AUBURN, AL.—Auburn Bass fishing team members make most significant prize in bass fishing history. Auburn university trainees Logan Parks as well as Tucker Smith have a million additional reasons to be thankful this week.
Million-dollar fish, million-dollar smiles, as Auburn university trainees celebrate us open Championship. From delegated right: John Paul Morris, Logan Parks, Johnny Morris, creator of Bass pro Shops, Tucker Smith as well as Bob Carter, executive VP of Sales, Toyota North America. (Bass pro shops photo)
The tandem of Tigers, who are members of the Auburn Bass fishing Team, hauled in the $1 million first-place prize for winning the Bass pro shops us open national Bass fishing Amateur team championships on Sunday. Parks, a senior, as well as Smith, a sophomore, split the prize—the most significant payout in bass fishing history—and went house with 2022 Toyota Tundra CrewMax trucks as well as Nitro Z21 bass boats for their exploits.
Parks as well as Smith—who earlier this year were named the Carhartt Bassmaster college series team of the Year—topped 350 teams with a final-day weight of 16.41 pounds at the three-day event, which took location at Table rock Lake in Ridgedale, Missouri. The final day of the tournament—which likewise increased much more than $1.5 million in charity dollars for the restoration of bass habitats across the country—was televised online on NBC sports Network, as well as it will be re-aired on NBC at 4 p.m. CT on Sunday, Dec. 5.
Auburn’s tandem was 10th out of 350 teams after the very first day of competition, completed eighth among the top 200 teams on day two as well as then hit 16.41 on the scales with a haul of smallmouth as well as found bass on the final day, which featured the top 50 teams. They topped the team of Joseph Nicholson as well as Gary Sterkel of Olmsted Falls, Ohio, by just .23 of a pound in the final tally to take house the historic hardware.
“It hasn’t Camiseta Sport Club Internacional truly sunk in yet,” stated Parks, 23, who will graduate with degrees in supply chain administration as well as info systems administration in December. “We woke up this morning believing it was a dream, however then we looked at our phones as well as realized it wasn’t. We’re just blown away.
“Just to be able to fish in that huge of a competition as well as win the tournament, that’s the most significant competition that’s ever been put on in the history of bass fishing. That’s the most money anybody’s ever won, as well as to do it at a young age is just unbelievable.”
Auburn’s dynamic duo qualified for the prestigious competition by completing 13th out of a field of 250 at Lake Bull Shoals in Arkansas on Nov. 17, the last qualifier available.
“It’s been crazy. It’s been back-to-back-to-back tournaments, as well as the Bull Shoals qualifier was best before the championship, so we just went best there as well as only had a half day of practice,” Parks said. “It was just full force as well as discovering them quick, so it was crazy. It was unbelievable.”
Four days later, they were joined on the championship stage in Missouri by angling icons expense Dance, Kevin VanDam, Roland Martin as well as Jimmy Houston.
“It was just truly emotional, as well as the emotions all came out when we won,” stated Smith, a 20-year-old advertising major who won three Bassmaster national titles in high school. “Just the buildup of getting there as well as making it happen, particularly believing the people behind us had much more weight than we did. We were second-to-last in the line, as well as typically the last team in the line wins the tournament.
“So, we didn’t understand if we had it or not, as well as it was so close, you couldn’t phone call it before you got up there as well as weighed the fish on the stage. It was just a rush of emotions to win that level of a tournament, you just can’t beat it.”
The essential to the championship, Parks said, was spotting a group of birds diving in the water going after bait fish in an Camiseta Southampton FC area of the 45,000-acre lake they had not yet explored.
“We were riding around as well as hadn’t truly caught much,” Parks said. “About 10 o’clock, we drove by a new location we hadn’t fished in the competition yet, as well as we saw some birds that were diving. typically that’s a indication of bait fish under the water, Camiseta Manchester United so we went over there, dropped our trolling motor in the water, utilized our sonar as well as were able to see fish sitting under the bait.
“We caught many of our weight in about a 30-minute span doing that. We ran around the rest of the day however didn’t catch much. We went back there at the extremely end of the day, and, in the last 20 minutes, we caught two fish that assisted us get as much as the winning weight.”
Parks plans to utilize his half of the $1 million haul to take his talents to the next level.
“I’m planning on pursuing a full-time expert fishing career,”null