Rookie bass angler helps lead Penn State team to Nationals
Rookie bass angler helps lead Penn State team to Nationals
By Tyler Frantz
Pine Grove native Tyler Smith admits he barely even knew what a Largemouth bass was two years ago. Now the fish consumes his life.
Smith and his teammate, Matt Bakewell of Brownsville, PA, recently represented Penn State University in its first-ever appearance at the FLW College Fishing National Championship in Seneca, South Carolina- the capstone event of a whirlwind journey for the Nittany Lion Bass Team.
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| Photo Courtesy of FLW. |
“Fly-fishing was my thing for a long time,” said Smith. “Going to school at Penn State, I had some of the state’s best trout waters right at my doorstep. I was searching the different clubs offered at PSU for a fly fishing club and stumbled upon the Bass Fishing Club. It sounded interesting to me, so I decided to give it a try and go to a meeting.”
At first, Smith knew no one and was rather shy. He also had very little knowledge of the sport to contribute. However, he heard about an upcoming tournament, which was a good opportunity for new anglers, so he decided to jump on it.
“This tournament had people volunteer their time and boats to take us out and fish, allowing us to use the trolling motors and any equipment on the boat,” Smith explained. “Knowing nothing about bass fishing, tournament fishing, New York’s Mohawk River (where we were going to fish), or even how to run a trolling motor, I started researching and reading everything I could get my hands on.”
When the tournament finally arrived in September of 2014, Smith and his partner ended up finishing in 5th place out of 15 teams.
“At the time, I thought, hey, maybe I can do this!” Smith recalled. “But who was I kidding? I still knew nothing and had no experience. Heck, I bought my first bait-casting reel and rod two days earlier and spent half the day picking out line backlashes, which I still do spend a considerable amount of time doing.”
Regardless, Smith’s tournament performance qualified his team to fish the championship event on world-famous Lake Champlain in Fort Ticonderoga, NY. Even more daunting, Smith began research and eventually went to fish the lake in mid-October of 2014, still not knowing what he was doing.
“I felt bad during that tournament, putting our boater to sleep with our dullness. We did scrap out a limit of 5 fish and ended up placing in the top ten though,” Smith said.
A few months later at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Smith met a guy named Joe Campbell, while the Penn State Bass Fishing team was helping the PA Bass Federation with their ‘Reel Kids Casting Event.’
Campbell mentioned he had a bass boat for sale, and Smith eventually purchased the 1987 18-foot Winner boat. This simple transaction between strangers led to a natural friendship between the two, with Campbell ultimately becoming Smith’s mentor, offering to take him fishing and show him the ropes. “Joe gave me a great deal to get me started and has been an encyclopedia of information for me ever since,” said Smith. “With a little bit of work and some practice, I learned how to run the boat and run it well, spending as much time on it as I could and fishing often.”
Over the summer, Matt Bakewell, another PSU Bass Club member, reached out to Smith and asked about being his partner for an upcoming FLW College event to be held on Chautauqua Lake in New York in late-July 2015. The duo agreed to team up and began researching to prepare for the tournament.
“Fishing here was rather slow for us for the most part, with fish coming in flurries here and there,” said Smith of the tournament. “With little time remaining, I decided to make a move to a nearby ledge I found during practice, and on the first cast, caught our largest fish of the day.”
On their way back for weigh-ins, Smith ran into shallow ground, damaging his propeller, but still managed to idle the boat to dock just in time without penalty. His final fish would go on to be the difference in making the top fifteen cut, therefore qualifying their team to compete in the conference championship by just a few ounces.
The Northern Regional Championship, scheduled for September of 2015 on the Upper Chesapeake Bay in North East, MD, worked out perfectly for Smith, whose aunt and uncle coincidentally own a home on the bay, making it easy for his team to get boats into the water, save on hotel and launch fee expenses and take advantage of the full week allowed for practice. On the first day of the two-day tournament, the PSU team caught only 4 fish, but it was enough to secure 2nd place of the 45-team field. Overnight, multiple inches of rain and a cold front blew in, making for terrible conditions on the final day of fishing.
PSU landed one more good fish the second day, while everyone else struggled, placing the Nittany Lions 3rd overall in Northern Regionals. In doing so, they became the first Penn State team to ever qualify for the 2016 FLW College Fishing National Championship to be held March 17th-19th on Lake Keowee in Seneca, South Carolina.
Author’s Note: Read part two of this story featuring the Penn State Bass Team’s experience at the National Championship tournament in next Sunday’s blog post.
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