PartsVu Now Sponsoring Bassmaster Elite Series Angler Garrett Paquette

Professional fisherman Garrett Paquette, working to best his competition in the Bassmaster Elite Series, discusses how he fell in love with bass fishing and the start of his professional fishing career with PartsVu Xchange editor Tonia Becker.

PartsVu is proud and excited to announce that we are now sponsoring Garrett Paquette, a BassMaster Elite Series angler. Now in his third season on the BassMaster Elite Series tour, Garrett simply loves to fish; skill, a competitive spirit, and passion have allowed him to make a living doing what he loves.

PartsVu and Garrett were great matches from the start. We’re a young company with big dreams and an ambitious vision for our future within the marine industry; Garrett, 26 years old, knows that he has a big future in the pro fishing industry—he’s just getting started.

I had the chance to catch up with Garrett in between his early season tournaments to learn more about how he started fishing and when he decided to go pro.

PartsVu: Could you start by telling me a little about how you started fishing and how you fell in love with it?

Garrett: Like a lot of kids, my dad introduced me to fishing. When I was a kid, my dad wasn't a bass fisherman. He loved salmon and lake trout fishing on the Great Lakes. Every weekend we’d go to Northern Michigan, and we'd go out on his boat, but at first, I wasn’t much use. Those fish are pretty big, so as a three- to five-year-old, I would watch, and I loved being in that environment with my dad. When I got a little older and a bit more capable, my dad bought me my first fishing rod.

When we were in the harbor, I would fish for whatever would bite: little bluegill, perch, or small bass. The more I fished as a young boy, the more I fell in love with it. Then, when I caught my first "big bass," that was it. That fish was only a couple of pounds, but that’s a big fish for a little kid. The way that bass fought and jumped, it triggered something inside of me, and after that I wanted to spend all my energy trying to recapture that moment—I was hooked for life.

My dad helped me buy books, and I watched videos to learn as much as I could about how to catch bass. For about five or six years, I focused on improving my bass-fishing skills in the harbor on those weekends with my dad.

PartsVu: Did your dad convert to bass fishing, or does he still prefer lake trout and salmon?

Garrett: He never got into bass fishing like I did, but when I was about 13 years old the Great Recession hit. In those leaner times, he completely switched gears: he got rid of his big salmon-fishing boat, and we got a little bass boat. When we first got that bass boat, we didn’t know much; we didn’t even know how to drive it. But we would go out every weekend we could and learned as much as we could. We kept progressing as anglers, and I guess it’s fair to say that I was a bit more into it.

PartsVu: There’s now a Bassmaster High School tournament series. Did this series exist when you were in high school?

Garrett: No, they launched that tournament series after I graduated, so I just missed out. I was a hockey player as a kid and all through high school, so I’ve been competitive my whole life and have always been driven to excel at the things that interested me. Of course, that has helped get me where I am in the professional bass-fishing world.

PartsVu: So throughout high school you played hockey, as many boys in the Detroit area do, but you were also building bass-fishing skills?

Garrett: Yes—actually, it was kind of funny. I grew up in Metro Detroit, in an urban area; fishing was not the cool thing, or at least I didn’t think it was. In high school, I was almost embarrassed about doing it and didn’t talk about it a lot. Ironically, a couple of years later, I realized how many young people enjoy the sport like I do.

PartsVu: When did you start competing in tournaments?

Garrett: After I got my driver’s license at 16, my dad pretty much cut me loose. I took our boat and fished as many tournaments as I could find close to our house. I probably fished 30 or 35 tournaments that first year—I fished a lot. Then every year I succeeded, I branched out and did a little more. After doing well in tournaments within an hour or so of the house, I’d travel maybe three hours to new lakes, and then I started traveling to different states. When I was 20 years old, I started fishing Bassmaster opens.

PartsVu: What was your experience like as a 16-year-old brand-new to tournament fishing? Did you learn a lot from the older, more experienced anglers?

Garrett: Over the years, I definitely learned a great deal from other fishermen. However, the first tournament I ever competed in was on a familiar lake near our house—I had spent hours and hours fishing on that lake. I won the tournament and had one of the biggest lake limits ever.

I was so excited, and I convinced myself that tournament fishing was easy and every event would be like this. But, of course, it was a solid dose of beginner’s luck. I was quickly humbled as I proceeded to get pummeled in the next 10 or so tournaments. I realized how hard it is to beat many of the local guys who have fished these lakes for 20 or 30 years—it’s tough to beat them.

Although I was fortunate in that first tournament, it’s still a great confidence booster that I carry with me to this day. That day allowed be to realize that you can go out there and win; you can do something quite exceptional.

PartsVu: Were the older guys fishing these tournaments welcoming? Did they take you under their wing?

Garrett: It was a bit of a mix. There were definitely a lot of guys who could see that I had a lot of passion for the sport and were willing to help and teach me. To this day, I’m grateful to those guys. There might have been a little jealousy along the way too: not everybody likes when some kid shows up and takes their money. But although there was a little bit of resentment, most guys were welcoming, and many went out of their way to help me.

PartsVu: How did you make the decision to fish professionally?

Garrett: I’ll never forget it: in 2005, I watched a guy from Michigan named Kevin VanDam, the biggest name in bass fishing, win the Bassmaster Classic. I was young then, and I didn’t know of anyone else from Michigan who fished at that level; I never thought about the possibility. But when I saw somebody from Michigan win a half a million dollars in a fishing tournament, it piqued my interest.

That moment is always in my memory bank as the moment I thought that becoming a professional angler competing within the Bassmaster Elite Series might be a realistic possibility for me. Also, I attribute a lot of my drive to become a professional angler to my innate competitiveness. Once I started fishing tournaments, I always wanted to see how I stacked up to the next level of competition. You are not only testing yourself to see how you stack up to the other anglers but also to see how you stack up against the fish themselves.

PartsVu: It’s wonderful to be able to follow your passion and make a living at the same time.

Garrett: Absolutely. I have a job where the alarm clock goes off at 4:00 a.m. and I'm not mad about it. It's truly a blessing to be in this position.

PartsVu: To be successful as a professional angler, you not only have to be a remarkable tournament fisherman, but you also have to pursue sponsorships, have great relationships with those sponsors, and manage your personal brand and connect with fans. Was this challenging for you?

Garrett: When I first started fishing at an elite level, it was all about fishing for me. I wanted to fish and didn’t care about all the other stuff. But you quickly realize that that’s not going to fly in this industry: you have to be well-rounded. In the beginning, I too often tried to be who I thought I should be instead of being myself, and I learned that was a mistake. Going out there and being yourself is what resonates the most with both sponsors and fans.

Follow Garrett on Instagram at @GPaquetteFishing and like Garrett Paquette Fishing on Facebook to share his adventures as he tackles this season's Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments. To follow PartsVu’s interactions with Garrett as well as all of the news, promotions, sales, and resources we offer, follow us on Instagram at @PartsVu4u and like PartsVu on Facebook.