By Dave O’Sullivan
A.J. Elmore, a 17-year-old from Egg Harbor Township, has been a passionate fisherman his whole life, but he never thought his passion and skill would lead him to Idaho — and a junior national championship.
Elmore said he typically is a saltwater fisherman, but earlier this year he entered a statewide tournament sponsored by Big Bass Junior Championship. The winner from each state got a chance to travel to Idaho in October to compete in the Big Bass national championship for ages 14 to 25 and Elmore — the New Jersey state champion — won it all.
“I won the Big Bass Junior tournament and that is a nationwide tournament where each kid competes in their state to go to the main tournament out in Idaho. I won for the state of New Jersey, so I get to go out there and battle all the champions from other states,” Elmore said before heading west with his brother, Dorian, and father, James in a pickup truck provided by the Elmore family’s sponsor, Nissan of Atlantic City.
Elmore topped 45 other contestants with a 5.90-pound bass, and for his efforts got to take home a fully loaded Bass Cat Boats “Margay” as well as a trip to film with Joe Thomas on the Outdoor Channel for Stihl’s Reel In The Outdoors.
Elmore, who has won several other events in the area the past couple of years, said the key to his success has been simply listening to what other, more experienced fishermen have to say.
“It’s really just what kind of tackle a fisherman uses and how they use it. I mostly do saltwater fishing but it just so happened that I was fishing in that freshwater tournament. Whoever catches the biggest fish (advances) and it’s a year-long event. When you sign up they send you a ruler so you can send them pictures of the width, the length and the girth so they can calculate the weight, things like that,” he said. “It’s just been a lot of hard work. Basically, you just have to take advice from people who have been fishing for a long time. I know a lot of guys who have been fishing their entire lives. I know a lot of people from New York and North Jersey, and their advice and the way they fish is a lot different than guys down here.”
A.J.’s budding fishing career also has become a family industry of sorts. His father spends time home schooling A.J. and older brother Dorian runs the family’s website, reelmaxlife.com, and handles all of A.J.’s social media. As with any venture these days, self promotion is paramount.
“I’m the videographer, I document everything, do the website design. It’s very important. You need to have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube — you need to have all the social media. It’s very important to have a handle on your media,” Dorian said. “It takes hours and hours of sitting in front of the computer just typing into the keyboard. It’s tedious, but it’s fulfilling. I’m very proud of him. He’s come a long way in the five or six years we’ve been doing this. It’s incredible.”
Before heading out to the national tournament, A.J. tempered his expectations, not wanting to get caught up in the fantasy that a national championship was within reach.
“It’s pretty cool. We’ve worked hard to get to this point, so it’s very exciting. I don’t really have any crazy expectations, I’m just going to have fun fishing the tournament. I don’t expect to win, but obviously I’m going to give it my all,” he said.
Winning a national title certainly will inspire Elmore to dive even further into his fishing career, but he also has a lot of other things going on, including making YouTube videos and helping kids learn how to fish. He and his brother are also dedicated to their website, which includes things such as tide charts, information on bait stores, and interested parties can even book trips with the Elmore family.
Dave O’Sullivan is the publisher of Glory Days Magazine, the premier high school sports digital publication at the Jersey Shore. For more Glory Days features, visit glorydaysonline.com.
