Six Figure Smith

Tucker Smith has twice earned a half million dollars in a single bass tournament – first in 2021, and then again this fall.

I’m not how many other pros have done anything similar. Fellow Alabamian Boyd Duckett earned $510,000 when he won the 2007 Classic, but his second win that year was “only” $250,000. Scott Suggs won a cool million that same year in the Forrest Wood Cup. Like Smith, Kevin VanDam twice won $500,000 in individual events: the 2010 and 2011 Classics. Any time you’re put in the same category with the GOAT it’s pretty heady company. Of course no one is yet saying that Smith is on the same track, but if that’s the direction he’s heading he’s ahead of the game.

Did I mention that Tucker Smith just turned 24?

And that he won at Fork with FFS and at Guntersville without it?

Among the consecutive AOYs of Chris Johnston and Jacob Wheeler, along with the precociousness of Trey McKinney, it’s easy to forget about the fact that Smith had one of the great all-time seasons, monetarily and in terms of starting a career.

He won over $165,000 with BASS, and then added $500k after the season ended. He won the Rookie of the Year award, amongst a stacked field of first years, by a ridiculous 75 points. He came in 9^th in the AOY race despite three finishes of 71^st or worse. That’s because he also made four Day Four appearances. He would’ve had back to back Elite wins had his roommate, Paul Marks, not beat him by less than a pound at Hartwell.

When I spoke to Smith this week for a BASS Times article, he was heading to the lake, working to get better. That’s a big part why he’s so good already. So if you’re a veteran who feels like you’re falling behind, and you’re out deer hunting for the next few months, or “taking some time off,” remember that Tucker Smith and his ilk are working to get better, and there are no doubt a few more of them waiting in the wings.