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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
Ken Thompson has been fishing for bass since the age of 14 and began fishing in competitive events at the age of 16.
Now 35 years old, Thompson -- a 2006 graduate of Northern Bedford County High School who now lives in Roaring Spring -- has some pretty lofty goals in mind concerning his favorite pastime.
Thompson, who entered the Major League Fishing organization's Toyota Series this year, is aiming to qualify for both the MLF Pro Tour in 2024 and the Toyota Series National Championship event this November at Table Rock Lake in Missouri.
In between, he will also be trying to win the MLF's Angler of the Year award in May.
Thompson got a great leg up on all of his personal fishing goals Feb. 1-3 in a three-day event on the Harris Chain Lakes in Leesburg, Fla., when he finished seventh among a field of 260 competitors.
Thompson caught 13 bass in three days totaling 55 pounds, 10 ounces, and won $10,000 in prize money.
The champion in the event, Kennie Steverson of Umatilla, Fla., caught 15 fish weighing a total of 71 pounds, 3 ounces in the three-day competition. Steverson earned $102,000 in prize money.
The Harris Chain Lakes event is the first competition of the year in the Toyota Series, and will be followed by an event on Lake Okeechobee in Okeechobee City, Fla. March 30-April 1, and a third competition on Lake Eufala in Alabama in May.
The goal for Thompson is to finish among the top 25 in cumulative points for those three events to qualify for the national championship event in Missouri.
If he finishes among the top five entries in cumulative points, he would qualify for the MLF Pro Tour in 2024.
Thompson was aspiring to finish at least 40th or better at the Harris Chain Lakes event, and was pleased with his performance.
"If I was in the top 40 in the Harris Chain Lakes event, I knew that I would be all right,'' Thompson said. "I am fishing for points, and a top 40 finish there would have given me a good amount of points entering the next event on Lake Okeechobee in March and the following one on Lake Eufala in May.''
Thompson wound up finishing seventh despite dealing with the adversity of having a broken trolling motor on his boat during the second day of the competition that drastically limited his time on the water that day.
"I caught a bass that weighed seven pounds in the first 10 minutes on the second day, then the belt on the trolling motor of my boat broke and for the rest of the day, I basically couldn't drive my boat, and I managed to catch only two more fish that day,'' Thompson said.
"Coupled with the fact that I was also competing against some of the top bass fishermen in the country, I was more than happy with how things turned out for me in the overall event,'' Thompson added.
After his seventh-place finish in the first Toyota Series event on the Harris Chain Lakes, the MLF Angler of the Year award is very much in reach for Thompson.
"Now that I got in the top seven at that first event and got some really valuable points, as long as I can stay in the top 40 in the next two events, I should have a really good shot at winning the Angler of the Year award - which is my ultimate goal,'' Thompson said.
"But I will still be fishing in a field of 260 boats in these next two events, so I will need to have two more real good tournaments,'' added Thompson, who is employed as a professional bridge builder in this area.
Dale Stambaugh, 63, of Bellwood, has known Thompson and fished with and against him in tournaments for the past 20 years.
"I first met Kenny about 20 years ago when we had both joined the Independent Bass Club near Raystown Lake,'' Stambaugh said. "Kenny was 15 years old then, not old enough to drive, but his dad (Ken) would bring him to Raystown for tournaments then and drop him off with his boat.''
Young Thompson proved to be a ringer when fishing against the older, more experienced and skilled fishermen like Stambaugh.
"In the very first tournament I fished against him, he beat me,'' Stambaugh recalled. "The five fish that he caught and weighed were an ounce and a half heavier than the five I caught and weighed. Even at that time, I thought that this kid has something special.''
Staumbaugh admires the dedication that Thompson -- who started a competitive summer bass fishing tournament at Raystown Lake over ten years ago that was originally known as the Fish for Five (bass) event and is now known as the Elite Series -- has put into the sport.
"Preparation for these national tournaments may involve fishing on a lake that Kenny has never fished on before,'' Stambaugh said. "But he is very dedicated, he has fished all the way north to Canada and all the way south to Florida, and he possesses great attention to detail. He'll spend as much time learning about a body of water as he can before fishing it in a tournament. He'll spend time practicing on it, and looking at maps that tell him how the water is laid out.
"These tournaments are grueling,'' Staumbach said. "Contestants will arrive at the site before daybreak and fish all day long, at maybe 10 different spots during the course of a day. These tournaments are not about just taking your boat out and going fishing.''
Thompson competed in the Bass Master Team Championship event in both 2016 and 2017, finishing 11th at Kentucky Lake and sixth on the Harris Chain Lakes, respectively, in those years, and he has also participated for state teams from Pennsylvania and Virginia in the Bass Nation competition.
Contestants in the Major League Fishing Toyota Series events can catch as many fish as possible, but they weigh and register only the five heaviest fish caught each day.
"The Toyota Series is the equivalent of what AAA Baseball is to Major League Baseball,'' said Thompson, "You have to fish at that level first to qualify for the Pro Tour, which offers big money to its winning contestants.''