fish.
“This is how weird I am — it was a chrome and blue Cotton Cordell rattletrap,” he said. “I can remember the bass came across the log to hit it. It was 18 1/2 inches. I was able to weigh it in.”
Fishing remained big in Holtz’s life, so much so he worked at a Bass Pro Shop to pay off his wedding. He worked in the marine department and got involved in the store’s tournaments. More importantly, he met co-worker Larry Patterson. The two thought they were as good if not better anglers than many who came into the store, and they decided to team up, with blessings from their spouses.
“They said as long as you don’t spend any of our money and you can get some kind of sponsorship, go for it,” Holtz said. “Me being the big mouth that I am, I started knocking on doors, saying, ‘Hey, I’m this poor pathetic wretch, would you mind paying some tournament entries for us?’ And the next thing you know, we picked up a couple.”
Mybaitshop.com, which markets new and vintage lures, was their greatest coup. Its logo dominates their fishing jerseys, and Holtz is appreciative of any help allowing them to compete, but he admits his gift of gab has helped secure sponsors.
“I’m charming,” he joked. “I think a lot of them are dumbfounded by the fact that I’ll reach out to them and say, ‘Hey, I think we can do you some good.’ I’ve got a little formula figured out how much we need for tournament fees, gas and lodging. It’s just kind of filled in.
“I try to be a goodwill ambassador for all their brands. There’s a lot of pressure in it. If somebody is going to give me $1,000 and say make it look good, I’ve got to make it look good. There’s self-imposed pressure.”
By their results, it seems Holtz and Patterson have come through. They’ve finished among the leaders on their trail the past several years, and Holtz said in the first year he cleared $500 more in tournament earnings than he would have working part-time.
And again, he enjoys the bass fishing community, as well as giving back. While there are pro athletes in major sports who might not give fans the time of day, bass anglers are more of a vested brotherhood.
“It’s a comfort food value,” he said, relating a story from the Knoxville Classic where a competitor asked him things like what he used to catch them in Kansas. “The pros just treat you like another human being. I think right now in America — Nixon (Richard not Larry) called it the great silent majority — I think there are a lot of us who would like to see our sports athletes, our heroes, be more like us. The bass pros are very personable and very easy to talk to.”
Holtz even scored a big name to talk to his afterschool group. Brandon Palaniuk, the 2017 Toyota Angler of the Year, skyped in for a talk and answered questions from youth interested in bass fishing.
Besides talking fishing to students, Holtz has spread the market among fellow teachers, most of whom are female. He’s had to explain his addiction to Bassmaster LIVE to several, with some coming back to report their husbands were watching, too. There are dilemmas as having to teach gets in the way of his viewing.
“I guarantee I’m logging on during my plan times,” he said.
Holtz comments on many of the Bassmaster.com posts, and following the sport is about gaining tips and tactics, as well as learning more about the anglers’ personalities. He said he’s become a fan of Chris Zaldain’s after seeing him on LIVE and on Mark Zona’s live show.
“I thought, ‘Wow, he has a cool personality.’ When he talks passionately about staying with B.A.S.S, when he’s giving a few tips here and there, it’s great. But then he goes back to when ‘I was a kid,’ or ‘When I did this,’ that’s where it’s really interesting.
“I know how to throw a crankbait. I know how to make a Neko rig. I want to see some good-natured rivalries. I want to see what their personalities are like.”
A fan of Zona — his wife accuses him of having a man crush — he even offered a suggestion when weather postponed a Zona LIVE. He said a good show might have been Zona and guest going into a local tackle shop and just shoot the bull with anyone who showed up.
“It’s OK to see them crank in some fish, that’s great,” he said. “I think the reason people tune in to Zona LIVE isn’t necessarily to see them catch fish, it’s to see him hanging out with somebody new.”
So Holtz will continue to compete in tournaments and soak up information from the pros, as his joy comes from that yank on the end of his line. He often goes back to his parents’ pond, where the joke is he has all the bass named.
“We do have Cletus out there,” he said. “You find a burned lip, you know I caught that.”
He’s taken his young son, Brogan, who he hopes follows in his footsteps. The boy’s first fish came around the same age as Holtz’s, and he said he was ready to break off a bluegill to make sure his first fish was a bass.
Holtz is among those crazy about bass fishing, something that began early in life and he hopes to continue well past getting gray hairs.
“It all goes back to that 5-year-old pretending to be Jimmy Houston, somewhere down deep,” Holtz said. “I think everybody is that way. There’s a loyalty factor to anglers when I like what they have to say.”
