BACKLASH
Q&A
BUDDY GROSS
Chickamauga, Ga.
First off, is Buddy your real name or
just a nickname that stuck?
it’s my real name. my parents always
said they didn’t want me to have a nick-
name, so they gave me one.
Actually, my grandpa was nicknamed
Bud, so they named me after him.
Rob Newell started referring to the
crew of successful pro anglers who
live in east Tennessee as the 423
Mafia, because the area code is 423.
You live just across the state line in
Georgia, but are you still a member
of the 423 Mafia?
You called me on a 423 phone num-
ber, didn’t you?
Touché. So tell me about this mys-
terious mafia.
how do i say this? if you don’t show
you can fish, you ain’t part of it. You
have to earn credit on the water and off
to be a part of it.
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What is it about that area of the
country that produces so many
good fishermen?
You just have such a strong compet-
itive force here. There are so many tal-
ented anglers. i mean, in any tourna-
ment you’ll have at least 50 guys who
By Sean Ostruszka
are true sticks. So if you can stand apart
amongst all of these anglers, you can
do it anywhere.
So has being a pro been everything
you ever dreamed it’d be?
i’m working harder and longer hours
than i ever have, but i’d 10 times rather
be fishing than doing anything else.
What’d you do before going pro?
i was managing a body shop my in-
laws owned, and before that i’d been in
the heavy-truck business since out of
high school. really, i’ve been in that all
my life, since my dad started his own
heavy-truck business in the early ’90s.
You won the FLW Tour event on
Pickwick in 2016 and the Costa FLW
Series Southeastern Division AOY
title in 2017. Seems like going pro has
been a pretty good change for you.
it has. i mean, i’ll be honest, that
Pickwick tournament was almost my
last tournament because i was about
out of money.
But what i’m really looking for now is
consistency. You can win a tournament
every year and be ok, but there’s no way
you can expect to do that. Consistency is
how you stay in this sport.
How hard a time do folks give you
for that “impressive” net job during
that Pickwick win? On the TV show,
it looked like you missed it twice,
then dropped the net in the water.
dude, it’s brutal. most people didn’t
know a big guy like me could do the splits.
I take it you’ve watched the replay
a few times, huh?
That’s the only show i’ve ever record-
ed. i’ve never been one to watch all the
tournaments on TV. i’m not a good spec-
tator; i’d rather be actually fishing. Now
my best friend and tournament partner,
James milling, he’s always watching
them and keeping me informed. he
shows up all the time with the latest and
greatest fishing lures. he gets on me
about it.
I see your daughter at plenty of the
tournaments. Is she as good as you?
Bella is gonna be good. She’s a natu-
ral. She’s 8, and she used to have this
Barbie doll rod. Well, i left it at home
one day, and she was so upset. i took
out a baitcaster and tied on a drop-
shot. She threw it a time or two, and
then she says, “daddy, i think i got a
bite.” i turn around and she’s got a bass
reeled up all the way to the eye.
FLWFISHING.COM I AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2017