Brock Mosley has been a competitor on the Bassmaster Elite Series since 2016. While competing on the Elite Series, the Collinsville, Miss., pro has managed to have a few top-flight moments to provide a glimpse of his talents on the water. However, even with the attention that is focused on the competition, the opportunities to actually get to know the anglers are scarce.
Mosley revealed that he has been around tournament competition for most of his life because of a family business. “My dad owned a Ranger Boats dealership until I was about 13, so I was around bass fishing most of my life,” he said. “My dad also fished some tournaments around here locally, so the combination of those two things really lit the fire of competitive bass fishing for me.”
Being the son of a bass boat dealership owner and competitive fisherman, Mosley said that he partnered with his dad some in his early years. “I fished tournaments, some with dad from the time I was about 9 years old, and I loved it,” he said. “But, I really loved playing sports, and I played football and baseball all the way into college before deciding to focus on fishing.”
He had good reason to focus on the field instead of the water. He played wide receiver for his high school football team, catching passes from current Tennessee Titans backup quarterback Austin Davis. He caught six touchdowns for a team that went 12-1, only losing in the semifinal round of the state playoffs.
As a baseball player in high school, he ended his senior year as an outfield playing, five-hole hitter on a stacked team who batted .405 and hit eight home runs. His performance earned him a spot on the Delta State University baseball team where his batting average over two seasons was .325 with five home runs. That was when a decision had to be made.
Mosley said that he realized his baseball career was going to end after college, and that while he was enjoying the experience, he felt like there were opportunities elsewhere. “I wasn’t ever going to end up playing professional baseball, so I decided to transfer to Ole Miss my junior year and pursue fishing,” he said. “I switched my major to marketing and started fishing every chance I could in college fishing or any other circuit I could get into.”
He said that he knows he made the right decision, especially considering where his career has taken him. He said that the change in majors was beneficial as well. “My marketing degree has been really beneficial because it helps me strategize things on the business side of fishing,” he said. “I’ve been able to use it in communicating with sponsors, planning social media strategies and becoming a better representative for my sponsors’ products.”
After fishing locally, he touched his toe in the Bassmaster Opens waters in 2012, entering two tournaments, but he couldn’t fish all three events. After that, he set a goal to qualify for the Elite Series, so he entered the Opens and fished the three-event schedule. He cashed two checks and finished seventh in the points, narrowly missing a berth into the Elite Series.
In 2013, he fished the Central Opens and had a fifth place finish at the Arkansas River in Muskogee, Okla. He also fished the FLW Tour as a co-angler in 2013, cashing checks in each event, and finishing second in the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup.
He fished the Opens again in 2014, entering all three divisions. He also got his first taste of Elite Series competition when he fished in the first Bass Fest event at Lake Chickamauga, where he finished in 34th place, cashing his first Elite Series $10,000 check.
In 2015, he once again fished the complete schedule in all three Opens divisions, and by season’s end, had finished in the top 15 in all three divisions. Along the way, he earned a berth in the Bassmaster Elite Series for 2016 via his sixth place finish in the southern division’s points standings. He has competed on the Elite Series since.
He has experienced some success on the Elite Series. In his rookie season, he finished 50th in the points, after competing in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship. He posted two second-place finishes in 2017: at the St. Lawrence River and then again at Lake St. Clair. Altogether, in 60 Bassmaster events, Mosley has cashed checks in 50 percent of them, earning a little over $200,000 in the process.
He is not satisfied with his performance. “I’ve always been a really consistent angler, and I’m not content with my performance thus far on the Elite Series, and I want to change it,” he said. “I fancy myself as the kind of angler who cashes a lot of checks, and qualifies for championships, and I’m just starting to get comfortable on this level. I’ve needed to adjust to practicing for two and a half days, and I’m getting there.”
Mosley said that he has always had a dream and a challenge to himself since he went to the 1996 Bassmaster Classic at Lay Lake, watching George Cochran win his second title in Birmingham. “The Bassmaster Classic is it,” he said. “It is the best tournament we have in this sport, and I’ve always had a dream to fish it, not once, but many times.
“I feel like this is the year to start over and get focused on accomplishing those goals. I’m looking forward to being a part of what we are all building with B.A.S.S. and the Elite Series, and getting my career goals underway.”
Late in 2018, Mosley and his wife Leslie welcomed their first child, a daughter named Millie. They live together in their Collinsville, Miss., home.
