PROFILE :
CHAD
MRAZEK
MONTGOMERY , TEXAS Just five months after earning his college degree , Texas pro Chad Mrazek knew he needed to make some
changes to benefit his fishing career , so the 23-year-old Tackle Warehouse Invitationals rookie left his new job in the insurance field . Three days later ( in mid-October ), he had a new title sponsor . Two weeks after that , he won the Toyota Series Championship Presented by Simms . “ I ’ m a ‘ fly by the seat of my pants ’ kind of guy ,”
Mrazek says simply .
Born in Indianapolis but raised in Texas , Mrazek considers himself a native of the Houston area , with Lake Conroe as his home . He fished his way up the ranks of MLF5 competition , including a stint fishing for Lander University , where he completed his marketing degree . Here ’ s what the new Toyota Series champ had to say about his seat-of-his-pants flight path .
QA &
By Matt Naber
PHOTO BY COBI PELLERITO
Let ’ s start this with a bang : You really blew up at the Toyota Series Championship Presented by Simms . How does it feel to have won such a prestigious event ?
It ’ s the one I wanted to win , but obviously I want to win all of them . There are three tournaments in the world that are the biggest to win , and this is one of them [ REDCREST and the Bassmaster Classic are the other two ].
Heading into that event on Table Rock Lake , how did you feel about your chances ?
I was a little leery . Missouri has treated me really good and really bad . I had a second-place finish in a college event there at a different time of year where I barely missed the win , and then came back for the Lake of the Ozarks Invitationals and got my butt whooped and was late to weigh-in . When I got there ( for practice ), the water color was better than I imagined . I imagined it being more like the Ozarks , but I felt comfortable with the color . As far as how it set up , I didn ’ t know there would be such a vast area of opportunity for fishing , and I could get into places I was comfortable with since every lake in that region is known for being steep and clear . I had to adjust to making what I do ( technique-wise ) work .
80 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | DECEMBER – JANUARY 2024