TAKEOFF
ANGLER PROFILE
FACE OF THE STORM
TAYLOR ASHLEY IS ONLY 20, BUT HE REPRESENTS THE NEXT WAVE OF YOUNG ANGLERS HOPING TO TAKE OVER THE SPORT
By Sean Ostruszka
“ The FLW Tour and Elite Series, they’ re about to be taken by storm.”
Taylor Ashley’ s words are part reality and part prognostication.
The reality is the“ storm” of young, talented anglers has been on the horizon for quite some time, with the first raindrops of exceptionalism already falling on lakes throughout the country. Jacob Wheeler might have been the first drop. In 2011, at age 20, he became the youngest person to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League All-American, and a year later he won the Forrest Wood Cup. Jordan Lee made another splash this year when, at 25, he won the Bassmaster Classic. The likes of Zack Birge( 26), Michael Neal( 25) and tour rookie Joshua Weaver( 23) could certainly be tossed into the mix of young anglers with impressive resumes.
Ashley isn’ t talking about those pros, however. He certainly acknowledges their early accomplishments – one of his goals is to beat either Wheeler or Lee by age in terms of winning one of the respective championships – but the storm he alludes to is in college, and even high school. At just 20 years old and having already won his first Costa FLW Series tournament( in January on Lake Okeechobee), he thinks he’ s one of the“ early” ones in this next wave of talent, a wave that Ashley believes is going to make its mark on the sport earlier than perhaps any generation before it.
PHOTO BY CHRIS IRWIN
The Proving Grounds
A top athlete’ s arena is the professional stage, regardless of sport, but the proving grounds to reach the top have changed dramatically.
Historically, athletes in the team sports had to prove their talents in college, but now college is just a warm-up for the pros. High school has become the true proving grounds, where truly elite high school players are showcased on ESPN. By the time such athletes hit college age, the best are already earmarked for greatness.
Not coincidently, our sport looks primed to follow suit.
College fishing has been around in some form since the early 1990s, and the professional ranks have certainly seen the fruits of that with collegeanglers-turned-pros such as Brandon Cobb, Shane LeHew and Austin Felix, to name a few. Yet high school fishing only began gaining popularity in 2008, when Illinois became the first state to sanction it as a sport. Three years later FLW and The Bass Federation created the Student Angler Federation High School Fishing circuit, and that’ s when the level of competition ramped up.
As a result, Ashley’ s generation( and younger) comprises the first group of competitive anglers to have never known a time without organized high school competition. And much as in other sports, the best – including Ashley – are beginning to separate themselves from the pack.
Thanks to organized high school fishing, 20-year-old Taylor Ashley thinks he already has the experience needed to challenge the sport’ s top pros.
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