Smith and Wadsworth had a stellar fishing season
Two college bass fishermen wearing Northwestern State University Fishing Team jerseys are riding a heck of a streak before the 2025 season opener in January at the Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida.
Stone Smith of Shreveport and Drake Wadsworth of Grand Cane, both 20, just recorded an ultra-solid college season by qualifying for multiple national tournaments while reppin’ NSU.
Their combined high school bass tournament experiences have reaped dividends the past 1 ½ years at NSU, particularly this past season when they qualified for three national collegiate tournaments, two of which they fished earlier this year with one remaining national tournament in April 2025.
A qualifying tournament at Table Rock Lake was the highlight of 2023-24, according to Smith. He was proud of the Top 30 finish April 8. They were 26th in a 250-boat field with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 10 ounces.
“Whenever we qualified at Table Rock, we ended up having almost 17 pounds,” said the junior majoring in criminal justice with hopes of eventually joining the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division. “Drake and I had never fished smallmouth before and ended up catching all smallmouth. We were fishing rock piles in about 20-feet of water with football jigs and Demikis (Demiki-rigged soft plastics).”
That effort propelled them to the 2025 MLF College National Championship at Wheeler Lake in Alabama next April.
“We have our strengths and weaknesses, plus we’re best friends,” Smith said. “What he’s good at, I’m not, and what I’m good at, he’s not. I’m more of a shallow-water fishermen than he is. He likes to fish more out deep.”
“Ever since Stone and I have been fishing college we’ve been Day 2 warriors,” said Wadsworth, who is majoring in business administration. “Everything seems to come together better than the first day. We start figuring out where we went wrong.”
Solid teammates
According to Smith, pairing up as a formidable team was natural. While he was studying and fishing at Captain Shreve High School, Wadsworth was doing the same at North DeSoto High School (Class of 2023). They met on the high school fishing circuit.
“I knew Drake already,” Smith said. “I knew he was planning to go to Northwestern. We said we were going to team up.”
They both had solid high school bass fishing careers.
Smith kept coming close to clinching his high school’s Angler of the Year title and finally got it as a senior in 2022. He fished with Brody Page and qualified for nationals his junior year at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina and again his senior year at Pickwick Lake in Alabama, both times finishing in the Top 50.
“Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing,” Smith said. “I’m happy with everything I achieved in high school … even helped me get a scholarship at NSU.”
Wadsworth, meanwhile, also fished high school derbies for four years, the last two with Evan Howe, and qualified for nationals three times, twice with Howe. Their highest finish at nationals was 11th, just 2 ounces shy of the cut line to fish the next day with the Top 10.
Hooked on fishing
Smith said he started fishing with his stepfather, Derrel Siau, at a young age. Another major influence was his grandfather, Billy O’Neal, an accomplished pro bass angler in the early 1990s and friend of the legendary Homer Humphreys.
“I always wanted to be like him (O’Neal),” Smith said. “My stepdad ended up buying a boat in 2015 and I’ve been hooked ever since.”
Wadsworth, the son of Nicki and Dusty Wadsworth of Grand Cane, fished for bream when he was little. On one trip, he caught a bream from a pond in back of the house they lived in at the time and while reeling it in caught a 3-pound class bass.
“I kind of took it and ran with it and I haven’t stopped since,” he said. “My dad started taking me fishing a little bit. The whole time in high school he was always there as boat captain. He’s the one who really got me hooked.”
Wadsworth’s favorite lake to fish in December is Toledo Bend. He favors the south end of the lake, where he targets bass with Alabama rigs, Demiki rigs, football jigs and a Megabass jerkbait. His confidence bait is a ¾-ounce peanut butter/jelly football jig.
Smith’s favorite local December bass fishing destination is also Toledo Bend. He targets bass in grass or around laydowns in 8- to 10-foot depths with a Missile Baits D-Bomb. His go-to bait anywhere is a white 3/8-ounce chartreuse/white spinnerbait.
Both anglers intend to fish bass tournaments in the future. Smith eyes BFLs and Bassmaster Opens, while Wadsworth wants to fish Bassmaster Opens and MLF Toyota Series derbies after NSU.
