Ever since he can remember, Nick Fulks has been out on the water fishing. His dad and his grandpa were fishermen and introduced him to the sport at a young age. Nick played other sports, but none gave him as much joy as being out on the water.
He started competing in fishing tournaments as soon as he was old enough and honed his skills on the water. It wasn’t until he got to Cannon-Mac high school that the love of fishing turned into something he could regularly compete in.
“My journey to Major League fishing began when I started competing in high school bass fishing tournaments,” Nick says. “We fished in high school tournaments through Fishing League World Wide, and from there that turned into the Major League Fishing Tournaments that we compete in today.”
Nick has continued his love of fishing through college, and just took home a first-place trophy, along with his California University team partner David Blaker of Rices Landing, at the Potomac Erie Smith Mountain Lake Tournament. The team had already qualified for the National Tournament with tenth place and seventh place finishes during the year, but this win was a surreal moment for the fishers.
“It still doesn’t feel real,” Nick says. “We finished tenth in our first tournament of the year and qualified for the National Championships and finished seventh in the Virginia tournament. It felt good to go out there and get redemption, bringing home the win this time.”
There is a lot more that goes into these tournaments than just showing up and putting your pole in the water. These teams scout out the area and become familiar with the terrain and the style of fishing they want to do days before they officially compete.
For the Cal-U team, this meant coming to the Potomac days before the tournament and figuring out what techniques would work best for them.
“We pre-fished two and a half days before the competition and found a 300-foot spread with hot spots,” Nick says. “We stayed there most of the day as we learned how the tides fluctuate. This is important because one moment you can be fishing from the bank in high tide, but in low tide your boat could be bottomed out.”
On the day of the tournament, the teams were up at around 4:00 am as they went out to prep the boats and get ready for a full day on the water. Nick and his team departed at 6:30 in the morning and used almost every second of time they had to secure the win.
“Going into it, we did not expect to win,” Nick shares. “After going through practice, we figured we were going to catch about 13-14 pounds. We had a five-catch limit and on the last cast of the day we caught a bass close to five pounds. We made sure to head back to shore, so we didn’t run out of time, and we finished with a total of 17 pounds.”
It was the Cal-U fishing program’s first tournament win since the club was started by Nick during his freshman season. The program has grown tremendously since then as more people are finding professional fishing. Nick’s advice to the next generation of fishers, is to start out as early as you can.
“My advice to anyone would be to join a fishing club as soon as you can,” Nick says. “There are tons of little clubs around the area, and they help get you into the mindset of how tournaments work.”
For Nick, it was a surreal moment taking home the gold, but his focus is on the future as he continues to grow and master the sport of fishing.
I certainly enjoyed the article. It gave me insight to all that goes into fishing.
I had no idea about the details of being an expert fisherman, or in my case, a woman! I am very impressed with Nick’s dedication and knowledge of the sport of fishing. I have a feeling that any endeavor this young man takes on in the future will be a success.