I had an opportunity to meet Garath Fulks, a student at my school, in early August. I had read an article in the Standard Times about him and his experience with Junior Bass Masters and knew that he would be at my campus. So, of course, I made sure to introduce myself. I was curious as to what kind of person could make it to that level or fishing at such a young age; personality, traits, you know ... things like that. Through the course of the year, I have had an opportunity to get to know him and recognize that he is indeed the real deal. I was talking about him with one of his teachers who told me a story about when he asked Garath if he knew how to fish. The teacher said that Garath half-grinned and in his easy, confident way said, "Yes sir, I know how to fish." The teacher said that he imagined Billy The Kid responding in a similar way if asked if he knew how to shoot a gun. Garath was nice enough to cut his after school activity off a little to meet with me for this interview.WTJB: Hello, fellow fish jerks. It is 4:09 on a Monday afternoon. I have in my interview area Garath Fulks.
Garath, how are you doing today?
GF: I’m doing pretty good. How are you?
WTJB: I am well. I want to thank you for taking time today in regards to an interview with West Texas Jerk Bait. For the record, what is your full name and hometown?
GF: My name is Garath Fulks and I am from San Angelo, Texas.
WTJB: Are you a member of any local bass clubs?
GF: I’m a member of the Permian Bass Club in Odessa. Every year I fish the Junior Bassmaster Circuit.
WTJB: When you say every year, how many years has it been now?
GF: I started in 2007, I think. That was the year I went to nationals. I guess this will be my 3rd year, this year.
WTJB: Goodness! So, when you go to nationals where is this usually done at?
GF: It’s held all over the country. When I went it was held at Syracuse, New York. The year before that it was at Alabama. This year it is in Kansas.
WTJB: How well did you do at those?
GF: I placed 10th.
WTJB: Out of how many?
GF: Well, there were 51 people in my age group.
WTJB: Wow! Well done! Next question; when we are talking WTJB, we are talking about local lakes. What would you consider to be your favorite local lake and why?
GF: I like Lake Ivie. It is a great lake. You can do just about anything there; any technique you want to and catch fish on it.
WTJB: What would you consider to be your favorite techniques?
GF: It really depends on what time of the year it is. Like this year, normally, we are fishing deep drop shots or Carolina Rigging. This year it is a little weird. We were throwing swim baits in 8’ of water yesterday and killing them.
WTJB: What would you consider to be your three favorite lurers and why?
GF: My first favorite lure is a hand poured Sinco that I had made from a guy in Wisconsin. It’s just an awesome bait that resembles a dead, dying thing just floating through the water and it’ll catch fish. My second favorite bait is a Spro frog; the bronze eye color. They’re just a lot of fun to use and catch fish on. My third favorite bait would probably be a watermelon colored fluke used as a soft jerk bait through grass beds and trees.
WTJB: OK. Keeping in mind that you are young to be this young and experienced you probably have some good advice that even an older guy like myself can use. Care to share any?
GF: For this time of year?
WTJB: Sure.
GF: Probably for this time of year normally I’d say fish deep in rock beds or brush piles but for this year I’d say fish in the salt cedars flipping or throwing a swim bait if you can find enough room to.
WTJB: What about early spring?
GF: Same, pretty much, because they are spawning in the shallow waters except for the bigger fish which are probably in 15’ of water.
WTJB: What is your opinion on the condition of local fishing?
GF: It’s not very good right now, I don’t think. I hope it gets a lot better come spring time with the spawn and fish being more aggressive and wanting your bait.
WTJB: OK. Do you have any true favorite fishing stories?
GF: I’ve got a couple. One, well … it’s not really a story, but an experience. I went fishing with Gerald Swindle in New York. That was a blast! That was the best fishing trip I had ever had. He’s the funniest guy in the world! He kept calling people “Hammerheads” and kept calling me “GMan” or “Little G”.
My second favorite story is a bit embarrassing. I was fishing on (Lake) Hubbard and it was early morning in the summer. I was jerking a chug bug over a grass bed. I decided I would hold on to the rod with one hand and look around. I switched hands and gave it one more jerk and I had about a 5 pounder come up and attack my bait. So I freaked out and set the hook with one have and dropped my rod into the water. I jumped into the water and caught my rod. I was fighting the fish while in the water. It was 15 feet of water and I was trying to swim. My grandfather was in the boat about 50’ away laughing his head off. It didn’t make me very happy. The fish ended up getting hung up on a tree and got away. I climbed back into the boat and stayed wet or the rest of the trip.
WTJB: Catch and release?
GF: Yeah. Definitely.
WTJB: OK. Personal heroes?
GF: My personal hero is my grandpa (Danny Fulks) ‘cause he takes me fishing just about every where I go because my dad is busy working. He’s taught me everything I know about fishing.
WTJB: In your experience around here, who would you consider the 3 best local fishermen that you know?
GF: Jim Brown is a pretty good fisherman. He is the director of the youth fishing for Junior Bass. Wendell (Ramsey) is pretty good. Austin Terry is pretty good. He’s beat me pretty bad at a few of our tourneys. He’s a senior this year at Central.
We wrapped things up from there as he had homework he needed to attend to. It struck me odd how people pass through each other's lives and the impact we make on others. Garath, though a young man just starting his journey to adulthood, demonstrates many attributes that we as adults struggle with. He is an old soul merged with the hope of a life that is coming to pass. I consider myself fortunate to have crossed paths with this youngster. This is one kiddo that I look forward to watching as he grows up hopefully doing something that he loves and perhaps we will get to see on Bass Masters in our old age.If you are so inclined, the interview in it's entirity is podcasted. Tune in on Podbean to hear some of the things edited in the written interview.I hope to see you on the water!
In general, Chip was working on the outside of the cedars. In my opinion, he was doing one thing critically right where as I was doing one thing critically wrong. Chip downsized to this swim bait where as I was sticking to the 4.5 inch swim bait. I didn't think it would make much difference until I saw Chip keep on catching the fish. By then it was too late. I hadn't fished this swim bait and jig head before so I wanted to get familiar with it. I knew that I would have a hard time unless I drug the bait onto the head of the bass. As I noted, no such luck. I have to admit, I did enjoy watching Chip catch this one.
The 1.14 was a blast!
