by Brent Hill
My name is Brent Hill, and I am from Tulsa, Okla. I am an active duty Army Officer with the Oklahoma Army National Guard. I have been serving since 1998, and it has been an honor to wear the uniform for over 20 years. I spent my first nine years enlisted as a 13B, Field Artillery Cannon Crewmember, and upon earning my bachelor’s degree, I attended Officer Candidate School and commissioned as a Field Artillery Officer. I have two overseas deployments to Iraq and Kuwait and several humanitarian deployments such as Hurricane Katrina, Tornado relief operations and recently the Oklahoma historic flood of 2019.
Fishing and hunting was and is a family affair. I grew up fishing with my dad, brother, uncle and grandfather. My grandfather had a lake house in Langley, Okla., next to the Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees dam. We would go to Grand Lake every chance we could and fish for bass, crappie, catfish and sandbass.
When I was about 10 years old, my dad would drop my brother and I off on the side of the road near the dam, and we would pick up cans and recycle them so we could buy our own lures. I liked crankbaits. My dad also took my brother and I fishing at other nearby lakes and rivers every chance he had.
I can distinctively remember when I was 11 years old going to the circus in Tulsa and Jimmy Houston was sitting right behind me and my family. I watched Mr. Houston’s fishing show every time it came on to watch him catch and kiss bass … I even VCR recorded it a few times when I missed it. To me and my brother, Jimmy was one of our childhood heroes, and we were in awe that he was sitting behind us. We both turned around and said hello and Mr. Houston was, of course, nice as could be. Needless to say, as a youngster, my life was consumed with fishing.
My passion for bass fishing has only increased as I’ve grown older. I went to college with a two-man bass buggy and 32-pound trolling motor in the back of my truck. I played college baseball and after almost every practice or game, my friend and I would go fish any farm pond around that we had permission to fish.
After college, I bought my first “real” boat, an 18 1/2 foot Bass Tracker with a 75 horsepower Mercury. I started fishing local jackpots and even beat some of those guys with their fancy fiberglass rigs. I may not have got to my spot(s) very fast, but it didn’t matter to me … I just wanted to compete and catch those green fish.
Shortly after, I sold the ol’ Tracker and bought a fiberglass boat. Since then, I have fished several tournaments and even fished on WFN’s ArmyBassAnglers hit TV show Force on Force to support the Soldiers Child Foundation and compete against other branches of the military. I am also a member of the Bassmaster Magazine Lunker Club with a 10.2-pound bass that I caught at Lake Texoma.
I attended my first Bassmaster Classic in 2013 when B.A.S.S. came to Grand Lake and then attended the 2016 Classic when B.A.S.S. came back for the second time. Before then, I was a yearly member and subscriber, but I had always wanted to become a Life Member. During the Classic Expo in 2016, I decided to become a Life Member because not only did I love reading B.A.S.S. magazines for the tips and techniques, but I loved what B.A.S.S. stood for and I wanted to be a lifelong part of it.
I still have my Life Member card hanging up in my garage from the 2016 Classic. It was awesome to see Edwin Evers, one of the best Oklahoma pros, win the biggest tournament in fishing. It was even more exciting to see Jimmy Houston again and shake his hand. He laughed when I told him about meeting at the circus nearly 25 years prior. It was astonishing that he remembered that day and two little boys who just wanted to say “hi” to their favorite fisherman.
For 2019, I wanted to attend the Classic again as I had never been to Tennessee before. My girlfriend, Jess, had recently started fishing, and she also wanted to experience what the Classic was all about. I may have talked it up a lot.
Additionally, I had several friends from the ArmyBassAnglers team and a few friends from Lowrance who would be in Knoxville attending as well. Jess and I figured we would make this a trip to remember, so we decided to stay for three days in Knoxville for the Classic, two days in Gatlinburg to hike the Smokey Mountains and then spend a few days on a beach in Florida before heading back to Oklahoma.
The trip went better than we could have ever imagined. After attending each morning’s boat launch, we would go grab breakfast and head over to the Expo. We spent most of our time the first two days at the Expo, checking out boats, gear, clothing and all the exhibits we could before watching the pros come back for check-in and weigh-in. We even ate at Calhoun’s On the River and watched Classic fans getting demo rides from Triton, Nitro and Skeeter boats.
The final day, we decided to go on an adventure and see if we could spot any of the pros fishing on the river. We found a nice restaurant near Fort Loundon Lake called Lakeside Tavern and had some brunch, the view and food were incredible.
On our way back to watch the final weigh-in, we spotted Kevin Van Dam fishing a small pocket on Loundon. Of course, I stopped my truck on the side of the road and climbed down the rock bank to watch KVD work his crankbait magic. We left Kevin and hurried back to Thompson-Boling arena just in time to see the pros hurrying to the weigh-in. The arena was packed with fans eager to see their hometown hero Ott Defoe win his first Classic. The atmosphere was electrifying as he weighed in his final bag.
All in all, the Knoxville Classic was simply amazing and the Expo, boat launches, local restaurants and Thompson-Boling arena weigh-ins were remarkable. The Smokey Mountains were absolutely beautiful and the white sandy beaches of Florida topped off the whole trip.
I attached some pictures of Jess and I at the 2019 Bassmaster Classic. She really loved the Classic and now fully understands just how big professional bass fishing is and the financial impact the sport has on local economies and conservation efforts.
If work and life allows, I will try to attend every Classic that I can and perhaps have the opportunity to fish in a Classic one day — fingers crossed. Thank you for another unforgettable memory.