Further dates for the boy from Belgium

We still have some open dates we like to get filled for Stin.

Sunday Aug 7, Wed Aug 10, Sun Aug 14, Wed Aug 24, Fri Aug 26, Sat Aug 27 in the Lake Fork area.

He'll be moving to Justin on the 28th and has three days to fill Aug 29, 30, & 31. He flies home on Sep 1

Donald Harper will be coordinating those dates.

I have a call into James Biggs to take us out to Joe Pool on the 29th. and 30th of August. He will probably only fill one of those dates.

If there is anyone that is on good fish in my area that can help on any lake, please contact me at 432-553-1874.

I want Stijn to learn as much as possible before returning home. There are a lot of good fisherman here with excellent knowledge so please call.

I picked Stijn up at DFW yesterday. He stayed with me last night. It was really funny trying to get him to get some rest as he had been up for 24 hours. The questions kept coming but he finally gave it up at 11:00 last night. We were up and headed to BPS this morning to meet Bruce and do the shopping. I left him in Bruce's care and Stijn was walking the store and making pictures.

What a kid; so polite and considerate to everyone. He has really worked hard to be as knowledgeable of all the fishing techniques that he can. I want to thank everyone for taking your time to take this young man fishing.

Please consider contacting us to fill these remaining dates. I promise you want be sorry. This one is a keeper.

I want to thank James Biggs for filling the 29th date. This will be a great learning experience for Stijn. If you have a backseat open for Tuesday the 30th and Wed. 31st. on one of our area lakes please get in touch.

Thanks,
Donald

Very cool. Hats off to you for coordinating this Donald Harper. People helping people, it's a beautiful thing!

Pics man, we need pics.

Pictures will come. He is fishing his first day Sunday with Bruce. Stijn is spending the day today getting all his equipment rigged and ready. When the pictures come rolling in I will post them up.

OK. Stijn has two dates left on the Calendar Aug. 7 and 14th. in Lake Fork area.

In the Fort Worth area dates are Aug. 30 and 31st.

I want to thank David Kindred for picking up a 3 day weekend on Aug. 26 - 28. We will be coming back to Fort Wort late afternoon on Sunday the 28th.

Had a few pictures that came in from Bruce showing some of the shopping that that they did at BPS and Lake Fork.

With David Settle in front of the Custom Angle Rods shop at Oak Ridge Marina.

With Ernie Dye in the Lake Fork Resort tackle shop.

With a bear at the BPS in Garland.

Thank you all for this; he will learn a lot. Make sure he puts on lots of sunscreen and drinks lots of water--a very hot Summer day in Belgium is around 85 degrees.

You are welcome. Thanks to everyone that is taking him out fishing. They are the people that are helping this kid with new knowledge.

It was a slow day with a few bass and a couple of drum.

Good job guys!

Greatness

I have Stijn this morning on Fork for half a day, don't think he could handle a full day, I have plenty of water and Elete with me and I will makes sure he drinks a lot. So after today with me its all up hill for him

Pics will follow

Good Luck Mark!

Who's taking him to Camelot bell?

Come on Ken you can make that happen. He would love to help move some of those smaller fish to the holding cage.

I will call and ask. Don't make any promises.

Stijn and papamark had a rough day on the water with big waves. No fish to report. Stijn's personal best in Spain is a 6.0. Who thanks that will be broken?

What a fine young man, he will pick your brain and not afraid to try different baits.

we are going out again, we both had 2 bites and missed all of them. We will be making an evening trip this next time. Looking forward to having him back in the boat and we will beat his PB next time out

So he told me today that his personal best is actually 4.5 lb. His father's is 6 and that is what he wants to break.

Today he caught a limit of little keepers again. There were only 2 rigs in the parking lot at Popes all day long. Kinda tells a story in of itself.

And he had his first fish ever on a c-rig in deep water. Also he caught his first sand bass.

AND he is learning to drive a vehicle with an automatic transmission. In Belgium most vehicles have clutches. Who would think that?

Stijn fished his first Texas club tournament today. I scheduled him to fish with a member who is a deep water expert like he wanted.

Jim had his worse day ever fishing with the club and the first time he ever got skunked. And so Stijn missed one good bite and was also skunked.

He is getting another chance on Saturday night. Tomorrow we go to Tawakoni for stripers and sand bass.

I'm sure it's been tough with the 100+ degree temps, no wind, and no clouds this week. Sounds like he's plenty determined and not discouraged.

You guys are going to make Stijn want to take up another sport...

Just kidding! I know it has been tough down there for many.

A guide one day sure would be great. I will see what I can do to make that happen.

One of our night guides has contacted me to get a date with Stijn.

Paul on Garrett Creek wants to take him out. We are looking for a date probably near the full moon.

Stijn, Bruce & Cheryl went with John Berech to Lake Twakoni today and had a great time catching mostly sand bass while trolling and a carp, 4 drum, a hybrid, a catfish, 15 yellow bass and a small black bass on slabs.

Who is going to be the "Stick" that puts Stijn on his personal best. I have a custom lure package that will go to that first person.

so far it is me,me,me with a 13 1/2. ahhhh 13 1/2" lol

Haha shoot If he don't catch a 5lber with me I'm gonna really he upset with our day

You should take me fishing too
#itsa5poundah

We better move that up to a 6 lber. so he can beat his Dad. Ha..

That will work. He will get some nice ones sooner or later August is a tough time to fish

Jake he needs some advise on how to proceed as a college student vs bass fishing by a friend like yourself that has been there and done that. The colleges in Belgium never heard of a bass fishing team. They don't even have black bass in that country.

I live in Justin and I'll take him to Grapevine when he gets up this way for sure!!!

Trying to figure out how to get out to Fork with him before he leaves.

Thanks Mr. Battson. I live between Justin and Ponder over the tracks at Eakin Cemetery Road. The 30th and 31st are free for you to take him. We truly appreciate your help. Thanks for the PM..

I am sending the tackle pack to Galen Smith of Alba.

The "kid" started out with a 6 lb even on a Grande 5" Snake O on the Black Blue Flake color breaking his all time record in Glade.

Later he caught a about 1 lb bass which was actually thrown back without taking a picture.

When the sun got up some they moved to the big point near Rogers and came across a school of feeding largemouth. Bruce got a 5.1 on a yellow magic, Galen got a 4 on a drop shot and the kid broke his own record with a 23 7/8" 7.90 on a rattle trap.

He caught a catfish on a shaky head.

Then the sun really got up and it shut down.

Congrats to Stijn!!

Great Job Mr. Smith

Lake Fork delivers another PB..very nice guys!! Congratulations Stijn.

Awesome!

Congrats on a new personal best! Almost a Lake Fork keeper. Now he can rub it in with his Dad. He now is the big fish of the family record holder.

So we are sitting on Larry Lewis's dock in Ray Branch, where Stijn and Cheryl came over to fish for catfish, and he says what kind of a reel is that thing.

He was referring to Larry's nieces daughters' Zebco 33 on a crappie rod. I showed him how the reel worked and he proceeded to fish with it for a couple of hours. He was amazed at something that we all take for granted but never really use once we have grown up.

After a while he hooks a fair size 3 lb catfish on it and the fight is on. He messing with the drag, letting the cat nearly pull the reel under water. it was pretty neat to see him figure out how it all worked and finally get the fish in a net. So today he broke another personal best on a channel cat.

However is certainly is not the biggest catfish he has ever caught. His family travels to Spain a lot and in some of the rivers are catfish that make our blues and flats look like babies. I have seen some pictures of him and his cousin and his dad holding catfish that are pretty darn long. Sorta like the stuff you see on that "River Monster" show.

All you fishermen deserve a pat on the back for helping this young man! Proud to be an American, even prouder to be a Texan!

+100 we need a like button on here!

I'm so damn proud of you guys I could just bust. Thanks for giving Stijn the Texas experience. He will never forget this for sure. Will somebody please get the 'kid' a couple of Texas tees please, if he wants them, maybe a cap. Send me the bill. Really. Hundred bucks is my budget.

You guys have done a great job.

Somebody should make sure Stijn knows the translation of the word 'Texas'.

Bruce would be a great one to take care of that; as all the stores at the lake and Walmart being the less expensive will have some neat T's and caps.

Please send Bruce your Info. by PM., he will send you his address to mail the check.

Thanks Cast for your help. We truly appreciate everything you guys have done to help him.
Donald

It is done and my pleasure. Nothing in comparison to y'all.

Today Stijn and Bruce pre-fished for his tournament on Thursday.

Stijn understood that they were just testing different spots to see what is swimming around there.

They launched at Rainswood and hit some favorite places. He caught 2 small keepers off a dock while Bruce was picking out a back lash.

Bruce finally changed his c-rig bait to something similar to what he was using and caught a 4 - 20" fish and shook some others off.

They then moved to an adjacent point with a few more bites. Then a no nothing point Stijn caught a 19 1/4' on his trap which the big fish came on yesterday.

By then it was 100 degrees out and time to go home.

Both of the 4 lb Bass came after 9 AM which is something that has not been happening on the lake for Bruce as of late.

Stijn response to CAST:

Hi Cast,
Stijn says thank you! So tomorrow after pre-fishing we will be stopping at the storage to see the live release boat, then RT to ask more questions about reels and rods and then off to Academy in Greenville.

He will be looking for the perfect TEXAS attire and I will send you the invoices and then you can send me a check and pictures in the clothes too.

We were already going there because he said he now knows some of the things he wants to buy. His Dad gave him the go ahead because stuff here is 1/2 the price in Europe. So that is a perfect opportunity to get some great clothes too.

He said that is so cool!

See ya,
Bruce

Awesome job guys!
Get that boy some shorts that arent quite so LOUD! LOL
I look forward to spending the day with him.

Thanks again for y'all going all out to make this a trip of a lifetime for Stijn. Sounds like as good a reason as any to justify going to the tackle store again.

Hey Stijn, wear the Texas stuff in good health buddy. It would be really cool to see you wearing the Texas branded stuff at home. I think you have the heart of a Texan buddy, out there tearing them up in the heat. Keep it up man and congrats on beating your dads personal best. Now beat your own record. Good luck.

The one more member who qualified for the semi-finals is none other than our guest from Belgium, bringing the total to 13. We still have 2 tournaments left to qualify outright for the November round 2.

This is from my post on the club page for our Major League Fishing format tournament held today (Thursday) at Lake Fork.

A 4.54 that anchored his 3rd place finish in the LFA "Major League Fishing" format that Stijn did today. 3 bass for 7.73 with a 4.54 lunker. Won some money too.

Dang. Now I'm starting to get a little miffed that he makes it look so easy. Carry on Stijn.

Stijn turned 19 years old yesterday. Congratulations and

Stijn went with Bob Roberts pre-fishing for the upcoming JC. Outdoors team championship on Saturday. Good pic. beside that Big Skeeter.



Deer Burgers? After fishing Stijn bought Bob's lunch in lieu of a gas donation. A Minnow Bucket Patti melt.




New TX. clothes (shirts and hats) thanks goes out to Cast for the donation.






Stijn will have a long day tomorrow. Sand Bass tournament starting at 6 AM until noon. weigh-in by 1 PM, visit with Marc Howard to get a co-angler prospective in the pro's, come back to the Fishermen's One stop to eat the sand bass at 5 PM, and then meet up with Brian Northcutt to do some night fishing into early Sunday morning. (Pending the bad weather forecast). Brian lives on Broadtree.

Outstanding and happy birthday Stijn! Go get em today Tex.

Wow that will be a long day I'm Very excited for our fishing trip end of next week. Weather forecast is looking awesome and I bet they eat

Happy Birthday young man! Good for you coming to America and pursuing your dream!

My hat is off to all the great folks helping this young man live his dream. Y'all are all FIRST CLASS in my book!!

On Saturday Stijn fished with John Berech in the sand bass tournament and like many others in the tournament never caught a sand bass. He did however catch 10 black bass with the biggest around 4 lb. John caught a .78 sand bass to finish 5th and collect $70 which he donated back to the Wish To Fish Foundation.



Afterwards he went night fishing with Brian Northcutt. They were live bait fishing around some of the many underwater lighted docks on Fork. He caught a nice fat 6 lber and Brian had an eight and a four. They came back around 4 AM which had him up for 24 hours straight. They have another date for another trip planned.

Fantastic and

Stijn and Steve Chick fished today in the rain with moderate success. No picture fish but each got a least a limit.

Hats off to all of u guys that have facilitated an awesome trip for this neat young man! Some really awesome people here on the TFF.

Donald/Brandon, fished Grapevine Sunday and its fishing great for qty with split shot senkos and shakey heads around flooded brush; sand bass schooling all over the lake too (even with a trolling motor that broke 30 mins in..real good morning). Think this is a awesome show of Texas hospitality and if I can get Southwestern parts to work me in sooner than the 1st on TM, I can take him one morning to the Vine if you still need to fill one of his last dates.

Thanks for the offer. He will be here in Justin with me on the 30th and 31st. Just give me a call or PM if you get the TM fixed and the trip sounds great.
Cell: 432-553-1874

Stijn and Mark Talley worked the lake all day and into the night to come up with about 30 more bass. Stijn said that he caught a 4 and a 5. This is the picture of the big fish of the night which weighed in at 7.2.

I think stijn has caught more bass over the last month than I have caught in the last few years.

He is working hard at it and with some really knowledgeable Fork fisherman. He was up for a day and a half on this last trip without sleep to get it done.

Great Job Guys!

Hay Ken. I guess he is waiting until I get there to catch the DD. I know a guy.

Great to read/see all the stories and fish that have been caught!! Glad he is having a good time here and Kudos to all of ya'll helping Stijn out!!

Can he take his new fishing gear back home with him? Might need to ship the sharp pointy stuff.

I think his Dad told him to throw his clothes away and just bring home lures from Academy

Cast, got the check thanks...

I think he is on Palestine today with Jake Shannon. If the weather there is like here they should get on some good topwater or frog fish.

He is with Jake somewhere in deep east mysterious Texas

+1

they went to Marvel, story to follow

and so??? Excited to hear next update and see photos!

Me and Stijn had a great time frog fish did not cooperate for us early, I had 2 really good fish roll on the frog and not eat it well. Stijn had a hit as well. He caught 3 small ones early and fast on a fluke and a spinner bait. Then we moved out to some deeper docks and started pitching jigs and texas rigs. Stijn landed a few more and I let our only jig bite get away when she took me under a cross member and hung me up. Finally I landed a couple fish after being skunked all day! Stijn never got that good bite most of our fish landed between 1-3lbs.

Heck of a day Id say even if y'all didn't get a big un. I bet he had a blast! Im still learning myself and from your videos that I've seen, I bet he learned some stuff.

Thank you!

Picked up Stijn and Bruce this morning at 5:00 am this morning and took em to a private lake. I told him I was going to give him a bloody thumb. Water temp had dropped 10 degrees since I had been there last and the water clarity was still not too muddy with all the rain, so I told em to get the top waters out. We ended up with 40 on top water by 9:00 am and he caught a few on frogs as he was really wanting to catch some on a frog, but he saw me catching them on buzz baits and he lost interest in the slow moving frog versus the buzz bait. Bruce broke out the Wopper Plopper and caught about 6 on it. We then switched to wacky worms and shakey head worms and got up to 80 fish by around 11:00 am and then switched to Carolina Rigs and finished up at 112 fish for the day with the largest up to about 4 lbs. Bruce and I had to beg him to leave. Few pics to follow.

Stijn's first frog fish, they were swallowing the frog!

Bruce's first Wopper Plopper fish.

Stijn's bloody thumb.

They were on a good Buzz Bait Bite today. Got a few pics. from Bruce that he had on his phone.





Stijn really enjoyed his tournament with the Texas Trails Bassmasters at Lake Holbrooke on Saturday. Fishing with Danny Weems in the rain and storms while some of those fishing got skunked he did catch his first spotted bass ever. He actually caught 4 of them. Danny had two fish.

his first "bass thumb"

He also got a lot of practice "swinging in" the bass ala Major League Fishing style.

Stijn's first buzz bait fish

so we are all recovering from all of the fishing and driving he is across the the street fishing. Ah youth!

Sounds like a great day on the water with David.
I really enjoyed spending the day with Stijn too bad we couldn't catch any more keepers than we did. We did end up catching quite a few fish, just mostly small blacks.
I want to thank Donald and Bruce for putting this together and for letting me be a small part of it.
This is the kind of stuff that makes the TFF great.

Love it!

I love starting my day with the Stijn report.

Stijn's dad told him to just throw away his clothes and bring back his luggage packed with nothing but tackle.
I thought that was the quote of the day!
2nd best quote was "When I come back next year can you please take me back here again?"
3rd best quote was "Shut up and Fish!"

Was working on my truck Sunday when Stijn walked up to my house and asked if he could Fish off of dock..well I said absolutely.. few minutes later Bam he landed a Fish. This is after I believe he Fished all day. What a very polite young man. Boat will be ready in a few days hope he and I can get on the Lake.

Hope you can take him out one night. You are one of the best chances he has to nail a DD in the dark. Talk to Bruce about using his boat if yours is not ready. You only have until Thursday then he will be with me for the rest of his stay.

Don dont be taken young Stijn away from us..however he told me he will be back next year though.

I will be down there Thurs. night we are fishing with David Kindred and will be at his trailer. Bruce can tell you where we are. I don't have a clue. Come see us while we are there until Sunday afternoon, then we are coming back to Fort Worth.
You may call me at 432-553-1874 when we get there any time and we will come to you or you can come eat a meal with use and visit. I am sure between the two of them we can work a night trip.

Wow how awesome. So how does Stijn feel? I bet he is enjoying the small "break" in the summer heat..? What/how does he say/react when he catches a good one? Great story. I can't wait to read his post when he replies back on the forum after returning home.

Also Im new to the forum but was wondering how to find the original story to show my girlfriend. Didn't he inquire on here about the bass fishing in Texas? So cool. Ill be headn to Fork here soon and can't wait to fish for some of those big uns.

Surprisingly he said he loves the hot weather!

And even though he said his favorite BASS angler is Mike Iconelli, he just sets the hook and reels em in without saying a word.
He doesn't lay down on the deck of the boat and start twerking and or do a head spin and scream and shout in the excitement. He just smiles!
Fishing isn't something new to him as it's in his family line as he told me his Dad worked for both Lowrance and Rapalla at one time. Very nice kid, and a good fisherman. He had two big ol bullfrogs chase his frog and threw back in at them about 6 times as he wanted to catch a bull frog. He also had a bite and missed a fish at one point way up the creek and threw back in the same spot 3 additional times and kept getting a hit and finally caught a 2 lb bass on the 4th cast.

This was his original post that started the process.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/11566046/Holiday_fishing

So cool. Thank you guys for doing all this

nice! I hope he and I both hook into a giant soon!

Today started out at Lake Quitman where Stijn met with Johnny Hall, a LFA member, to go cat fishing. When Bruce spoke to them at lunch they were in at his house eating lunch and getting ready to go out again with minnows to fish for crappie.
According to Johnny they got about 30 catfish and they threw back the crappies they caught. Stijn did get a nice black bass of Johnnie's dock at lunch time.

In the late afternoon and evening Stijn went to Brian Dick's house to learn how to make plastic worms, senkos, creatures and swim baits.

well cast you are going to love it even more after you read this:

from the club page the results for the Faze 4 team competition today....

Members fished on a beautiful day. Yes it was NOT hot and windy for a change and most of the fish were biting.

We are presently fishing summer hours of 6 AM to noon or there abouts.

C-rig, drop shots, weightless flukes and crank baits accounted for the bigger bags. Most fish were caught fairly shallow.

The team of our visitor from Belgium Stijn Lens and Galen Smith brought 6 fish to the scales for 17.35 anchored by Stijn's 7.3 lunker. We paper all of the fish.
Second place team went to Terry Thompson and Bob Roberts with 10 bass for 11.68.
Third place team went to Bruce Allen and Randy Steele 10 bass for 9.37


Faze 4 was started within the auspices of the Lake Fork Anglers to give our boaters the opportunity to pair with others boaters so they can learn the lake better and learn new techniques. And it is working. Our boaters are mostly improving ten fold. Also it gives us another excuse to be out on the water fishing instead of being home doing honey do lists.

For info on joining the LFA e-mail me at sjbasser@aol.com or PM me on here.

Even on tough days Lake Fork is one heck of a great fishery.

Stijn moved in with David Kendred and Donald Harper at David's camper on Searcy Creek on Thursday evening after the tournament for 2 1/2 days of intensive Lake Fork fishing guided by the "fishing teacher". Good luck kiddo

Dang!

so cool

so cool

I'm taking him tomorrow, it's going to be fun!

He will learn a TON from James and have FUN doing it. Good luck guys!

Stijn has left Lake Fork and moved west, all reports and pictures will come directly from Donald, James and others who have
volunteered to take him fishing.

Nothing good to report on Lake Fork for a day and a half. Just small fish up to 3 lbs. Went Sunday to Lake Monticello, which was pumping hot water. We only caught a hand full of small fish again.

Looking forward to the trip with Mr. Biggs.

I was on a dumb frog bite for about 3 weeks but had no access to contact anyone to take him

Good Luck with the rest of his trip, he will have a blast with Birthday Boy Biggs

Stijn had a wonderful time fishing with Mr. Biggs. The learning experience was just super. He wants to say happy Birthday James and thanks for your help.

Pics. of a couple of fish caught this morning on Lake Lewisville.

Atta boy!

Big thank you to Alan Perrin for going with Stijn and I to Ray Roberts today. We caught several small Bass and this 5.0. Thanks for the help.

Can we start a boy from texas thread and feature me?

I concur.

Maybe..
We feature this boy as: "The Lone TX. Fisherman". Apply by application.
- Placed on one of our lake islands for 31 days.
- No clothes.
- No water.
- No food.
- Choice of 3 survival items
- Rod/reel, one hard bait and one package of plastics with hooks and weights.

with the "no clothes" part this just got a tad bit awkward and weird...

I'll need my phone to post selfies.

Fished with Mr. Davis today out of Flower Mound. We had a great time on Grapevine catching the small Bass. Thanks to Mr. Davis for taking the time out of his busy day to provide a trip for Stijn on his last day of fishing. He will be returning to Belgium late tomorrow afternoon. Packing everything and weighing bags will be a chore.

Thank you to everyone for your support and those that helped make this month a great learning experience for him. I look for him to be back next summer to start college somewhere in TX. that has a great fishing team. Any feedback on the school of your choice is appreciated.

Fun morning with Stijn. Great attitude, fun young man to be around. It was about as slick calm on Grapevine as I have seen in 3 or 4 years today, was happy to get a little something going to send him off on a decent note.

Short video of Stijn on Grapevine. Thanks Mr. Davis.

Nice work to all involved. That's what it's all about fellas.

Stijn is a Texas Fisherman now. You just never get over a summer like that.

Question. We were all over the Texas Fishing Experience. Did he get the proper Texas Eats Experience too?

He told me he was kind of amazed at how much fast food we eat over here, especially fried foods.

When I see this story un-folding, I can't help but think of Takahiro Omori. A guy who moved here with little to nothing from overseas to Alba, Texas, got a job, honed his skills on Lake Fork, and made the Elites soon after. This youngman seems destine to re-live that dream!!!!!!

Ya TO is def one of my top 5 favorites. Im new to fishing and just absolutely am enjoying the life changing experience, and all the good stories and info like this one!

What do they mainly eat in Belgium? More grilled/baked food I guess or eat at home? Ya he's right though shoot theres fast food joints everywhere.

So he broke his PB and beat his dads right? Success!!!

I hope ya'll took him to ALL of the GREAT BBQ joints in Texas!! Anytime I drive over there(short trip from Bossier lol) I try to find a new place to get some BBQ from!

Stijn says:

When he gets back to Belgium on Saturday he will answer some of your questions personally. Thanks for all the replies.

Goodbye young traveler. Be safe and get home soon. And you missed the two overs caught in today's tournament but your pal did win again with an 18.83.

What an adventure he had. Only in Texas will that happen fellas.

First of all i want to thank Bruce, Cherryl and Donald for making this possible,
i also want to thank all the lake fork anglers, and the people that supported me with fishing gear, monney and clothes. This was the best holliday in my live and i will never forget the texas hospatillity.
Next year i come back and hopefully i find a college with a nice bassteam that i can join.
I know fishing on a pro level looks for a lot people inpossible, but atleast i can try to chase my dreams.
If you guys have any questions or want to go fishing with me next year then you can contact me on facebook ``Stijn Lens``. You also can contact me on this forum.

It was really neat watching this story unfold. Does me well to see people still have honesty, trust and a willingness to help. My hats off to all involved!

His Dad said that the 50 # of fishing tackle got thru customs Ok, and yeah he did take some of his clothes home in the carry on

apparently when Stijn got home the local media found out about his visit here and interviewed him and there is an article about him in Belgium. The only problem is is that it is in Dutch: (I think)

http://www.gva.be/cnt/dmf20160913_024670...ssioneel-visser

If we just had a translator...

My wife speaks Dutch when she is mad at me. Maybe she can read it. Hopefully Stijn or his dad Mark will get on here and translate for us.

We have another Belgian on TFF.

I can't see the article. Must be doing something wrong.

Not working for me either.

try this. I hate when they shorten the link.

dutch news

couldn't get it all to open on my government computer so here is the opening headline per google translate!


Malle / Oostmalle - Belgian Angler called the newly created Facebook page Stijn Lens (19) from Malle. "Like and share my page ," is there. "The more likes , the more likely I am to realize my dream . Be professional game fisherman " It's not a bubble. The student is serious.


Stijn just graduated secondary school and planned to study marketing. But after his visit to Texas , everything changed.

BTW the whole trip was an AMAZING EFFORT by ALL Involved!! I sure enjoyed reading about it!!

Marketing and bass fishing complement each other well. Stijn clearly has good instincts with both (I'm already following his FB page)
Definitely enjoyed Stijn's story here on TFF--really highlighted the best aspects of fishing-- camaraderie, selflessness, enthusiasm, determination.

Thanks for sharing Rudy. Stijn is a great fisherman already and wants to come here to TX. for his education in Marketing. He will be looking for the best college that can support his competitive fishing. I know there are some good educated thoughts on where he should go and what he should do when he is finished.

If anyone has information that you can share with contacts please post them. He really needs the contact information to go straight to the right people to make this happen. If he can avoid the common mistakes that many young students make in choosing a university then having to change schools that would be a plus. Then I am thanking he needs to move to the best place in the country to support his Marketing job as well as becoming a professional fisherman. If you have thoughts on the move please share those also.

He is not looking to cut any corners to get this done. We just want him to make the right choices with no mistakes. There is no doubt in my mind about him being successful in his tournament history. He is a winner and that will be seen once he gets started fishing competitively here in TX..

I'd write a letter of recommendation for him should he want to go to Texas State? 2002 Southwest Texas State University Alumni.

University of Texas has a top 5 marketing program.
To view magnify this image hold down Ctrl and the "+" sign.
To get back to regular zoom hold down Ctrl and the "-" sign.

Thank you guys for helping me so mutch, the article is only written in dutch im sorry about that. It was a 2 page article. [img]http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/pics..._35117938609309[/img]
I will take the article next year with me to translate it. But in general they talk about how popular bass fishing is what the pros earn, How you fish for bass and My travelling story.
If you guys have any questions or advice feel free to contact me

i was thinking about tarlenton university because of james biggs that wants to coach me.
Has Tarlenton a good reputation for marketing?

Tarleton State University in Stephenville has a very good marketing program (ranked in the top 20 of the 100 marketing programs in Texas). I like your plan.

Learning from Biggs is a huge deal. Seriously consider that.

Having fished at the college level and now living in another country and working in marketing in the fishing industry, I feel like I can offer you a little perspective.

Tarleton has a well organized bass fishing team and is a good university. It's proximity to DFW would make it a convenient choice. When living abroad, there is a certain benefit and comfort in living close to a major city with an international airport and having the ability to hop on a flight quickly in the case you need to get back to your home country.

I'd also recommend you take a long look at the University of Texas in Austin and Texas A&M University in College Station. Both have established bass fishing teams and a marketing degree from either one carries weight both nationally and globally. If you can get in to either one, then I'd highly recommend either university. Entry to both universities is extremely competitive for out of state and international students.
University of North Texas and University of Texas-Arlington are also good choices.
I don't know of any other university that has put more college anglers into marketing/sales careers with fishing companies than UT (there are 3 of us).

My advice to anyone looking to fish in the collegiate ranks is to focus first on the education and networking aspect, then on the catching. It is very hard to make a living as a tournament angler, but with a well rounded knowledge of fishing, a large network of anglers and a degree from a good university, you can open a lot of doors for yourself in the industry.

Feel free to PM me with any questions.

-Trey

Thank you man , i will have a conversation about it with my parents i will contact you when i have more questions