Dirks: Teen making name for himself on fishing circuit
At the ripe old age of 12, Nickolas Wolf knew fishing bass tournaments were in his blood.
"I picked up my first tournament rod at age 12 with my junior bass club and realized this is my dream," he said.
If he has his way, young Wolf, now 18, wants to leave his mark on the world of bass fishing.
Wolf, from Bloomingburg, already has fished seven major bass tournaments in the FLW American Fishing Series.
As of September, this teen, who has to compete against anglers far older and more experienced, has a seventh-place standing in the co-angler series.
Anyone who knows competitive bass fishing knows the competition at this level is sharp as a tack. Wolf aims to be better.
We caught up with him not long ago after one of his toughest tournaments to date on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Ala. Early November is an unpredictable time for bass fishing on Wheeler Lake. This year, on top of cold weather, tournament anglers were treated to high winds and 5-foot whitecaps and swells.
As a co-angler, young Wolf gets to fish alongside another angler who owns the bass boat from which they fish. As a co-angler, he's at the mercy of that boater, who determines where, when and for how long they fish during the tournament. Co-anglers learn to cope with that kind of situation and focus on catching fish no matter what.
On Southern waters like Wheeler Lake, Northern anglers, like Wolf, learn the water always is cloudy and the fishing frustrating. Wolf also learned that "you'll get stuck on logs, limbs, branches, sticks and rocks at least 10 times a day. I couldn't tell you how many lures I lost to it in two days."
On the first day of the tournament, the temperature was a balmy 53 degrees.
"On the second day," Wolf recalled, "it was about 20 degrees colder and the wind was blowing around 30 mph. Now on a lake that's a lot because those waves build up and it hurt going fast in a bass boat."
After day one, Wolf placed a respectable 16th out of a field of 120 co-anglers. Weather was the factor on the second day, and, despite his best efforts, Wolf ended up in 51st place.
At his age, Wolf knows what's more important at this stage of his bass fishing career is what he learns from every tournament.
"If I could have started this tournament over, I would have brought different baits," he said. "I would have fished differently, slowing down and would know what the weather would bring and how to adjust to the effects of the rain and snow."
Wolf is not discouraged in the least.
"I'm not disappointed in myself for not doing as well," he said. "I was the youngest in the tournament and I love fishing more than most of these guys fishing these events."
They say it takes passion to be a winner. For Wolf, we can only imagine where his angling passion will take him.
David Dirks' outdoors column appears weekly. Contact him through his website, www.dirksoutdoors.com, or write P.O. Box 87, Westtown, NY 10998.