Fuel – check.
Reels spooled – check.
Tackle organized – check.
PBJ, apple, water – check, check, check.
No doubt, tournament prep requires anglers to manage many details. Most are pretty good at keeping the physical stuff squared away. But what about the intangibles — the mental and emotional pieces that, despite our best muting efforts, demand attention at the times when we’re least equipped to handle them?
Like when you’re away from home and dealing with the stress of tournament competition.
“One of the biggest misconceptions that people have in the world today is that they’re alone,” said St. Croix Bassmaster Opens EQ pro Blake Smith. “They believe there is nobody in their corner.”
Smith, who runs the nonprofit ministry organization Mission Culture Inc., aims to fill that void for his fellow Opens anglers with a schedule of engaging events at each of the nine tournaments. A lifetime angler, Smith founded his organization on the belief that professional fishing has provided him a platform from which to share biblical truths and convey the Gospel message.
“Our ministry encourages mission-mindedness wherever you are,” he said. “I use fishing to teach people about Christ, but we also have a division of my ministry called Sunshine Sports that uses cricket and soccer to teach people in India and Nepal about Christ.
“Our ministry grows by leaps and bounds every year, but the whole idea was to create a mission-mindedness in whatever you’re doing to spread the Gospel.”
A spiritual schedule
The weekend prior to each Open event, Smith will host Sunday Morning Fishing Church 45 minutes before safe light at the official launch ramp. Smith or a guest speaker will deliver a traditional sermon.
Wednesday nights after registration, Smith will coordinate a Fellowship of Christian Anglers Society (FOCAS) meeting with personal testimonies, a short Bible study and prayer time. Both events are nondenominational and open to all tournament anglers, their spouse/significant other and tournament staff.
“The idea is go give traveling anglers a place to plug in when they’re away from their home church,” Smith said. “We all come to deepen our walk with Jesus Christ; that’s the reason we’re there — because we want to be a better followers of Jesus.”
In addition to the angler-centered Sunday morning and Wednesday evening events, Smith will also coordinate a Legacy Night on the Saturday before each event. Open to the local community, these meet-and-greet style events will feature pro anglers including Bobby Lane, Joey Nania, Jimmy Washam, Greg Bohannan, Brandon McMillan, Bill McDonald and James Niggemeyer.
“The Legacy Night is for the community to come and learn about bass fishing and hear stories from some amazing pros in the industry,” Smith said. “The first Legacy Night is scheduled for Feb. 25 at Cross Baptist Church in Eufaula, Ala.”
“We want people to know that we always have something going on for them. When you have a traveling church, you have a group of people that have your back.”
A personal connection
Smith knows well of what he speaks. He lives with Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a disease in which the heart muscle becomes thickened and impedes the ability to pump blood.
An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, a small battery-powered device placed in Smith’s chest, detects and stops irregular heartbeats. While the ICD keeps him going from the inside, Smith said he’s thankful for the spiritually-bonded relationships that help sustain him.
“All the guys on my team know this and they stand by me through everything, thick and thin,” Smith said. “I have to have heart surgery in March or April to replace the ICD and the encouragement from fellow anglers being like family is unmatched. It is such an amazing group of people to have in your corner no matter what’s going on in your life.”
Smith said the challenges involved with transitioning from Major League Fishing to a full-time Bassmaster schedule have further deepened his spiritual reliance.
“There’s been a lot of mental stress coming into this year, with preparation and making sure sponsors were all good with (my move) and making sure everything was going to flow ministry-wise,” he said. “My wife calls it my ‘blind faith,’ but I’ve learned throughout my career that God kind of put it into motion, and all I’ve been doing is following His lead.
“As long as I feel like He’s sending me somewhere, there’s no stress and I don’t have to think about it. For me, my sponsors saying ‘we would rather you be at Bassmaster’ was more of a confirmation that God still has His hands all in this.”
The right timing
Bassmaster tournament fans will recognize Smith from his past two seasons on the Southern Opens. In 2021, he nearly achieved his Elite dream, but he missed qualifying by one spot. He’s hoping 2023 is his year to qualify, but Smith said he’s at peace with the timing.
“People asked me (in 2021), ‘Were you upset that you missed the Elites?’ and I’d say, ‘We all want to make the Elites and have a shot at fishing the Bassmaster Classic, but it was very obvious that God didn’t need me there (in 2022),’” Smith said. “He still had unfinished business for me at Major League Fishing.”
Smith thanked St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Director Hank Weldon for embracing and facilitating the Mission Culture plan.
“Hank and his team and everyone at B.A.S.S. have done everything in their power to take our ministry to a new level,” Smith said. “For years, we’ve hosted Meet the Pros events at FLW/MLF, and they were a great success. We saw several hundreds of people’s lives changed — and their eternities changed.
“To see this segue into something so amazing and so powerful, going into the Bassmaster Opens with the Legacy Night has been phenomenal. That was the one part that required no thinking: Was God in it? We knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that this is where God is leading us.”
Take a bite
Complementing the Mission Culture meetings, Smith recently partnered with Niggemeyer and the Bass Chaplain Chris Wells (Elite Series FOCAS chaplain) to create a devotional book, The Morning Bite. (Available in February in print and digital formats.)
“This is a 45-day men’s devotional to help people through examples of our lives and what we’ve gone through in professional fishing and how it ties to the scriptures,” Smith said. “It’s an encouraging testimony to help people establish a daily walk in the Word.”
For information on Smith’s ministry, follow him on social media, @problakesmith. Legacy Night pros will also share event details on their social media channels.
Opens Director Hank Weldon will include program details in his pre-event emails to Opens competitors.
