As Wes Logan made cast after fruitless cast on a cold, windy February day on Alabama’s Jordan Lake, he remembers getting so tired he put down his rod, zipped his life preserver a little tighter, and promptly fell asleep in the boat. It was during a bass club team tournament with his father, and he was six years old.
“When I woke up, I started fishing again and in half a dozen casts I caught a four-pound spotted bass,” remembers the Yamaha Power Pay angler, now 26. “I thought that was enough, so I lay back down and went to sleep again. I’m not sure exactly where we finished, but I know it was in the top five.”
Not many of today’s Bassmaster® Elite Series pros can relate such a story, but for Logan, now preparing for his second season in the Elites, that very first tournament – in which future Yamaha Pros Scott Canterbury and Matt Herren also competed — provided a clear picture of what lay ahead for the young Springville, Ala. fisherman.
By the time he was 14, his parents were taking him to one of the nearby lakes, either Logan Martin or Neely Henry, helping him launch his father’s bass boat, and letting him fish by himself until they could come back to pick him up late that afternoon. Two years later when Logan was 16, he fished in his first major bass tournament by himself, a BFL® (Bass Fishing League) divisional event conducted by the FLW® on Neely Henry. He finished 11th, but won it each of the next two years. Even then he was starting to think of a professional fishing career, especially when he qualified for the FLW’s® prestigious All-American tournament and finished 12th.
At the same time, Logan was playing wide receiver, linebacker, and safety on his Springville High School football team as well as shortstop and 2nd base on the baseball team. He received college scholarship offers in both sports, but turned them down.
“Back when my parents would drop me at the lake to fish all day by myself, I really got the fishing bug,” admits the Yamaha angler. “I just wanted to fish all the time, and my parents supported me all the way. During my senior year in high school when some of our baseball games were scheduled on weekends, games we were expected to win whether I played or not, the coach would let me skip the game and go fishing if I had a bass tournament.
“That’s how serious I was about fishing.”
In 2017, Logan fished both the Bassmaster® Open Series and the FLW® Costa® Series and qualified for the FLW Tour®, where he finished 7th in the 2018 Forrest Wood Cup®, held that year on Lake Ouachita.
During the 2019 Bassmaster® Opens season, he had three top-10 finishes in the Central Division that won him Angler of the Year honors and qualified him for the 2020 Bassmaster® Elite Series. His best finish was 4th at Lake Guntersville, but he missed qualifying for this year’s Bassmaster Classic® on Lake Ray Roberts by just three points.
“Last season in the Elite Series was one of the roughest years in my entire life,” the Yamaha Power Pay angler admits, smiling at the memories of lost fish and other mishaps he had seemingly avoided in earlier years.
“I can think back to just about every tournament last season and remember one particular fish I hooked but lost that probably would have put me into the Classic, but every competitor who just barely misses the Classic can remember the same thing. I don’t think it was due to being nervous, because I’ve really been competing for a long time when you stop and think about it.
“I just try never to forget how fortunate I have been, to have parents and grandparents who have supported and encouraged me so strongly. Even after I fell asleep in the boat during that first team tournament, my dad kept me as his team partner. In fact, we won that same tournament on Neely Henry the next year.”
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“When I woke up, I started fishing again and in half a dozen casts I caught a four-pound spotted bass,” remembers the Yamaha Power Pay angler, now 26. “I thought that was enough, so I lay back down and went to sleep again. I’m not sure exactly where we finished, but I know it was in the top five.”
Not many of today’s Bassmaster® Elite Series pros can relate such a story, but for Logan, now preparing for his second season in the Elites, that very first tournament – in which future Yamaha Pros Scott Canterbury and Matt Herren also competed — provided a clear picture of what lay ahead for the young Springville, Ala. fisherman.
By the time he was 14, his parents were taking him to one of the nearby lakes, either Logan Martin or Neely Henry, helping him launch his father’s bass boat, and letting him fish by himself until they could come back to pick him up late that afternoon. Two years later when Logan was 16, he fished in his first major bass tournament by himself, a BFL® (Bass Fishing League) divisional event conducted by the FLW® on Neely Henry. He finished 11th, but won it each of the next two years. Even then he was starting to think of a professional fishing career, especially when he qualified for the FLW’s® prestigious All-American tournament and finished 12th.
At the same time, Logan was playing wide receiver, linebacker, and safety on his Springville High School football team as well as shortstop and 2nd base on the baseball team. He received college scholarship offers in both sports, but turned them down.
“Back when my parents would drop me at the lake to fish all day by myself, I really got the fishing bug,” admits the Yamaha angler. “I just wanted to fish all the time, and my parents supported me all the way. During my senior year in high school when some of our baseball games were scheduled on weekends, games we were expected to win whether I played or not, the coach would let me skip the game and go fishing if I had a bass tournament.
“That’s how serious I was about fishing.”
In 2017, Logan fished both the Bassmaster® Open Series and the FLW® Costa® Series and qualified for the FLW Tour®, where he finished 7th in the 2018 Forrest Wood Cup®, held that year on Lake Ouachita.
During the 2019 Bassmaster® Opens season, he had three top-10 finishes in the Central Division that won him Angler of the Year honors and qualified him for the 2020 Bassmaster® Elite Series. His best finish was 4th at Lake Guntersville, but he missed qualifying for this year’s Bassmaster Classic® on Lake Ray Roberts by just three points.
“Last season in the Elite Series was one of the roughest years in my entire life,” the Yamaha Power Pay angler admits, smiling at the memories of lost fish and other mishaps he had seemingly avoided in earlier years.
“I can think back to just about every tournament last season and remember one particular fish I hooked but lost that probably would have put me into the Classic, but every competitor who just barely misses the Classic can remember the same thing. I don’t think it was due to being nervous, because I’ve really been competing for a long time when you stop and think about it.
“I just try never to forget how fortunate I have been, to have parents and grandparents who have supported and encouraged me so strongly. Even after I fell asleep in the boat during that first team tournament, my dad kept me as his team partner. In fact, we won that same tournament on Neely Henry the next year.”
Back to Blue Life
