Tennessean Sam Hanggi survived the gauntlet of the 2025 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens to qualify for the new Nitro Elite Qualifier series. He finished fifth at the first EQ on Lake Champlain and is eager to test his mettle at the next EQ on Wheeler Lake.
While growing up in Knoxville, fishing wasn’t a priority for Hanggi. His parents, Matt and Jill, are avid hunters. Their hunting adventures are family affairs. They’ve taken Hanggi and his sister Avery on hunts across North America where they’ve bagged everything from upland game to waterfowl to turkey and deer.
They’ve also ventured twice to Africa to hunt plains game, including cape buffalo. Their family motto might be, “The family that hunts together hangs together.”
In high school during turkey hunting season, Hanggi pursued gobblers every morning before classes and every evening. He’s had fewer opportunities to go afield since he began fishing the Bassmaster Opens this season.
His parents also found time to take their children fishing. Prior to his teen years, Hanggi and his father would fish for largemouth and smallmouth bass at Fort Loudoun Lake from an aluminum boat.
“The only thing I knew to fish then was a wacky worm and a shallow diving Rapala DT6 crankbait,” Hanggi said. “We caught a lot of 1-pound bass. When we caught the occasional 2- or 3-pounder, we thought it was huge.”
When Hanggi was in middle school, his parents purchased a hunting property adjacent to a small lake. Hanggi would cast into the water from the bank and from a kayak. The joy of fishing from the little craft prompted him to compete in a few local kayak tournaments.
“That’s what instilled my love for competitive fishing,” Hanggi said.
He and his father once fished a kayak tournament on Chickamauga Lake. Hanggi won the youth division with his trusty wacky worm and DT6. His biggest bass was a dock-hugging 4-pound largemouth that fell for the wacky worm.
While in high school, Hanggi learned Auburn University had an outstanding bass fishing team. He became a fan of some of the team’s members, including Jordan and Matt Lee who became successful career tournament anglers.
When a neighbor gave him an Auburn fishing team cap, it seemed destined that he would attend AU. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at Auburn, made law and justice his major and immediately joined the college’s bass fishing team.
His started by fishing as a co-angler. This provided a grand opportunity to acquire knowledge and learn skills from his much more experienced team members. They included Logan Parks and Tucker Smith who are now Elite Series anglers.
“I was blessed to have a lot of good anglers around me,” Hanggi said. “I spent a lot of time studying them and implementing their techniques. They really showed me what competitive fishing is all about and how complex it is.”
One of his first college events took place on Florida’s Harris Chain. He and his partner struggled and returned to the weigh-in with a few 2-pounders.
“When I heard over the loudspeaker that the leaders had sacked 30 pounds, it boggled my mind,” Hanggi said. “I was blown away that these college guys could catch fish like that.”
He saved up enough money to buy his first bass boat in his sophomore year — a used 16-foot Ranger he purchased for $8,000. One of the first events he fished from that boat was at Lake Cumberland. He finished 11th by cranking riprap with his beloved DT6, flipping a jig into bushes and slinging a 6-inch Megabass Magdraft swimbait sporting a treble hook.
The collegiate tournaments took him to a wide variety of fisheries across the country and introduced him to myriad bass baits and techniques. When he graduated from Auburn in 2024, he was a legitimate versatile angler. He is happy with his progress but still considers himself to be “a work in progress.”
“I’ve really enjoyed finesse fishing the last couple of years,” Hanggi said. “I’ve relied on it heavily in tournaments.”
His finesse fishing has gone hand-in-hand with his penchant for forward-facing sonar. He began incorporating it during his senior year in college.
“I’ve learned more in the last two years using that technology than I learned the previous 20 years fishing without it,” Hanggi said. “But I still love fishing the way I did growing up.”
His sponsors include Impulse Lithium, Fish USA, Island Optics, Douglas Rods, Fish Lung and State Line Marine.
