Now that the 2024 professional fishing seasons have ended, things are settled for those moving on to the respective championships. It's a time when anglers also look back at the year that was and start to look ahead to the next season. One angler doing that right now is Louisiana pro Justin Cooper, who just wrapped up his rookie year on Major League Fishing's Bass Pro Tour.
The Bajío pro finished in 37th place in the points. Thanks to a strong finish at the last event of the year, he qualified for REDCREST and will be back again with the tour next season. He said the year was up and down, but he's grateful to have survived his rookie season with a solid finish.
Season Assessment
There are always ways to improve tournament performance, and Cooper has taken a look back and is pleased. He started off great with an 8th-place finish on his home waters of Toledo Bend and capped off the year with a 15th-place finish on New York's St. Lawrence River, his two best events.
"I had one bomb in there, and you take that out, and I'm a lot higher in the points, but I can't complain," he said. "I started the year strong and ended strong. It was a good year."
This season wasn't Cooper's first taste of the every fish counts format, as he had competed in one Bass Pro Tour event in 2021 after a good event on the Pro Circuit gave him entry into one tournament. He's also competed in some team events, but adjusting to the new rules still took some time.
"I had some experience with the format, and I like it. I feel like it sets up better for myself and how I fish," he said. "I've never been a 'catch 20 pounds everywhere I go guy,' and my whole career has been generating bites and trying to get checks to get paid. This format sets up well for me."
Another wrinkle is the SCORETRACKER®, which constantly updates what other anglers are doing. Cooper enjoyed that, too.
"It's cool to see who's catching them and what you need to catch to keep up," he said. "It's a different kind of stress, and it can be challenging against those guys because they have so much experience with the format. They are good at correcting anything and getting more bites to get back into it if they fall behind."
Looking Back and Also Ahead
This year brought Cooper and other anglers across the country on a varied schedule of lakes, which required a great deal of versatility in fishing techniques. It also meant many different weather conditions. Cooper adapted to his fishing and had a handful of Bajío sunglasses that helped him in his first year on the Bass Pro Tour.
"My go-to this year for sunny conditions was the green mirror lenses; I'd say that's my everyday lens," he said. "I like the Bales Beach frames because they fit my head well and don't let much sunlight in on the edges. They are also great for watching your screen because they darken the surroundings and make it pop."
Cooper is a big believer in the violet mirror lenses and the Vega frames for shallow water fishing, especially around the spawn.
"Those frames have bigger sides and don't let a lot of light in, and the violet lens is very bright, which is what you want for sight fishing," he said. "Another great one is the rose mirror, a great all-around lens color in all water clarity and light conditions. If you were going to buy just one, that's what I would recommend, and the quality of all of their sunglasses is phenomenal."
Next year, the anglers will fish some new waters and legendary fisheries that always seem to pop up on the tournament schedule. Cooper is looking forward to the challenge as he enters his sophomore season.
"It's a good schedule overall, with some that I've been to and a good history and some that I've never been to," he began. "I like that we start close to my home on Lake Conroe in Texas, and even though I've never been there, it's close enough that I'll be able to go over it and pre-practice. The Tennessee River lakes in the summer should be great because I love getting offshore and fishing big crankbaits and a Carolina rig. It's a nice diverse schedule with some that should be shallow and some deep fishing and a mix of events where LiveScope will be a factor and some that it won't."
After one season on the Bass Pro Tour, Justin Cooper proved he has the skills to compete. This was a great start to his career at the top level, and one that he hopes will last for decades.
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