awesome just for getting sponsors , and I hope to do well there with decent publicity and coverage . I ’ ve had some sponsors step up to the plate after the All-American , and it ’ s done nothing but good for me , that ’ s for sure .
Do you have a timeline in mind for hopefully being a full-time touring bass pro ?
I feel like it ’ s almost impossible to have a timeline . I ’ m fine with where I ’ m at now , fishing for a living . This was my first year doing the Toyota Series , and I expected to win a check or two , but I only missed one , and I ’ ve learned a lot , too . My goal is to go full time as soon as possible , and I ’ m just enjoying the process . I ’ ve been going to different lakes and meeting a bunch of people . I ’ m definitely not letting up any time soon ; it ’ s full steam ahead .
The 2023 Toyota Series Championship is on Table Rock Lake in Missouri , and REDCREST 2024 is on Lay Lake in Alabama . How much do you know about those fisheries and how do you like your chances to compete on them ?
I ’ ve never been to Table Rock , but I ’ m excited for it because I know it ’ s deep and clear and has smallmouth and largemouth and all the stuff I love to do – so I think it ’ ll fit my style . I ’ m super jacked up for Lay Lake , too . I ’ ve learned more about river systems , and I ’ ve seen so many lakes in the last year or two that I think I have a good chance . For example , if it was at Guntersville , I would be excited , but not as excited as I am for Lay Lake or Table Rock . Overall , I think Table Rock fits my style the best .
You ’ re a guide on Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona and Lake Hartwell . How long have you been guiding ?
I ’ d say 90 % of my guiding is on Lanier and the rest is Hartwell , and just a few are on Allatoona . I ’ ve been doing this since last May . I graduated from Ole Miss in May 2021 with a degree in digital marketing and then worked for Pure Fishing for a year . I enjoyed it , but I can ’ t be in front of a laptop for eight hours a day , and I wanted to be a guide , so I figured I ’ d try it out and fish some tournaments and practice .
They say the best way to learn something is to teach it . What have you learned as an angler from your experiences in teaching others to fish ?
From the guide route , my job is to put people on fish 24 / 7 , and there ’ s a stigma where people think it will mess you up for tournament fishing by going to holes and getting numbers instead of adapting and learning . Everyone I guide wants to do something different , and I try to cater to everyone ’ s style . So , I ’ m fishing new water and learning from different people . I ’ ve learned things from people I wouldn ’ t have expected to learn .
What ’ s a typical monthly / weekly guide schedule for you ?
A typical bit is I ’ m booked all summer and I don ’ t guide on weekends . I ’ ll go Monday through Friday with ( trips ) that are 4 , 6 and 8 hours , and even some that go from sunup to sundown .
Lake Lanier has become one of the favorite “ stopover ” fisheries for multiple Bass Pro Tour pros traveling through to tournaments . You ’ re probably a little partial , but would you rate Lanier as the best spotted bass fishery in the country right now ?
It was ranked fourth or fifth in Georgia , but they don ’ t know what ’ s been happening here . I almost don ’ t want to say it , but it ’ s unbelievable how good it is . You need at least 20 pounds , and in the winter it ’ s 21-22 pounds , to win a tournament – and it ’ s all spotted bass . It ’ s a true gem , and not a lot of people have caught onto that yet .
If you could describe a picture-perfect lake and the best conditions for you to win a tournament , what would those be ?
It would be any herring lake from May to October with clouds and wind . I can deal with all types of weather .
On the flipside , what are some fisheries and conditions that you feel like you could use some improvement on ( or flat-out just don ’ t like to fish ?)
I could use some work on offshore grass fishing like Guntersville . I was scared of Chickamauga and the TVA in the summertime – not that I don ’ t know how to do it , it ’ s just somewhere I need improvement . For instance , I ’ ve done well on Florida lakes before like Harris and Okeechobee .
You moved to the U . S . from Denmark as a toddler and have a large family . What was it like growing up with two older siblings and four younger siblings in a first-generation immigrant home in Georgia ?
It was fun . We had a packed house and it made me good with people since I had to deal with siblings all the time . It ’ s nice when you get older and appreciate having a big family more and more since it ’ s nice having a bunch of them to reach out to . I ’ ve done interviews with some Danish fishing magazines , and a lot of people there don ’ t know bass fishing is a sport . Fishing is huge in Denmark , but it ’ s for pike and sea trout , since there ’ s no bass there . So , to have someone from there win the All-American is super cool to them .
You ’ re the first in your family to get into fishing . How did you first catch the fishing bug , and who / what helped you get from the neighborhood pond to where you are today ?
I ’ m the only one who fishes in our family , and I don ’ t know how I got into it . I ’ d pond fish when I was young , and my earliest memories were walking to the pond . My dad fished before back in Denmark , but nothing crazy , just did it a few times . He got me a rod and reel and I ’ d catch bluegill and use that as live bait for some giant bass . Then in middle school I met my buddy William , and we ’ d fish out of his canoe every weekend . Then I got a bass boat in high school , and we fished every week .
You ’ re multi-lingual , so what languages do you speak ? And what are some fishing phrases in English that just don ’ t translate – or sound pretty goofy – in other languages ?
We speak Danish at home all the time and I ’ m fluent in that and English , then I took Spanish in high school , but that ’ s more basic . Danish and English are my main languages . I don ’ t know of any fishing phrases that they would have in Denmark , but there ’ s a lot that don ’ t translate well in English .
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