PROFILE :
TAI
AU
GLENDALE , ARIZONA
Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit rookie Tai Au rode a wave of momentum into his first season as a touring professional , fresh off a 2020 season that saw the Glendale , Arizona hammer run away with Angler of the Year honors in the Toyota Series Western Division by virtue of a pair of wins and another Top 10 in three events . Now , with nothing left to prove on the West Coast , Au finds himself proving time and again that a bass is a bass and fishing is just fishing .
Through four events in 2021 , Au sits in the Top 40 of the Pro Circuit Angler of the Year race with a pair of sixth-place finishes to his name . Not bad for a guy who ’ s still figuring out what it truly takes to turn a passion into a career .
QA &
Last year ’ s Toyota Series season was pretty incredible . You ’ ve had a lot of time to look back on it now . Does it still feel surreal what you did last year ?
That was actually one of the reasons I came out on the [ Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit ] this year . I did everything on the West Coast that I wanted to do . I wanted to get a win in
By Kyle Wood
PHOTO BY JODY WHITE
the Toyota Series and won two of them and Angler of the Year . Without that , I wouldn ’ t have had the confidence to come out on the Pro Circuit this year .
You have a few Pro Circuit events under your belt right now . How are things going so far ?
I got an ‘ F ’ at Okeechobee . I was at an all-time low after that one . I was questioning my life decisions , but I rebounded at Smith . After the third day of that one I was in second behind John Cox and wound up finishing sixth overall . But I was really happy with that finish .
88 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | JUNE-JULY 2021