Niles High School student one of youngest semi-professional bass fisherman
Published 1:08 am Thursday, March 16, 2006
By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - When John Gipson Jr. caught his first bass at 4 years-old, he knew fishing was going to be a big part of his life.
The four-pound bass was caught on Priest Lake, where Gipson spent most of his younger years fishing with his grandfather.
When Gipson was 11 years-old, he entered his first fishing tournament with his father, John Gipson. Gipson caught the biggest bass of the day on the St. Joseph River and has been entering bass tournaments since.
When Gipson was 12, he took first place at the Redbud Bassmaster tournament, which is held on Barron Lake. Since then, Gipson has been winning and placing at almost every contest he has entered.
Now 18, and a semi-professional bass fisherman, Gipson won 10 tournaments last year alone and said his biggest win came at the CATT Johnson Outdoors Shootout, which is held on Muskegon Lake.
Gipson walked away with $1,000 after he caught five bass that weighed a combined 19-pounds. The normal bass only weighs one pound.
But don't expect to see Gipson's prizes hanging on his wall. While he is proud of his catches, Gipson admitted he releases all of his fish back into the water.
Gipson may be racking in the fish - and the dough - at most of the tournaments he attends, however, there are still a few events where he didn't do as well as he would have liked.
While Gipson may be on the trail to a huge fishing future, he is also known for being one of the youngest people in the country to get paid for being a member of the Mister Twister, Mepps, Gamma Technologies and XTools pro-staffs.
Gipson earns a paycheck for promoting the companies products, which include items like lures and rods.
Gipson is also the Regional Sales Representative for BASS-THUMB and Vertical Lures, handling all of the sales in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Gipson is able to do most of his work from home, but is also on the road quite a bit trying to promote the products these companies sell.
This weekend, Gipson will be giving a seminar about drop shooting at the Grand Rapids Ultimate Fishing Show. Gipson will be the youngest person to ever give a seminar at this event.
After graduation, Gipson plans to attend Western Michigan University to major in Elementary Education and earn an associates in marketing.
As far as the bass tournaments, Gipson said he will continue doing them as long as he can