After competing in the first six St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Elite Qualifiers of 2023 Matt Henry of Milledgeville, Ga., holds seventh place in the Angler of the Year standings. This is the second time the 35-year-old has attempted to achieve his dream of becoming a Bassmaster Elite Series pro.
His first bid took place in 2014 when he fished the Bassmaster Southern Opens. He held his own but fell far short of qualifying for the Elite Series. The first Open was at the Kissimmee Chain.
“I was in sixth place after the first day,” Henry said. “I told myself, ‘There’s nothing to this.’” Then it was all downhill from there. I learned really fast that the guys fishing the Opens are tough.”
While growing up in Conyers, Ga., Henry’s father, Gary, put a fishing rod in his hands as soon as he was physically able to hold it.
“My dad fished club tournaments with the Towaliga Bassmasters and competed in other local events,” Henry said. “He also did really well fishing the Everstart Series and the FLW Tour as a co-angler.”
At age 12, Henry became a member of the Junior Bass Busters, which was sponsored by the Bear Creek Bass Club in Conyers. That year he won his first tournament on Georgia’s Lake Sinclair fishing against anglers as old as 16.
During Henry’s teen years, he and his father competed in several team tournament circuits, mainly in Georgia.
“I still fish some tournaments with my dad when we can find the time,” Henry said. “We’ve made a lot of great memories fishing tournaments together.”
When Henry turned 16, the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society and other bass fishing organizations were initiating programs for high school anglers. He won a B.A.S.S. affiliated junior state championship in Georgia. This qualified him to compete in the inaugural Bassmaster Junior World Championship, which took place in 2004 on North Carolina’s Lake Norman.
In 2006 he qualified for the Bassmaster Junior World Championship at Florida’s Harris Chain. That year he also fished the FLW Junior Championship Cup at Neely Henry Lake, Ala.
After graduating from high school, Henry enrolled at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Ga., where he would earn a degree in environmental science.
That the university was only seven minutes from a boat ramp on Lake Sinclair likely influenced where Henry decided to further his education.
“The university did not have a collegiate fishing team,” Henry said. “I wanted to be involved in college fishing so I co-founded a team in 2007 with Jared Kutil.”
“We had to fund the tournaments on our own initially. By the time I graduated, we had gained enough funding that we were able to send a large team to every event. We never won a national championship, but at one point we were ranked the sixth best college team in the country.”
After college, he took a job at Sinclair Marina in Milledgeville “starting at the ground floor.” His employers allowed some flex time “within reason” so Henry could participate in local tournaments and pursue his bass dreams.
A year after taking the position, Henry fished his first Bassmaster Open on the Kissimmee Chain. The following year he focused on his career at the marina. The only tournaments he fished in 2015 were the three Southern Opens.
“I was not in fishing shape and made bad decisions,” he said.
Thing were going much better for him at the marina. He helped grow the business and became the sales manager for its four locations. It is now part of the Eclipse Marine Group in Georgia and South Carolina and has been purchased by Brunswick.
During this phase, Henry’s bass dreams still burned. He stepped away from management in 2019 to work in sales between tournaments.
Once he got back in the tournament saddle, Henry began earning checks regularly in local events. So much so that he eventually banked enough cash to take on the 2023 Elite Qualifer series.
“I liked the idea of fishing all nine EQs, but I didn’t think I could afford the time,” Henry said. “I had a conversation at work and everyone there supported me.”
The clincher was that his best friend, Justin Kimmel, also intended to fish the EQs. They have been team tournament partners for 15 years.
“You almost need a support team to compete against the caliber of anglers who fish the EQs,” Henry said. “I couldn’t resist chasing this dream with my best friend.”
Besides the EQ series, Henry and Kimmel teamed up to fish Berry’s Tournament Trail. They won the trail’s championship, which qualified them for the B.A.S.S. Nation Team Championship later this year at the Harris Chain of Lakes.
Henry’s sponsors include Sinclair Marina, Eclipse Marine Group, Reel Snot Line & Lubricant, Mercury Marine, Big Bear Fishing Rods, P-Line, Sonar Pros Electronics and Bass Boat Technologies.
