TAKEOFF
ANGLER PROFILE
THE PRAIRIE PRO
C
CASEY SCANLON DOESN’T HAIL FROM THE HEART OF BASS
FISHING COUNTRY, BUT HE FISHES LIKE A NATIVE SON
asey Scanlon is an uncommonly
good bass fisherman who grew
up in Kansas. It might seem con-
tradictory that a pro of his caliber
would hail from a state that otherwise
doesn’t rate a very large blip on the
bass fishing radar screen, but it hap-
pens. There was that former bricklayer
from the prairie town of Seward, Neb.,
who made it big. What was his name?
Oh, yeah … Denny Brauer.
They’re both kindred spirits from
beyond the bass fishing heartland who
proved to be naturals, so it’s no wonder
Brauer is a longtime favorite of
Scanlon’s. However, it goes much deep-
er than that. Given the right circum-
stances, Scanlon patterns his fishing
after Brauer, picking apart wood cover
and grass or the dark recesses under
docks with jigs. Scanlon did some of
that in 2017, but also some of the
crankbaiting techniques that his other
idol, Rick Clunn, was good at. Applying
the best lessons of both of his heroes,
Scanlon was able to place 20th in the
FLW Tour yearly standings and earned
$60,500.
Scanlon’s hopes of finishing higher
in the regular season were dashed in
the last two tournaments, when he
ended up 136th on one of his favorite
fisheries, the Mississippi River, and 75th
on the Potomac River. Still, the 33-year-
old turned some heads in the 2017 sea-
son, which was topped by his eighth-
place showing at Lake Cumberland.
Overall, he’s scored five top-10 per-
formances in 38 FLW tournaments,
including two each at Truman Lake and
Lake of the Ozarks in T-H Marine FLW
Bass Fishing League events.
home where he was raised. Both his
grandfathers were fishermen, and they
showed him how to rig up for bluegills
and catfish. More importantly, he was
able to catch fish because of what they
taught him, and the fun that success
entailed was all the motivation he
needed.
“I was about 10 years old when I really
got hooked on bass fishing,” recalls
Scanlon. “I remember the exact day.
There was this cool pond near Marysville
[Kansas], and I had rigged up an old Luck
E Strike ringworm. I caught a bunch of
bass out of the lily pads along the bank,
and I thought, ‘Man, this is great.’ That
really got me going. Later, my dad [John
Scanlon] would help me lash an alu-
minum boat on the top of his 1983 Buick
LeSabre, take me to a pond, let me fish
all day, and then come back and get me.
By Colin Moore
photos by steve gum
We scratched the heck out of that Buick,
but to my dad it was way more important
that I got to go fishing.”
More opportunities converged for
Scanlon as he grew older. When he was
15 and a high school freshman, he read
an article in a local magazine about a
Kansas City bass club. He called the
contact listed and asked if he could
join, even though he didn’t have a dri-
ver’s license, much less a tournament-
worthy boat. Fortunately for him, the
club welcomed him, and he fished his
first event on Lake of the Ozarks.
“It was cold and snowing, but I
caught a 7 1/2-pounder on a custom-
painted [Smithwick] Rogue and won. I
was on top of the world,” he recalls. “A
high school principal gave me the
Rogue, and to this day I still carry it in
one of my tackle boxes.
a self-starter
If anyone can lay claim to being a
self-made angler, it’s Scanlon. His inter-
est in fishing began at a small creek
that ran near the suburban Kansas City
Simple, yet effective, a jig and crankbait are Scanlon’s go-to lure choices around the country.
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