What Truck, Boat and Outboard does Benji run?

2016 Nissan Titan XD

1998 Triton TR19

1998 Mercury 175

My Sponsors

What Benji does for a living:

Industrial Engineer

What you should know about Benji:

I'm an avid angler, but my biggest joy in life comes from being a husband and father! My wife, Sydney, and I have been married since 2018, and we have two beautiful daughters, Lillian 3, and Marley 1. When I'm not on the water, I spend every moment I can with them creating memories that will last a lifetime.

How Benji started fishing

When I was really young, my papa would take me fishing on his pontoon with a zebco 33 and some nightcrawlers. However, I went about 15 years without making a cast, and then in 2017 my now wife and I borrowed a close friends pond boat for a date. I've been grinding everyday since then for more time on the water and trying to enter every tournament I can to continue to grow as an angler.  

Aspirations or goals with fishing

Every tournament angler wants to win every tournament they fish. However, I strive more so for consistency, and I believe the wins will fall in line with that consistency. I'm gunning for an angler of the year title.

Favorite way to fish

Shallow cover wether it is grass, wood, or rocks. I feel like the shallow water fish are generally more aggressive and fight harder.

Most exciting fishing experience

My most exciting fishing moment is the first time my oldest daughter reeled in a fish on her own. Seeing her excitement and getting to hold her first fish will always be my favorite fishing memory.

How Benji preps for a tournament

I do a lot of map study, lake levels in past, and past tournament results before I even hit the water for practice. During practice, I'm focusing on movements more so than patterns. I take practice with the mindset of finding fish to catch on tournament day. From my experience, locating active fish is the biggest challenge. 

Three favorite search baits

Buzzbait

Spinnerbait

Chatterbait

Best tournament finish and what you did that day when you were fishing.

1 place in a club tournament using a fire craw red Z-Man mini max chatterbait. I had a 6 pound 13 oz kicker to take big fish as well.

Most challenging part of tournament fishing

The biggest challenge for me is locating active schools of bass. 

When tournaments don't go my way

I reflect on the decisions I made during the tournament to better understand how I could have done better.

Advice to give to an aspiring tournament angler:

Do your research before you ever hit the water. This will help you be more efficient on practice days to avoid dead water, which in turn will help you have better tournament results on tournament days. 

Some shared general bass fishing techniques for people just getting into the sport

Learn how to finesse fish ASAP! I was hard headed early on in tournament fishing and tried to power fish every situation causing me to have some less than desirable tournament outcomes.