AMHERST — All the signs pointed to it being a frustrating few days on the Potomac River for the UMass bass fishing team.
The duo of Julian Burgoff and Jon Hastings had a rough two days in a May 31 qualifying event for next year’s national championship. They were unable to reel in a single fish within the competition limits, tying for last among the 49 boats on the Chesapeake Bay in the one-day event.
Then, shortly before the 2019 YETI Fishing League Worldwide College Fishing National Championship began on June 4, the UMass pair discovered an oil leak in the engine, which would limit how far their boat would be able to travel. UMass was already underfunded and at a disadvantage against the resource-laden private schools of the South, now the team was destined to be an afterthought in its first appearance in the national championships.
“That’s definitely a part of bass fishing is dealing with mechanical failures,” said Burgoff, a rising junior at UMass and a 2017 Amherst Regional graduate. “We decided not to risk anything and stay kind of close to the ramp where we launched. We ended up fishing in the same creek that we launch out of. There’s some really good water in there, but it was tough having to sacrifice the literal year of research and preparation looking at spots 50 miles up and down the river.”
Despite having to throw out the hard work done out of the water, Burgoff and Hastings found some success. They were in 12th place after the first day and entered the second day in contention to move into the top 10, which would give them a spot in the national championship final on day three.
However, when the final fish had been weighed on June 5, Burgoff and Hastings were just 6 ounces away from a four-way tie for eighth place. To make matters worse, Hastings had the fish that would have advanced the duo to the finals, but couldn’t reel it home in the final moments.
“We had the fish that would have done it right next to the boat,” Burgoff said. “It was one of those moments where the fish ate the bait. Jon was fishing right next to the boat as he was reeling it in and the reaction to try to swing it in, a split-second decision, just popped off. One of those things that just happen in bass fishing.”
But the pair left its first national tournament with the knowledge that UMass can compete against the best even being short-handed. Burgoff said he gained a lot of confidence from qualifying for the national tournament last summer in their first competition ever as a team, but admitted there is some luck in those one-day events. So to be able to finish 12th out of 148 boats was an even bigger boost to the team’s morale, especially considering it was just the third time Burgoff and Hastings fished as a competitive team for UMass.
“We were kind of intimidated going into that knowing it’s just us two, we have a small club, we don’t have much university support or funding — or any really,” Burgoff said. “It just gave us a lot more confidence than after last summer because we know we belong there and we can compete against some really good fishermen. We have a different type of perspective in how we see ourselves knowing that we can compete on that level given the very few tournaments we’ve actually fished.”
The process, though, never ends for Burgoff and Hastings. The duo has one more chance to qualify for the 2020 national championships, Sept. 6 on Lake Erie in Ohio. They must finish in the top 10 in order to make the field in 2020, otherwise Hastings’ short career is over and Burgoff must find a new partner for 2021 and 2022.
But the duo is using the close call this year to fuel one last ride as a pairing.
“If anything I think it fueled the fire in us more,” Burgoff said. “We kind of got into this thing kind of late in his college career, so it was short our time fishing together. It was hard to come that close knowing it might be his one and only shot, but it helped that we had a good finish. … Having an experience like that under our belts as a team is the most powerful part of the tournament. Just being able to come away from that and hopefully qualify in this next tournament and be able to use (the disappointment) to fuel our ambition.”