PROFILE :
NICK
HATFIELD
GREENVILLE , TENNESSEE
The 2022 season was one to remember for Tennessee native and Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit rookie Nick Hatfield . In addition to the former Abu Garcia College Fishing standout turning in four Top-20 finishes in six regular-season events en route to Polaris Angler of the Year honors , Hatfield added the most important hardware of all to his left ring finger , marrying his college sweetheart , Isabella , in May ahead of the stretch run of his biggest season ever .
Now a couple months removed from a tremendous season on the Pro Circuit , Hatfield has had some time to reflect on the big moments – good and bad – that defined the first year of his professional fishing career and set the stage for everything to come .
QA &
Let ’ s forget a minute about this
By Justin Onslow
PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA
being a Rookie of the Year season for you . Even for a 10-year vet , the season you had in 2022 was pretty stellar . Five Top 20s including a couple Top 5s . A TITLE berth . Seventh-place finish in the TITLE . Could you have expected anything better ?
No . That ’ s as good as I could have expected . I had an awesome year .
The Tennessee River swing in the middle of the season , knowing you had Pickwick and Guntersville coming up at that point in the season , how much did that give you confidence ?
When I first saw the schedule and I saw those were on there that time of year , I had normally fished Pickwick later in the year , hadn ’ t really fished it in the spring that much , but I had been on the Tennessee River so much , seeing those on the schedule was a huge confidence booster for me and was a big reason I wanted to make this my first year at it .
Then you finished fifth and second , respectively . That had to be a pretty massive confidence boost for your pursuit of Rookie of the Year .
I had just come off a terrible finish at the Harris Chain . That was one of the tournaments I was looking forward to and thought I could really do good .
88 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2022