Caden Williamson finds his way during first year with the Pilots
Caden Williamson’s freshman season with the national powerhouse Louisiana State University-Shreveport Pilots Fishing Team had its ups and downs in 2025-26. However, the Vidor, Tex., native and Bryce Distefano of Denham Springs came on strong the second half of the season to qualify for two national tournaments and lead the Pilots to a No. 9 ranking in the Bass Pro Shops School of the Year Standings.
That was the Pilots’ third straight year in the Top 10 under the guidance of coach Charles Thompson.
Williamson, who was on the LSU-S College of Business dean’s list in spring 2026, is looking forward to his sophomore year with the Pilots.
“Our goal is Top 5,” he said. “I think we have some good guys coming in and we have some good guys already there. We all work together and that’s what’s nice about it.”
He’s unsure who his next partner might be but has confidence the best possible pairings will be made by Thompson.
“Coach lines that up and I think he does a pretty good job at that,” the sophomore-to-be said.
The 19-year-old has been busy as a fishing guide since he graduated from Vidor High School and when he isn’t in classes at LSU-S. He devotes all his energy while sharing his bass fishing knowledge, including forward facing sonar expertise, when he takes anglers out on Lake Sam Rayburn.
The early years
Williamson, the son of Eric and Sherry Williamson, began fishing around age 4. He started bass fishing competitively in the seventh grade and through high school with his dad as captain, teaming with Braden Norton. The combination resulted in multiple Top 10s, plus the MLF/SAF Texas State Championship in spring 2025. They were also the VHS Pirates’ Team of the Year in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
The LSU-S signee started guiding, then fishing with the Pilots.
“It ( 2025-26 season) started out a little rough for us,” he said. “The first three fall tournaments we didn’t do worth a crap. At least for me, I kind of spun out. I went from the partner I had from seventh grade (through high school) to a new partner … new lakes I’d never seen before. It was a whole new learning curve.”
The winter break intervened. The Distefano/Williamson team returned to the water with a vengeance this year at Lake Tohopekaliga, better known as Toho, in Florida (Bassmaster event), where they were 16th, also leading all LSU-S teams with 33 pounds, 3 ounces, then fished Lake Seminole (MLF event) and finished 14th.
“Twenty-two pounds and finished 14th place. That tells you how tough the competition is,” he said, noting the Lake Toho result earned a berth in the Bassmaster College Championship tournament Aug. 20-22 at Leech Lake in Minnesota.
Home lake curse
The spring 2026 momentum skidded to a halt at the place he least expected.
“After Seminole, I think we went to Rayburn, which actually is my home lake. I guess the home lake curse got me there because we didn’t do great,” he said. “Then we went to Hartwell (ACA event) in late March.”
Their fortunes picked up soon at Table Rock Lake (MLF event) in Missouri, where they finished 7th, thus double qualifying for the MLF college circuit’s national tournament early in 2027.
Oklahoma’s Kerr Lake (Bassmaster event) presented more of a challenge in early May. Most of the boat’s lower unit was knocked off, which cut short practice, leading to a “tough finish.”
They finished 96th with nine bass at 25.12 pounds in the Association of Collegiate Anglers College Bass Fishing Championship’s 207-boat field May 21-22 at Pickwick Lake, their next-to-last tournament together with Distefano’s decision to forgo his senior year at LSU-S. Williamson was looking forward to their last outing together at Leech Lake in August.
“I think we got together pretty well, you know. We’re both wanting to do really good in this championship. I mean, that’s going to be his last tournament so you know he’s wanting to finish really well,” Williamson said in late July while vacationing and pre-fishing Leech Lake in Minnesota.
Chances were good he’d be throwing his favorite bait, a plastic frog, as well as big plastic worms, crankbaits and pencil popper-style topwaters at nationals up there.
