Most of us think about it, maybe even dream of it. You have a good day on the lake, or maybe you really do have it all figured out. You could do it. You oughta just chuck the blue or white collar and put on a tournament shirt.
Ben Parker was an Investment Broker. White collar. Good job. But something was missing.
“I was born in Union City, Tenn., and grew up on Reelfoot Lake,” Parker said. “My father’s side of the family hunted and fished for generations, and some did it commercially.”
It was his grandfather, Elmer, who taught him everything from running trotlines to bass fishing on Reelfoot.
“When I was five years old he would let me take his boat out by myself,” Parker said. “The rules were that I couldn’t run the big motor and couldn’t get off the shoreline, so needless to say I wore the Samburg shoreline out.”
Photo Caption: From Left: Ben's brother Dan, Father Dan, Ben and Grandfather Elmer
Parker spent many summers with his grandfather, father Bobby and brother Dan on the chocolate milk colored, cypress tree freckled Reelfoot Lake. Then he was off to college at the University of Memphis, but always returned home during winter to guide duck hunters, and anglers during summer. He graduated with a degree in finance and went on to deal in stocks and bonds, about as far from a sunrise on calm waters as you can get.
“Something was missing in my life,” he said. “I’ve been a member of the Reelfoot Lake Bass Club for a few years and love it, and one day it just clicked. I want to fish every day. I don’t want to wake up one day years down the road and wonder ‘what if?’”
Parker married Christie 2 ½ years ago and they moved to Springville, Tenn., to be close to Kentucky Lake. His frustration with the current financial markets were getting to him, and one day he mentioned to her that his real dream was to be a pro fisherman.
“She said, ‘well, do it!’” Parker said. “I almost cried.”
She gave him two years, no questions asked. With no children yet, it is now or never.
Parker calls Reelfoot his home lake but is devoted to spending every day this year on Kentucky Lake, which he’d started fishing club tournaments on four years ago.
“I’m fishing every tournament that I can fit into my schedule. I’m paid up on close to 30 tournaments on Kentucky and Barkley and will fish one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina,” he said.
Parker’s already getting attention. He won the BASS State tournament last year at Percy Priest and finished fifth at Pickwick for the Tennessee Bass Federation. But it takes a lot of money to fish every day.
“I won my first tournament of the year on Kentucky Lake, the ABA Bassmaster Weekend series, with 19.21 pounds and received a $5,000 check – my first paycheck of the year,” he said. “That covered all of the tournament fees I had paid so far, and now I’m working on gas money.”
The following weekend he finished 11th in a BFL tournament and cleared $1,300, but only because he also won big bass with an 8.2-pounder. The next day he fished a Superbass team tournament and finished third for $225.
“I broke even I guess that day. The thing I’m nervous about is how long it will take me to get ahead of the learning curve. The jump from weekend angler to pro is a big jump. As with anything in life you have to ask the question, ‘Do I want this bad enough to take the proper steps to achieve this goal?’”
That’s a great question, and one we’ll get to see, right here on Lurenet.com.