a College Degree for Fishing
COLUMN
NEWELL’ S NOTES
ROB
NEWELL
a College Degree for Fishing
Occasionally, FLW assigns me to cover YETI FLW College Fishing tournaments. When I do, I’ m always impressed by how respectful, composed and attentive these young anglers are, both on and off the water.
During the 2017 FLW College Fishing National Championship I was interviewing a college team as the anglers’ proud parents stood nearby and listened in. Each of the young men answered my questions directly and with quite an impressive degree of expertise.
At one point, I said,“ Wow, you guys sound like professional anglers.”
“ You think so?” one of them questioned politely.“ Then why do I need a college degree? I just want to fish.”
I could feel the stare of the proud parents burning a hole through me, waiting for my response. I guessed this had been a recent topic of discussion in the household. Obviously the parents were waiting for my canned“ stay in school” speech, but I didn’ t have one prepared.
I didn’ t dole out any“ get a degree first” advice that day because I was once in those very shoes, and I see both sides of the argument. I went to college at Auburn University, a campus surrounded by fantastic bass fishing impoundments. This was long before the days of FLW College Fishing, but I became a member of the Auburn Bass Club, and after experiencing the tournament-fishing lifestyle with the great guys in that club, I couldn’ t have cared less about getting a college degree. The arguments with my parents about staying in school never ended until the day I graduated from college.
In my opinion, a college degree is not a requirement to fish the pro tours. These young anglers can walk the walk, talk the talk and catch fish, so who am I to tell them to stay in school?
In my case, I’ ve only been asked about the specifics of my educational background once, maybe twice, in 25 years of working in the fishing industry. Yes, I do have examples of successful professional anglers who earned degrees and now fish professionally: Anthony Gagliardi, Bryan Thrift and Michael Neal, just to name a few. But for every pro who has a college degree, there is a pro without one.
That’ s how I felt until a recent conversation with longtime FLW Tour pro Terry Bolton gave me reason to wave the stay-inschool flag. Bolton and I were talking, catching up on fishing and life, when he mentioned he was excited about his new job. New job?“ I now work full time for HealthWorks Safety out of Paducah as a senior safety engineer,” Bolton said proudly. Wait. What? Engineer?“ I thought you had to have a college degree to be an engineer?” I countered.
“ I do have a degree,” Bolton said with a laugh.“ I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in occupational safety and health management from Murray State 23 years ago. I’ ve never used it until about four years ago when a part-time opportunity came up for a safety position. I was qualified for it thanks to my degree, and I jumped on it.”
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FLWFISHING. COM I auGuSt-SepteMber 2018