Bass Fishing Oct - Nov 2021 | Page 53

PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA
‘ WHEEL ‘ EM IN ’ WASHAM
For Washam , 34 , the road to becoming TITLE champion began early in life . By kindergarten , he was pitching a baitcaster around the small reservoirs and Mississippi River backwaters surrounding Memphis . Often , he and dad would make the short drive down to the Mississippi Delta to the muddy , timber-filled waters of Sardis Lake , an impoundment more widely known for panfish than for bass . Day after day , year after year , the two Washams would ply the waters of that nondescript lake until the future champion earned a nickname : “ Wheel ‘ Em In .”
Dad , you see , was an adept bass angler who won his fair share of tournaments in the 70s and 80s , according to his son . While the tournament days died down with the onset of fatherhood , the older Washam still managed to spend countless hours on the water , baby in tow , and for a period of time in the early 90s , locals within earshot of the lake knew when the Washams had a bite thanks to young Jimmy .
“ Everyone knew when dad was catching fish ,” he says . “ Because every time he would hang one , I would run to the front of the boat and scream , ‘ Wheel ‘ em in !’”
Before long , young “ Wheel ‘ Em ” was growing up , and the father-son duo were fishing local charity events like the St . Jude Bass Classic and taking their crack at regional tournament trails in the Mid-South . They were finding success , too , forging a path that would permanently plant the tournament fishing bug in the young man ’ s blood .
SOME COMMUTE REQUIRED
But Memphis is not situated on a major reservoir . Though it sits beside the Mississippi River , the main channel there is torrid and littered with dangerous debris , whirlpools and barges . Its sandy bottom , a labyrinth of ever-changing submarine dunes and pits , is more akin to the Sahara Desert than to Sam Rayburn . To become a professional bass angler from the Bluff City , you ’ ve got to commute . You ’ ve got to really want it .
By his early 20s , Jimmy Washam was juggling a fledgling career at Bass Pro Shops as an archery and hunting supervisor . This was long before the Memphis Bass Pro Shops was in a towering , 300-foot-tall pyramid . Rather , the location Washam manned was carved out of a converted Walmart . It shared a strip mall with a cowboy-themed nightclub and a barbecue joint .
In 2012 , after several years at Bass Pro Shops , Washam opted for a career change . At 25 , he traded fluorescent lights for squad car lights and joined the sheriff ’ s office of a neighboring county . “ I didn ’ t want to work inside ,” he says . “ That was the best route for me to go do something that I saw as exciting at my age , but also didn ’ t require a crazy , long-term college degree . It was a life improvement I could make immediately .”
By then , Washam had experienced enough tournament success with his father to really dream about pursuing professional bass fishing as a career . But his new lifestyle improvement came with a catch – it would take Washam three full years of service at the sheriff ’ s
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