Back Story: All in the Hults Family

If you’re fishing as a pro in the FLW Tour this year, don’t be surprised if you draw a Hults as a co-angler. In fact, three Hults brothers from Gautier, Miss., are joining the Tour in 2011, and one of them is likely to turn up in the back of your boat.

Considering the various FLW Outdoors circuits available to fish, it’s not unusual for two siblings to fish in the same event, but trios are rare. Last year, you might recall, there were FOUR Hults brothers in the FLW Series Eastern Division tournament on Lake Eufaula (see the Tournament Tested section of the July 2010 issue of FLW Outdoors magazine) and they dominated it. Big brother Alan won the pro division, while Matt captured the co-angler division and Chris was runner-up. The youngest brother, Paul, was 13th in the co-angler division.

As far as the co-angler division of the FLW Tour is concerned, Alan, 44, was the trailblazer of the family. He fished the Majors last year and had such a good time he talked Chris, 41, and Matt, 36, into joining him this year. Just to keep things even, the Hults also recruited longtime friend Justin Sward of Pascagoula to the campaign. Paul, 32, plans to fish a few FLW Outdoors events scheduled in his neighborhood, but he’s building a new house and aims to stay close to home.

Not so his big brothers; they’ll be on the tournament trail. Fishing together has been a Hults family tradition for a long time. During the past decade, the Hults boys have fished one trail or another from the front ends of their boats as well as from the backends of somebody else’s boat. Last year, Al won almost $10,000 in co-angler bucks, including $3,000 in the Forrest Wood Cup for his 18th place finish.

“I didn’t have to do much arm-twisting to get Chris and Matt to fish, and Justin might as well be in the family,” says Alan, an industrial firefighter. “We’ve all been fishing together since we were kids, and when you can go to tournaments sharing the expenses, it makes it easier.”

Alan’s wife, Sandi, will handle the logistics of these Hults family outings and keep up with all the bookwork. Otherwise, the brothers will take care of the fishing.

“No matter what level of competition it is, we all enjoy tournaments,” notes Alan. “We borrow tackle from each other and share information. Of course, when you’re a co-angler, a lot of it is just the luck of the draw, and being paired up with somebody you hope fishes the same way you’re used to fishing, or nearly so.”

As one might expect, the Hults’ favorite fishing water is similar to the tidal rivers back home along the Mississippi Gulf Coast where weed cover is abundant and current, or lack thereof, governs the bite. That doesn’t help explain why Alan’s two best finishes in 2011 came at highland lakes, Lake Ouachita (7th) and Ft. Loudoun/Tellico (9th), but it does suggest that the Hults brothers are adaptable.

“Though we’re shallow-water, stained-water fishermen first and foremost, we’re all pretty versatile, having fished all over the South,” confesses Alan. “Chris [a machinery operator at a local oil refinery] is probably the most serious and dedicated fisherman of the bunch, but none of us are too shabby when it comes to figuring out what we need to do to get some fish in the boat.”

As Alan noted, a co-angler’s success in a tournament is largely dependent on who he’s paired with. Given a choice, he’d choose a partner with similar talents and skill level.

“One thing I’ve learned is that it isn’t a bad thing to draw somebody who’s not famous or has a reputation for being a bass-catching machine,” says the Mississippi angler. “A lot of those `name’ guys are usually tougher to fish with because they’ll pretty much vacuum the water ahead of you. I’d rather fish with somebody who fishes fast and who doesn’t try to pick apart every piece of cover without leaving anything behind.”

Perhaps the Hults brothers and Sward will hit the trifecta this tournament season and draw partners that suit their fishing style. If everything comes together as it did for the brothers in 2010, they might set another milestone.

“I want to win every tournament I enter. I get disappointed if I don’t. That might not be realistic, but you’ve got to have a goal to focus on and shoot for,” observes Alan. “Beyond that, we [the Hults brothers] want to all be in the Forrest Wood Cup together. That would be pretty cool.”