Kayden Tanner was one of the first anglers to weigh-in on Day 2 of the St. Croix Bassmaster Southern Open at Lake Hartwell presented by Mossy Oak Fishing and the next three hours, he was forced to ponder what could have been.
Entering the second day, Tanner was sitting in 8th-place after catching 16 pounds of spotted bass and if it had been a one day tournament, he would have been in line for a Bassmaster Elite Series invite through the Southern Opens standings with finishes of 35th and 27th at the Kissimmee Chain and Cherokee Lake.
Unfortunately, Day 2 did not go as smoothly as the previous day and a couple key mistakes likely cost the 21-year-old a spot in Championship Sunday and ultimately cost him his Elite Series invite.
“I made the wrong cull which cost me about half a pound. I lost one at the boat I tried to flip and I had a dead fish penalty. That cost me the Top 10,” Tanner said. “This one I kind of fished it a little safer, but I knew I figured I would need to make the Top 10 to qualify for the Elites.”
When the dust settled at the end of weigh-in, Tanner finished 12th at Hartwell and sixth in the Southern Open standings with 529 points, just seven points away from achieving his dream. Hartwell happened to be the Texan’s best finish of the season, but as he reflected on the season, there were plenty of opportunities to improve his standing in the Overall points as well.
“Cherokee I felt I had a chance to win, but I got on a bad rotation and (winner) Coop Gallant was on the same rotation as me and he got the bigger bites,” Tanner explained. “The turning point was the Northern swing and it was what I was looking forward to the most. After finishing 197th at the James River and at Oneida I had a good practice and finished 101st, I told myself coming back down (to the Southerns and Centrals) I needed to finish Top 10 in the rest of them. Chesapeake Bay I started the tournament in 7th and I tried to go for the win and zeroed. Red River I was 34th after Day 1 and I tried to win it and I caught one fish Day 2.”
Heartbreaking could be one way to describe Tanner’s situation, but really it provides clarity and direction for the young angler. Tanner is a pre-vet student at Tarleton State University and with the Elite Series out of reach, at least for this year, he will go to veterinarian school at either Texas Tech or Texas A&M with the goal of becoming a performance sports equine vet.
“This tournament pretty much decides the rest of my life,” Tanner said. “I will go to vet school for four years and then come back to the Opens. My dad is an equine vet, so I have grown up around it my whole life. He is one of the best in the country and has been nominated top vet in the U.S. four years in a row. I have had a perfect mentor.”
Pre-vet is difficult enough to begin with, but adding a nine tournament schedule against seasoned anglers and local hammers from across the country becomes even more grueling. There have been several times late in the season where the exam schedule ran up against an Open.
“Being a college fisherman is hard with the Opens,” he said. “Red River I left the Sunday before the tournament, went to class Monday, took an exam Tuesday, drove back Tuesday night and fished the tournament. I am going to do the same thing at Rayburn, but I think it has helped me the last few events to not practice as much.”
Although his schedule as a vet student likely won’t allow him to fish all nine Opens next year, Tanner has learned a lot from his first three years as a co-angler and this season as a boater that he will be able to take to the future and apply in his fishing adventures around his home state and also when he decides to make another run at the Elites.
Fishing Sam Rayburn growing up, Tanner was a shallow water angler through and through until about a year ago, when he acquired forward-facing sonar and started catching 10 and 12-pounders out of the now famous O.H. Ivie Reservoir. He has taken that skill all over the country, even to the Red River where he could see bass under thick mats with the revolutionary technology.
That versatility, as well as taking lessons he has learned from his co-angler experience, has helped expand his horizons.
“The co-angler side helped me become more finessy and I don’t miss as many fish,” Tanner explained. “Sadly my co-anglers aren’t able to catch as many, but I have seen the mistakes other pros have made that I have been behind and adjusted. I fished with Joey Cifuentes III at Neely Henry and learned a lot from him. But I always seemed to draw a local guy at all of the other events so I was able to learn techniques for specific lakes and how they translate to other lakes.”
As a co-angler, Tanner’s travel partner was Elite Series pro Justin Atkins and along the way he became friends with Brandon Palanuik, Scott Canterbury and Bryant Smith, the newest invitee to the Elite Series, just to name a few. That network will be invaluable moving forward.
While he isn’t in contention for an Elite Series berth in the Centrals or the Overall points race, Tanner can still capture a spot in the 2023 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic at Knoxville March 24-26 with a win at the final event at Sam Rayburn. The home lake advantage will go a long way, but exams will also make the week incredibly hectic.
“I have to study for two exams this week,” Tanner said. “For Rayburn, I have to come home Sunday night, take an exam Tuesday and then go back on Wednesday before the tournament.”
Although he likely won’t be fishing all nine Opens next year, Tanner has discovered he will be able to fish one of the divisions, which will make him eligible for the 2024 Classic if he wins an event. In the meantime, Tanner is looking forward to getting back home to search for Share Lunker bass on O.H. Ivie.
“I’m going to catch some 10-pounders,” he said. “I told every co-angler I’ve had this year they could fly down to Ivie and I would put them on a 10-pounder and not one has taken me up on it this week. I am ready to get back into that but we have more work to do first.”
