ROAD WARRIOR

BAYOU OUTDOORS

ARTICLE BY DAN CHASON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRAD ARENDER

If you think that you were quite the achiever at age 23, let me introduce you to a special young man that has reset that bar quite high. Hunter Freeman grew up in the little town of Eros, Louisiana not far from the shores of Caney Lake. He says that growing up, his mom would drop him off at a small pond at 8 a.m. and he would fish the same pond daily until late in the evening. “I must have caught every bass in that lake 10 times,” he says. “I would bet there weren’t 25 fish in the whole pond but I just could not leave one that hadn’t been caught and released.” This started a dedication and determination that burnedhot then and is now a furnace in the soul of this likeable angler. Hunter is hard to miss as his signature mullet and toothy grin is only masked by the faithful sunglasses and cap. The Bass Cat boat adorns his sponsors and his name but when you talk to him, you quickly learn he loves three things: his family, Caney Lake and bass fishing.

Hunter’s path to the premiere fishing arena started on that small pond but his dreams were quite different. He was a gifted pitcher and played catcher as well as playing travel ball for multiple teams. Baseball was his path and with supportive parents, his path seemed. That is until two elbow injuries ended that dream at age 15. “I dreamed one day I would be pitching to the big boys. But God had a different plan. I can’t say I liked it then, but I have to say, I’m not fussing now. I still get to play in the big leagues but it is with a rod and reel and not a baseball.” That injury opened up free time and that free time was invested in his new passion: fishing. That drive and longing for competitive action was redirected. One sign of his commitment was a bass fishing trip after homecoming and again after prom. And being the valedictorian at West Ouachita his senior year brought a new opportunity.

Hunter had been honored with an academic scholarship to LSU and ULM but decided to go to ULM for one reason: they had a good fishing team that was established nationally. This to most would be a bad move as having a ticket to go to LSU versus ULM is not a reasonable decision to most. But Hunter took this opportunity and made it into what is now his full-time career. In 2018, Hunter won the FLW College Championship and won a spot on the FLW Forrest Wood Cup Team. This is one of the highest honors any angler of any age can win. Hunter accomplished this by his 21st birthday. That honor led to an invitation to fish the FLW Pro Tour which is now where he competes as a touring professional. That in and of itself would be a high accomplishment. Hunter could have taken this degree in business and joined the working class in the field of his choice. But tenacity has paid off and as of this writing, Hunter sits in second place in the nation for the coveted title of “Angler of the Year.” This title is the most sought after in all of fishing as it recognizes an angler’s consistency and performance for the entire year. Most recently, Hunter finished 3rd on the Harris Chain in February to solidify his spot in the Angler of the Year standings with even better things to come.

I asked Hunter about the life of a professional fisherman and what is most misunderstood about the position. The main point is the time spent alone. “I put 2,900 miles on my truck last week. I have driven 26 hours and had a bad tournament. Being alone and dealing with times that you don’t fish up to your potential is hard. Without my girlfriend’s support and the support of my family and sponsors, it would be a very hard adjustment. My mindset is the 24-hour mindset. If you don’t do well at anything, deal with it only 24 hours then lay it down. Back up and punt and move forward. That is the only way to deal with any disappointment in life.” Very astute words from such a young man but very true for all of us. Hunter has exceeded most expectations as young anglers are looked at under a different microscope. They are expected to ride hard and act their age. But not Hunter. “Fishing is my business. I treat it like a business because it is how I make my living. I can’t be out there acting a fool when, first of all, that isn’t me, and second of all, everywhere I go and everything I do has a direct impact on my sponsor base.” To gauge his following, in 2 years, he has accumulated over 20,000 followers on Instagram and Facebook via @hunterfreemanfishing. I would call that a fan base.

Speaking of sponsors, Hunter has done quite well in that market. His likeable personality is a plus on top of the fact he can put a spanking on fish. But what is unknown to most is the driving force behind Hunter Freeman. “I’m in it for the kids. I would hope that there is some kid out there with a dream to fish. I want to be the person that kid can look at and say if ‘Hunter can do it I can do it.’ I have and will always have time for kids. Sharing knowledge, encouragement or advice is what they crave. And if I can get them into fishing and off the X-Box, I’ve done my job. And the bonus is I have created and cultivated a future market for my sponsor base.” This was apparent on the day Hunter and I met at Caney Lake for the photo shoot for this article. There was a young man that I know from South Louisiana who wanted to meet Hunter. We stayed an extra 2 hours and waited for this young man to return from church so Hunter could say hello and take a picture with him. He didn’t have to do it and he didn’t do it but for one reason: that kid mattered and Hunter made him feel like the king of the world. I was extremely impressed. Long after I was ready to go, Hunter was talking fishing and tactics with this young man. It was very apparent it was genuine and is something that will take Hunter far.

Speaking of Caney Lake, you can’t hardly say Caney recently without saying Hunter’s name. Back before turning pro and when he was able to fish tournaments on Caney, he was a force to be dealt with. Hunter explained it as time on the water. “I would come to Caney early on in a Jon boat. After I got my driver’s license, I lived on this lake. I became obsessed with fishing after I blew out my elbow and I was so zoned in that many times my parents had to come for hunt me. I could not get enough of it. When I graduated to a bigger boat and finally got some electronics, I would spend hours upon hours just graphing. Learning the lake but mostly studying the movement of bass and what they did and when. What I found when I started traveling around fishing was that if you can catch fish on Caney Lake, you can catch them anywhere. It has everything. Humps, ledges, grass, pads, rocks and just about anything a bass will key on or use for cover. It is a teaching lake if you listen but you got to put in your time.”

That was pretty clear to me when he turned on his Lowrance electronics. I think I stopped counting at 75 points marked on his lake map. When I mentioned that to Hunter he laughed and said, “Actually there are close to 2,000 waypoints marked on here for Caney” as he caught another fish. Of course, I didn’t look too hard as that is a precious commodity to a fisherman but I will tell you this, coordinates don’t catch fish, fishermen do. On our trip that morning, the conditions were terrible. The wind was howling and the water was dingy after yet another rain. To protect Hunter’s patterns and areas, I will just leave it as we had a good day. On this horrible day we were bumping 5 fish at 25 pounds, and all of this was done in about an hour. To make it more impressive, the man had not been on Caney Lake in over a month. Now that is what I call knowing a lake.

I asked Hunter what his favorite type of fishing was and got a pretty good answer, “Whatever they are eating,” he quipped while laughing. “No, I’m a die- hard “cranker” (meaning he loves to throw a crankbait). I’m not as good at sight fishing as I want to be when the bass are spawning, but I’ve adjusted and can still catch them. I like to power fish. Deep structure is my favorite as I love to find them deep. Those fish don’t move as much and are much more dependable versus a shallow pattern. When you fish a three-day tournament, you have to have multiple places that will hold fish as the weather and conditions change. Deep water is the only place I find comfort and then try to duplicate the pattern. In the Harris Chain tournament, I found one of these places. What helped me was to be confident in the pattern. I blind fished a couple more spots like it during the tournament (which is not normal) and did well. You have to have confidence. I believe that confidence goes from your hands, down that line to your lure. If you aren’t confident, you will not be zoned in. That causes you to miss bites and not dial in for that tough bite at times.”

I also asked Hunter how he prepares for tournaments on lakes he has never seen. His response did not surprise me as I was talking to a 23 year-old. “Google Earth, Google Maps and the Internet is where I start. Look at past tournaments on that same lake. Now mind you, I don’t pay a lot of attention to what they caught their fish on. The main thing I look at is average total weights for the month I will be there. I know if a lake takes a 20-pound stringer in the summer to win, I know I’m probably going to be chunking a deep crankbait or big worm or jig. If the weights are light, I know the lake gives up a lot of spotted bass or Kentucky bass. This tells me to find rock and sand. Little things like that is what I look for.

Then the maps. The maps help me eliminate water and I spend hours looking at the lake map on Google Earth. I’m looking for grass beds, hydrilla and especially any good break lines, and whether the lake is pulled for hydroelectric use, which is a curse on a reservoir for a bass angler. On river systems I look at shortest routes to a destination. I look to see if I have to lock through and if there is a schedule. That homework starts at home and quite honestly is the most studying I’ve ever done. I study it hard and when I get to the lake, it is not strange anymore. I start deep and go shallow on every lake except in spawning season. I fish fast the first day and slow down by the second and lock into what I will fish. I don’t fish somebody else’s patterns because we all fish differently. In my ride around, I’m looking for bait. Shad or whatever is the primary food. Find the bait, you find the fish.”

There have been and still are some talented anglers on the ULM fishing team that Larry Ellerman and I started years ago. Some have excelled and others have struggled. But the opportunity they are given on that team cannot be overstated. Results have shown one thing to be apparent. This is one angler who will go far. He has the family support and the support of the one who matters most to an angler and that is his girlfriend, Ainslee Dupree.

I will make the prediction that within the next few years, this young man will dominate the FLW series and be a household name. Not bad for a young pitcher from Eros who went from pitching baseballs to pitching a jig.