Tyler Smith remembers swinging his fishing rod out for his last cast at 2:50 p.m. on Oct. 9. He had to be back for a weigh-in at 3 p.m.
And when his hook hit the water, he caught the biggest smallmouth bass of his life — a six-pounder.
It brought his three-day total of 14 bass at the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Regional Championship in Decatur to 43 pounds when he made it back to the weigh-in, enough to make Smith the winner of the championship.
“It was a God thing,” he said. “Without God, none of this would’ve been possible.”
A lot led up to this moment.
Longtime hobby
Fishing has been in Smith’s life for as long as he can remember. There are photos of him in diapers fishing for bream off a pier.
“It’s always been a part of me,” he said.
Fast forward to college, when he went to Faulkner University in Montgomery on a fishing scholarship. His freshman year, he placed high in a tournament in Kentucky and qualified for the national championship.
But in a move that surprised many, Smith decided to leave halfway through his sophomore year.
“I felt God was calling me in a different direction,” he explained.
That direction was back home to Selma, where he started working alongside his father in the family electrical work. His plan was to take over one day, but he also was going to continue to fish and see where it might take him.
Tim Mathis — pastor of Westwood Baptist Church in Selma, the church where Smith grew up — said he knew early on in his ministry there that fishing was a big part of Smith’s life.
“Fishing is so woven into his story,” Mathis said.
So he wasn’t surprised for fishing to come up often in the small group he led that included Smith and his girlfriend, Annagrace.
“It fit into every part of the topics we talked about,” Mathis said, noting the group was for couples in a serious dating relationship.
Future vision
When they talked about where they saw themselves in the future, Smith’s now-wife found out just how big a dream fishing was for him.
“She saw [that] this is something he really wants to do and is passionate about,” Mathis related.
Later, when they had a conversation about finances, Annagrace said she wanted one of the couple’s financial goals to be saving up for a boat.
“It meant a lot to him,” Mathis said, noting the two demonstrated a “deep commitment to the Lord.”
Two weeks after their wedding, Smith fished in the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Regional Championship and won.
One of the prizes was $10,000. Another was a bass boat worth around $50,000, accomplishing his wife’s financial goal already. Smith also qualified to fish in the Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American Championship in Arkansas in June 2022.
Mathis said Smith is well on his way to making the career of his dreams, and believes it’s something Smith will be able to continue to use to share his faith.
‘Amazed by God’
Tyler and Annagrace recently started leading the youth program at No Limit Church in Valley Grande, Alabama, where Annagrace’s father is pastor. Smith also is a fishing guide on the Alabama River, Lake Mitchell and Lay Lake in addition to working with his father’s company.
Annagrace wrote on Facebook Oct. 9 that she could “not be more proud of Tyler Smith than I am right now! I love you so much and I am so proud of you for chasing after your dreams and then seeing it all come true!”
Smith said it’s been amazing to see what God has done in his life related to fishing. Winning the tournament was an “unbelievable” experience he felt God guided.
“The way it all happened, I knew I had a good bag, but I did not think I had enough to win it,” he said.
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