After the first two Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite Qualifier (EQ) tournaments of 2024, Alabamian Tucker Smith, a former Bassmaster High School All-American, sits at sixth in the EQ standings. He finished second at Lake Okeechobee and followed it with a 33rd place on Lake Ouachita.
Smith’s fast start in the EQs doesn’t surprise anyone who knows of the 22-year-old’s success in high school and collegiate bass tournaments. While attending Alabama’s Briarwood Christian High School, he and his partner Grayson Morris won two Bassmaster High School National Championships at Kentucky Lake. The following year he pulled off a three-peat with Hayden Marbut.
As a freshman at Auburn University, he and partner Logan Parks won Bassmaster’s College Team of the Year as well as an event at Saginaw Bay. They also claimed victory at the 2023 Bassmaster College Classic on Watts Bar. Parks is currently an Elite Series angler.
In his senior year at Auburn, Smith teamed up with Marbut to win the Bassmaster College National Championship and another national championship on a different college circuit. Consistency should be Smith’s middle name.
His grandfather Bo Stanford, an avid tournament angler, introduced him to bass fishing.
“He got me fired up about it when I was 5 years old,” Smith said. “He’d hook the bass and let me reel them in. My uncle Robby Stanford also took me fishing.”
Smith’s introduction to tournament fishing took place at age 12 when he and his grandfather competed in a Mark’s Outdoors event, which was “big back in the day.”
Although bass fishing was in his blood, Smith’s primary competitive outlets were football and baseball. His participation in these sports ended in eighth grade when he suffered a broken leg playing football. The injury was severe enough to keep him tethered to a wheelchair for an extended period.
“That’s what started my fishing career,” Smith said. “I started reading about bass fishing and fishing a lot.”
When he was old enough to drive, Smith began fishing with friends at every opportunity. One of those friends was Joey Nania, who is now a distinguished fishing guide on Alabama’s Coosa River System and one of Smith’s fellow EQ anglers. They often plied the waters of Logan Martin Lake, which was close to home.
“I was blessed to get to know Joey,” Smith said. “He taught me a lot about fishing and helped me take the tournament aspect of it more seriously.”
One of Smith’s classmates in high school was Jordan Martens, daughter of legendary bass angler Aaron Martens. This gave Smith an opportunity to meet and befriend her father.
“Aaron Martens is my greatest fishing hero,” Smith said. “I fished with him a good bit and became close friends with him. He was never cocky or acted like he knew everything. I’d hang at his house and have normal conversations.
“When we fished together, he’d ask me where we should go and what we should throw. I didn’t know much. For the best angler in the world to ask a high school kid for his opinion tells you what a good guy he was.”
Tournament fishing is now Smith’s full-time job. He competes in 30 to 40 events a year. Besides the EQs, he is fishing B.A.S.S. Nation events and other tournaments around the country.
“I like to bounce around to different places to learn as much as I can,” Smith said.
These experiences will help him should he qualify for the Bassmaster Elite Series, which is his number one goal. He also longs to fish the Bassmaster Classic. He came up one place short of this by finishing second at the Okeechobee EQ. He also missed qualifying for the Classic twice in college by finishing second at the 2019 and 2023 Bassmaster College Classic Bracket tournaments.
Smith’s sponsors include Bass Pro Shops, Nitro Boats, Picasso Lures, Yamamoto, Bill Lewis, Cuda Brand fishing tools, Mercury Marine, Impulse Lithium, Spearpoint Performance Hooks, Costa sunglasses, Shimano, STR8 Up Mounts and P-Line.
