At What Point Do You Stop Calling them "Prodigies"?
Posted by Pete Robbins on Mar 7th 2021
photo courtesy of B.A.S.S.
For weeks I’ve been saying that Greg Hackney has lately been the most determined and consistent angler in B.A.S.S. competition, but I only needed to look at the standings from the Harris Chain to realize that I’ve probably been exaggerating the case. That’s because Patrick Walters (3rd) finished 10 spots above the En Fuego Hack Attack after leading the event early on. He finished 4th at St. Johns (two spots behind Hackney) after leading there as well. The only place of late where Hackney has, for lack of a better word, “dominated” him was in Knoxville, where the returning Elite made it to Sunday and ended up 7th overall and Walters was 23rd. The young South Carolinian made up for that hiccup, however, with his dominating victory at Lake Fork to end last season.
Walters seems to be just another in a long line of born-to-fish, groomed-to-excel, ready-made pros we’ve seen in recent years – kids who show up straight out of college, off the farm or out of their mamas’ bellies fluent in every technique needed to excel.
Whether it’s Jacob Wheeler or Jordan Lee or Dustin Connell, they emerge in quick succession. As soon as you think one of them is “The One,” another does something incredible. The original “Prodigy,” Brandon Palaniuk, is now 32, and still kicking butt as seen in his two Elite victories last year, but age notwithstanding he can no longer be legitimately called a “young gun.” Perhaps he’s now qualified for the Prodigies Senior Tour, an oxymoron on par with “jumbo shrimp.” In short, the word “phenom” has lost its meaning. The bottom line is that the Opens are so incredibly competitive that anyone who makes it to the big leagues that way these days – whether he’s 16 or 65 – is likely to be a certified freak.
Ever since a young and then-unknow KVD told Larry Nixon and Denny Brauer he was going to kick their butts, there’s been no shortage of youthful confidence in our sport – but never before has it been spread out through so many anglers and so justified.
