UMass Sophomore and class of 2017 Amherst Regional graduate Julian Burgoff found his love for bass fishing at a young age and in a unique way.
“He was 10, and he taught himself to fish by fishing in Gull Pond and watching a lot of YouTube videos,” said his mother, Sarah Matthews.
The interest in fishing led Burgoff to use his resources to work on his craft and continue to improve his knowledge and skill of the sport.
“There’s so much information to soak up online, it’s really kind of incredible,” Burgoff said. “My family didn’t really fish, it’s something I got into on my own, and I pretty much found a real passion for it. I’m still learning every day.”
With a growing knowledge and interest in bass fishing, Burgoff kept at it and has fished competitively since a young age. In high school, Burgoff befriended Amherst teacher Stu Handel after discovering their common interest bass fishing. It turned into a team that has competed and won in tournaments, and was someone in Burgoff’s life that shared his same interest.
“I started fishing tournaments with him, probably three years ago now,” Burgoff said. “There really weren’t any people at all at my high school that were competitive fishermen, so he was pretty much the only one I could go to and talk fishing. We developed a real relationship, and it’s been fun.”
All the time spent learning the sport and competing through high school led Burgoff to his biggest tournament yet.
On Saturday, Burgoff and his teammate Jon Hastings, a UMass senior, competed in the 2018 YETI Fishing League Worldwide College Fishing Northern Conference Tournament, held at Lake Cayuga in Seneca Falls, New York. This was the second of three regular-season events for anglers in the Northern Conference of the FLW. The tournament was hosted by the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce.
The two UMass students were there representing the first major bass fishing appearance for their school, as they are the only members of the UMass bass fishing club team.
“We left real early from here in Massachusetts on Thursday morning, and got there and fished all day Thursday and Friday just to find some spots, find some fish, and figure out our game plan for the tournament,” Burgoff said.
Burgoff’s and Hastings’ preparation paid off, as they placed fifth in the tournament, finishing with a total weight of 15 pounds, 10 ounces. The tournament began at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, and weigh in, the end of the tournament, was at 2:30 p.m. During that time, competitors fished for the biggest largemouth and smallmouth bass they could find. After fishing, the weigh in calculated the total weight produced from their top five catches from the day.
“We didn’t think that we had any type of winning pattern or anything, but we definitely knew we located an area with some decent fish,” Burgoff said. “We tried to treat it like any other day.”
The top catch of the day came from Hastings, who caught a four-and-a-half-pound largemouth bass. Hastings also added the second biggest catch of their day with another four-and-a-quarter-pound largemouth.
“We can compete with teams from all around the north which are a lot more established than we are,” Burgoff said. “We kind of came into it as underdogs.”
Adrian College won the tournament with of 20 pounds, 2 ounces of fish. The winners of the tournament received a $2,000 club scholarship, and an invite to the 2019 College Fishing National Championship in May. 79 teams weighed in at the end of the tournament. Burgoff and Hastings won $500 for their club.
Burgoff, a fishery conservation major at UMass, plans to stay within the world of bass fishing as he continues school, no matter how he does it.
“I’m definitely interested in taking some type of conservation angle into the competitive fishing world,” Burgoff said. “I’m not exactly sure what I want to do, but definitely something within the bass fishing industry, but perhaps not just tournament fishing but also working to keep our fisheries in good condition for future generations.”