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Former Bass Cat Garrett Begins Pro Career

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2020 is a massive step for John Garrett Fishing, it’s that leap of faith, believing and counting on my skill set to earn a living as a professional angler. Transitioning from the bass team at Bethel University to fishing the 2020 Bassmaster Eastern and Central Opens successfully will be a monumental undertaking. I’ll be the guppy going against the sharks... Thank goodness bass don’t know stats. To the bass, I’m on equal standings, but in reality, I’ll be going against a field of the best local and professional anglers on the water. Hundreds of anglers, including a mix of Bassmaster Elites, will be vying for a very limited number of spots. I have years of experience coming up through the Obion County Central High School and Bethel University bass fishing programs, but I will not have any home court advantage as I would on Kentucky Lake or Reelfoot Lake. But that’s not a deterrent; it is just a challenge to make the most of practice days, to study the lakes for structure, cover, water clarity and temperature. I will also study the weather patterns, the moon phases, and most of all, try my best not to do anything stupid. You can’t win on the first or second day, but you can lose the tournament on any day. A bad day on the water will be hard to recover from with the level of competition I will be facing.
Having a keen sense of sight, bass can see in every direction except back and down. They will see the bottom of my Skeeter FX21 bassboat and hopefully they’ll be interested one of my favorite lures, such as the Strike King Red Eye Shad lipless crankbait on the grassy flats, the Strike King Ocho stick bait around shoreline cover or for bedding bass, or maybe a Strike King Rage Space Monkey punched into the thicker grass mats using a heavier weight (I generally will use a range of Strike King’s Tungsten bullet worm weights, anywhere from .75 to 1.5 ounces, for punching depending upon the thickness of the surface layer of grass). One or all of these might be just the trick for enticing and landing a limit of trophy bass from the tournament waters of Kissimmee Chain of Lakes.
Fishing in Florida in January offers a myriad of new challenges for the first Bassmaster Eastern Open starting on January 15. I’m keeping an open mind on what might work best for the different conditions. And of course, my actual results from the three official practice days will help me finalize the baits and patterns that I will use starting on the first day. I’ll probably start with my Strike King Red Eye Shad as it should work well for offshore areas and flats, especially if I can locate a good patch of underwater grass, either hydrilla or milfoil. Fingers crossed that spawning bass haven’t all been picked off and I can work beds using the Strike King Ocho.

About John Garrett
John Garrett started fishing as soon as he could hold a cane pole and has always had aspirations of becoming a professional bass angler. He has been successful in each step of competition fishing, from early high school days to winning his way as a major leader and contributor with the Bethel University Fishing team. In 2016, John walked away as the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket winner. This earned him the opportunity to go head-to-head with top professional anglers during the 2017 Bassmaster Open series, as well as qualifying for the 2017 Bassmaster Classic in Houston, Texas at Lake Conroe. Learn more about John Garrett by visiting www.bassintheboxjohngarrett.com.
Additional information, videos and sponsor links are found on www.bassintheboxjohngarrett.com.

Bethel University, Bassmaster