CATCH OF THE DAY

Joey Nania was hooked by the bass fishing bug at an early age.

The Central Valley High School junior is a formidable competitor on the region’s bass fishing circuits, but to understand his prowess, it helped to be aboard a boat to watch him fish three years ago as a 14 year-old who was just a few weeks away from winning a world title.

“I fished out of a canoe before I was big enough to take out the boat,” Nania said, casting along the shoreline not far from his home at Liberty Lake.

“Joey knows all the fish in this lake by name,” said his teenage fishing partner, Matt Hodgkinson, as Nania hooked a largemouth on his third cast. “He’s caught every one of them at least once.”

“I fish almost every day,” Nania said.

“Do you ever go water skiing or tubing,” the reporter asked.

“A little, but mostly I’m fishing,” Nania said.

“Don’t you get tired of fishing?”

“Nope.”

The answer was instant and firm.

Using polarized sunglasses, he often spotted his prey before the cast. Some bass were still guarding their nests while others were near docks, where bass often seek shade on sunny days.

The fishing rod worked with such precision, it seemed to be an extension of his limbs.

He constantly experimented with a witch’s brew of lures and additives, ranging from Smelly Jelly scent to a bottle of chartreuse dye into which they’d dip the curly tails of their plastic worms.

“Sometimes that’s all it takes to get a bass to bite,” Nania said.

Competitive bass fishing isn’t exactly an individual sport. Success depends on the cooperation of a wild creature with a brain the size of a marble.

But even at the age of 14, Nania seemed to recognize the dedication required to be a master of bass.

“I’m not going to get married until I’m older,” he said as he made a cast while the onboard conversation drifted to girls. “It could be distracting.”

Claim to fame: At the age of 15, Nania won the Washington State Junior Bass Fishing champion title twice in 2005 (the tournament was rescheduled from spring to fall) and went on to the “Super Bowl of bass fishing” and won his age division in the Junior Bassmaster World Championship near Pittsburgh.

The three-time Washington State juniors-level champ currently is working up the ranks of pro fishing circuits. He plans to fish up to 18 tournaments this year in a quest to qualify for national and world championships.