®
T
he West Coast has a long history of producing
top-level bass anglers that head east and turn
heads when they arrive. A few classes of anglers have moved to the national trails over the years, and many
of them are still the biggest names in bass fishing decades
later.
The pro trails are stacked with anglers with western roots, but the pipeline has slowed down recently. But Roseville, California’s Bryant Smith is the latest to make a run for it, qualifying from the Bassmaster Opens to the Elite Series. He currently sits in the lead of the Bassmaster Elite Rookie of the Year points race.
JOURNEY TO THE ELITES
Like most pro anglers, things didn’t happen overnight for Smith. He paid his dues on western circuits, starting as a teenage Co-Angler fishing with FLW to entering team events and pro/ams with Wild West Bass Trail, WON Bass, and Major League Fishing as a boater.
“I’m fishing the Elites now, but I took a long road to get there,” said the 31-year-old. “I started 12 years ago fishing as a Co-Angler for a year and had some success and jumped to the pointy end of the boat the next season. I got my butt kicked, and learning to fish as a boater took time. It’s a learning process, and I wasn’t ready and it took me two or three years to understand how to be successful up front.”
Fast forward to 2016 and Smith began picking up steam, winning the Wild West Bass Trail’s Lucas Oil Championship on Lake Mead, winning the Costa Series (now called the Toyota Series) on Clear Lake the following season, and winning the Lucas Oil Championship again the following year on Lake Oroville.
“Those events gave me confidence and told me I could do this,” he said. “The wins set me up and bankrolled me a little to give professional fishing a shot. I stayed around home for a few more years and in 2020, I took my first shot at the Bassmaster Opens.”
That season didn’t go as planned for Smith and he realized he needed a priority shift.
“I’d like to forget that year,” he said with a laugh. “I was driving back and forth after each event and still trying to fish stuff on the West Coast. I learned quickly that if you want to do this, you have to make it a top priority to compete with those guys.”
The next year, he tried to enter the Opens again but couldn’t get in. It turned out to be some good fortune and he was able to sign up for the National Professional Fishing League and get his first taste of high-dollar tournament fishing.
“The Opens are so popular, and I didn’t get in, but I had the opportunity with the NPFL,” he said. “I owe a lot to those guys because I learned how to fish at a national level, traveling everywhere from Florida to the Great Lakes. It’s a big entry fee, and I had to travel and be away from home for so long, which is something you have to learn as a professional angler. They were critical to my success in getting to the Elite Series.”
In 2022, he fished with them again to go with one division of the Bassmaster Opens, where he qualified to make the 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series roster.
CHALLENGES OF A WESTERN PRO
Over the past few years, Smith has spent plenty of miles under his belt while traveling across the country chasing his dream. From experience, he’s seen some of the challenges of being far from home and the benefits of coming from the West.
“Learning to travel everywhere has been the biggest challenge and you see some crazy stuff on the road,” he said. “I’ve driven through blizzards and almost wrecked a few times and also had to drive through the tail end of a hurricane. I also spent 10 hours this year in a dealership on my way to the first
Summer 2023
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