Scott Sledge, left, and Montevallo teammate Tyler Cory raise the first-place trophy after winning the Strike King Bassmaster College Classic Championship.
Submitted photo
In Scott Sledge’s ideal world, his desire for all aspects of fishing ultimately flings open the doors to him making a living competing against the country’s finest anglers.
Travel. Entry fees. Competitions. Sponsorships. Prize money.
In other words, the good life for a diehard fisherman like Sledge, 22, who graduated from Greenwood in 2020 and is part of the fishing team at the University of Montevallo, a Division II school located in the center of Alabama.
Time will tell whether Sledge gains ground on his ultimate pursuit, yet he’s already assembled an impressive list of credentials.
This past spring, Sledge and partner Tyler Cory of Amherst, Wisconsin, won the Strike King Bassmaster College Classic Championship at Keystone Lake outside Tulsa, Oklahoma. The duo’s five largest largemouth bass combined to weigh 22 pounds.
Sledge and Cory qualified for the event by placing second in the Bassmaster College Series Team of the Year race for 2023. Their five bass outweighed second-place James Willoughby and Nick Dumke, teammates of theirs at Montevallo.
Attributes displayed by both anglers contribute to their success.
“We got paired together at the end of our freshman year,” Sledge said. “We have the same mindset going into tournaments. We know how to grind. You have to earn what you do, and we were just consistent. And if you do that, your time is going to come.”
Sledge will graduate from Montevallo in December with a bachelor’s degree in business marketing and a minor in sports management. A nice fallback if Sledge is unable to work his way into the crowded and ultra-competitive world of professional fishing.
Collegiately, Sledge hasn’t left many stones unturned.
“College fishing is so different because there’s a team component to it,” Montevallo coach William Crawford said. “You’ve got to be very personally motivated to get out there and work on things. That’s something that Scott has always said. When he came to us, he was already a talented kid. He’s been able to take the lowest of the lows, work on them, and then make it to where you get the most of your highs.”
In 2010, a then 8-year-old Sledge won his very first tournament at Lake Monroe in Bloomington. He’s since become better at his craft, and hopes to continue to improve in the years ahead.
“Just traveling to fish professionally, that’s all I’ve dreamed of since I was 10 years old, so it kind of consumes me,” Sledge said. “With fishing, every day is different. When you piece it all together, it’s such a rewarding feeling.”
Sledge and Cory return to competition next month. They’ll be one of approximately 250 teams taking part in the Bassmaster College National Championship at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina.
Until then, Sledge will continue honing his skills when his schedule permits.
“You do have to stay on top of it,” Crawford said. “A lot of guys, if they’re not fishing a college event, they might be fishing in a local tournament or just for fun. If you don’t stay on top of it, things can change on you.”
