Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing

Some of Jack Zimmerman’s earliest childhood memories are when he was only two or three years old. He would go to visit his mother’s family in Brenham, a small town in the heart of Texas. It was there on a few property ponds that Jack learned to fish. He remembers his grandfather teaching him how to bait a hook, put on a bobber, and cast a cane pole. Cane pole fishing is a traditional way to fish. There is no reel; there are no line guides; there are no leaders. It’s pure fishing. They would spend their days mainly catching bluegill as Jack soaked up everything he could about the sport. “At first I would get all tangled up, because it was just like a big bamboo stick,” he said. “Then I got my first rod, and I was pretty good at it from then on.” Jack’s mom, Jennifer, grew up fishing those ponds as well. “I loved fishing and being out on that pond more than dolls and barbies,” she said. “It was only natural that Jack learned to love it too.”

When they would come back to Arizona from vacation though, fishing was much harder to find for Jack. He’d try and convince his Dad to take him to the Surprise pond, and Jack would spend time on YouTube learning everything he could about the sport. But the ponds were few and far between in the Grand Canyon state, and he ended up frequenting the same spots over and over again. While some of Jack’s family have fished before, none had the passion and drive Jack had. “When I was like 10, I was trying to find anywhere and everywhere to fish,” he exclaimed. “There was nothing there, so I was just kind of stuck.”

At the age of 12 though, a family friend of his named Brody got his driver’s license. Brody liked to fish just as much as Jack, and the two boys were off and running. They would head out to Lake Pleasant often or hit up ponds at golf courses. “As I got older, I just found a love for it more and more and tried to go for new species. Then I came across bass, and it just shot off from there.” By the age of 14 Jack was hooked. He researched tournaments online and this past year began competing in the Phoenix Junior Bass Masters as part of the Wild West Bass Youth Series. For those new to fishing, here’s how a fishing tournament works. For the youth series, you can either enter as a team of two or as a single, for which you draw a partner randomly on tournament day. Jack enters as a single. Up to 48 boats then launch with two fishermen per boat. They open their live wells, say the National Anthem, and then spend the next four and a half to five hours fishing the lake. You get to keep five fish total. You tag your smallest, and when you catch one bigger than your smallest, you replace it. After the time is up, the team with the five biggest fish wins. In his first tournament Jack finished an incredible 11th out of 62. In his most recent tournament in January, he and his partner finished in first place, an astounding feat for a boy who just started taking his hobby to the next level.

What was Jack’s secret for winning his most recent tournament? Research. He prefished Bartlett Lake the weekend before to get a lay of the land, scout conditions, and figure out what was the best bait. “It’s not like, if you have the best gear you catch the most fish,” he said. “It’s all research. You have to know temperature, wind, and barometric pressure. You have to know their food chain at a certain time of year.”

To hear Jack talk about the strategy of fishing is incredible. For most, fishing is a small pastime or hobby that is more monotonous than it is exciting. But Jack will sit there and explain meteorological factors he learned in school and apply them to the science of catching a fish. “If there is too much barometric pressure, then the bass are more on the bottom not wanting to eat,” he states. “If the pressure is less then they are more active and higher in the water.” Depending on the wind speed, he throws different types of baits as well. Analyzing weather conditions plays a huge factor in his approach to the tournament.

Jack Zimmerman holds a massive red drum, also known as a redfish, in Charleston, South Carolina while on vacation. Jack’s family visits South Carolina and Folly Beach every year where Jack fishes all day on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

If this all sounds serious, you’d be right. “At first it’s not that serious, but if you start winning then you can get college tuition and college scholarships,” he says with a smile. It’s not all that unusual for 8th graders to have dreams and plans for a career. Jack’s got it all mapped out though. He wants to attend Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, get his degree, and start up a charter fishing business. Once a month he will compete in the Major League Fishing circuit, where the top prizes can reach half a million dollars. “We knew a couple years ago that this would be the direction he was going in his future,” said his mother Jennifer Zimmerman. “He has other hobbies, but nothing like fishing. Fishing is his life. He also loves Texas so it makes perfect sense [for him].”

While his ascension in the sport is incredible, it’s hard for Jack’s friends at his school, Marley Park Elementary, to grasp why he loves it so much. “When I talk about it, people are just like fishing is so easy and boring,” he said while rolling his eyes. “They think you just throw a bobber in. When you get past that, it’s just a whole new world. It’s just insane.”

Jack fixes his line while fishing off a pier at Folly Beach, South Carolina.

When asked to explain why the sport is different for him than others, Jack can’t quite put his finger on it. “They don’t get what I’m saying. I’ve never gotten anyone to understand it. It’s a mystery to me too. I don’t know how I don’t get bored. When I go fish I won’t be hungry, I won’t be thirsty. I’m just like in my zone.”

Even his family doesn’t quite fully understand. Every summer they spend a week at Folly Beach, South Carolina near Charleston. While the family and friends enjoy the beach and touristy things, Jack fishes on the pier...all day long. He spends 10-12 hours a day out there just fishing and visiting with the local pier fisherman. “We try to get him to join us, but he would much rather be on that pier,” said his mother Jennifer. “We pop in to check on him throughout the day, bringing him food and drinks. We all wonder how he can sit out there sun up to sun down, but that’s Jack. It’s his happy place.”

“He’s always busy thinking about the next lake or pond he can fish at, the newest rod and reel to purchase, the latest lures and where the fish are biting,” his mother continued. “You never know what’s going to be on the end of that line when you’re out there on the water and that is what keeps Jack going back.”

While Jack may not be able to articulate why he doesn’t get bored and why fishing is so engaging for him, he does know one thing with a clear certainty. When asked about his favorite part of the sport, he sits up with excitement about the opportunity to share why he cherishes it so much. “The thing I love the most is releasing the fish and watching it swim away,” he says with a grin from ear to ear. “Whenever I catch a fish I have a video of me releasing it. It just brings joy to me.”

Jack Zimmerman stands on the pier at Folly Beach, South Carolina at dusk. When the pier was shut down for maintenance in 2020, Jack was featured by the local paper to illustrate its importance to the community, including the tourists.