HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (KTHV) - An Arkansas high school kid is spending his weekend fishing, but his eyes are on bigger prizes beyond high school bass tournaments.
Karson Hamilton is seemingly born to fish. He’s not quite bassinette to Bass-n-wolf, but he’s close. That’s the name of the Lake Hamilton High School fishing team and the sophomore says he’s been fishing since he was in fifth grade.
It’s only coincidence that he shares a last name with his home lake and high school, but his coaches say fishing comes naturally to him and others in the district.
“With the lakes around here, with the rivers and streams that we have, it's something that the kids can do with their dads, their moms, their grandparents,” said Brian Hopkins, coach of the Bass-N-Wolves as well as the junior high football team.
From these overflowing waters, Karson has emerged as an all-American. He's one of a dozen high school anglers invited to compete in the Bassmaster tournament on Lake Travis, near Austin, Texas.
It's a solo tournament, so his partner Luke Dodd and his teammates won't be there to help him, but they all make each other better.
“We travel the state each weekend on two different circuits,” Hamilton said. “So we're gone about every weekend somewhere in the state fishing.”
In fact, they hold the high school tournament record last year with a five-fish haul that weighed in at 26 pounds. Hamilton says local knowledge helps, but he tries not to go overboard.
“I usually know what they're doing down here,” he said while casting toward boat docks on the busy lakefront. “Sometimes I overthink it and I'll get my butt spanked.”
And that kind of statement is why you call Hamilton grounded, despite spending most of his time floating on water.
“Practice makes perfect and that's true, but our dads have taught us a lot of what we know and we take from that,” he said. “From there we watch videos and come out here and test stuff. We try to learn a lot on our own because when we go to college, they're not going be there to teach us.”
Hamilton and Dodd know the jealousy they generate in their fellow students, and probably a few adults, because of how they get to cut classes to cast lines.
“I'd rather do this all day for maybe five bites then sit in the classroom, but you've got to have good grades to compete,” Hamilton says wisely.
Moments later he spotted a bass near the surface. He lamented missing having a lure near where the fish appeared, but a couple casts later in the same area, into the boat came a shiny, green-tinted largemouth.
“That right there is what it's all about,” he said as he proudly showed off the trophy before using proper catch-and-release techniques. “It’s all about catching those green things.”
Good grades plus good sense adding up to a good fish story.