Mercury pro Mark Rose has been at it for 25 years and is looking forward to everything the upcoming 2025 Bass Pro Tour season has to offer. Whether it’s revisiting familiar locations or returning to familiar techniques, the Wynne, Arkansas, angler is set to hit the water in peak physique with a mental game to match.
Q. You’re looking ahead to your 25th year fishing as a pro on a major tour when the 2025 Bass Pro Tour season starts in January. Could you ever have imagined when you took off on Day 1 of your first FLW Tour event on Beaver Lake in April of 1999 that you’d be doing this for 25-plus years?
MR: You know, probably not at the time. But I knew when I left my job with the Boy Scouts of America – and left a good, solid future there – I knew that when I go in on something, I go all-in. It’s been this way my whole life, and I strongly felt that if I could make it past those first couple of years that I was in for the long haul, simply because it was a very prayed-out, thought-out, and discussed-out with my family deal. I knew I didn’t do anything just for the short-term. It wasn’t a quick fix, and I knew I was all in so long as the sport continued to grow and evolve.
Q. If you could go back in time and give 1999 Mark Rose some advice before he fished that first tournament on Beaver Lake, what would it be?
MR: I don’t know that I would change anything. But I guess, let the process evolve and keep the whole thing in perspective. Know you will have good ones and bad ones and everywhere between. I look back on it now and I realize nobody ever stayed on top forever, not even Kevin VanDam, who I would consider to be the greatest of all time. It’s just the nature of this sport. It’s not like you can sit in an air-conditioned gym and shoot free throws and you’re going to be a good free throw shooter. There’s too many factors that go into fishing and many are out of your control, so just know that there’s going to be a pitch that comes along in your wheelhouse when the bases are loaded and you’ll hit a grand slam every now and again – but, you’re also going to strike out, get a base hit, get a fly ball, and so many outcomes can come along. So, keep it in perspective. I wanted the grand slam right out of the gate, but that didn’t happen for me. But I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened because your finishes and outcomes shape you and mold you. Your bad tournaments sometimes are the ones that make you who you are. It’s not always the good ones that make you who you are.
Q. You made a recent social media post showing you working out. You come from an athletic background and have probably exercised your whole life, but what are the things you’ve learned over the years that help you stay as injury free as possible, and in good “fishing shape?”
MR: There’s many forms of staying in shape in fishing, from physical to mental, and I also work on my relationship with my creator and the one who created fishing and all that’s involved in it as much as my physical conditioning in the off season. Physically, I have some health issues that I have to keep in check from torn ligaments and lots of things I don’t talk about a whole lot because it’s really just part of it. I don’t think anyone’s physical condition is perfect, but you have to work on it and be prepared for the upcoming season. I haven’t done as good of a job with that in the past few years as I should have or could have overall, but I always stayed active and ran and did minor physical training. The winter is looked at as an offseason, but it’s really not with the deliverables with partners and media things and all that. It keeps you pretty busy, but this offseason I’m making more of a conscious effort to go back to some old baseball training circuit workouts with three sets of 10 (reps) with light weights and working every body part – arms, legs and doing a lot of stretching along with it.
As we get older, we neglect the importance of stretching, especially as men, we don’t stretch as much as we should. It’s just little things like that. I’m not saying I’m going to be all ‘roided up next year and buff, but I am making an effort. The older you get, the more you think about things like this and you learn your those shoulders, arms, and back don’t hold up like they did in your 20s and 30s and you need to take some time to work on that.
There’s all these quick fixes people see out there with supplements and all these magical dietary things, and what I have found is if you’re not lacing up some gym shoes and getting out there and moving, you’re just not doing what you need to do, and you’re just caught up in the next quick fix. You need to strap them tennis shoes on and go. Running is something I’ve always enjoyed, and I stayed at it off and on, but I’ve never been as consistent with it as I want to be. We all want to be in better physical condition than we are, it’s the ones that strap on their shoes and go that reap the rewards of it and that’s one thing I’ve made an effort to do this fall.
Q. How about staying in good shape mentally? Professional tournament fishing is a game of ups and downs, and a lot of it requires you to do the same processes over and over and over. How do you stay sharp and focused through multiple seasons like you have?
MR: Everyone has their different ways and beliefs in staying sharp and anyone who knows me knows that I rely on my faith a lot. I’m a simple-minded man and if I am having trouble with my Kubota tractor I will go to the owner’s manual or go to people who are good with tractors. And for our mental game, I’m going to the owner’s manual – going to God – and he is where I get my strength and my peace. The Bible says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, and I believe a good relationship with the one who created all these fish is the key to having peace out here.
So, whether it’s staying in God’s word, my relationship with other Christians, reading some Christian books from some of my Christian mentors – that’s always been the key to my mental game and makes life get not too busy and stay grounded, and keep the most important things in life first: God, family, then everything else. I will be the first to admit I’m not perfect, nor is anyone else who is reading this. It’s a constant ongoing thing. The Bible says to seek first the kingdom of God in Matthew 6:33, and that “seek” is a present tense of the verb, so it’s ongoing all the time.
Q. You had an uncharacteristically tough year on the Bass Pro Tour in 2024 – 62nd was your lowest AOY finish since 2015. However, you rebounded from that 2015 season to finish 10th in 2016 and 2017 and then won the Angler of the Year award in 2018. Does that fuel you heading into the new year?
MR: I didn’t realize those stats, but I am hoping that comes back around in 2025 on the heels of a tough season. But in all seriousness, I didn’t like it one bit. I’ll be honest with you and can point back to a lot of things that didn’t go my way this year, but I won’t make any excuses. The bottom line is I didn’t catch them very good, and I want to do everything in my control to give myself the best possible opportunity in 2025. When you have seasons like that, you can throw in the towel and say you’re ready to retire, but that’s not the mindset I have. I still have a lot to give the sport, from fans to consumers of my partners’ products, and up-and-coming fishermen, to the people I am trying to reach to share the love of Christ with – which is a big part of the reason I am out here. There’s still a lot left, and I want to give myself the best opportunity to be the Christian pro fisherman God has in store for me.
Q. One of the venues on the 2025 schedule is Kentucky-Barkley Lakes, which you must be pretty excited about. Here’s why: You finished in the top 6 in five of the last seven tour-level tournaments you’ve fished on Kentucky Lake, dating back to 2009. What are your thoughts about Kentucky Lake in 2025?
MR: Yeah, if you’re looking at the 2025 schedule that is the most obvious one for me to be excited about and that I expect myself to do well in. However, I’ve learned in this sport that some of my best finishes have come along when I least expect them, so I’m excited about the whole schedule. I’ve been to Conroe and had some success there. I’ve been to Harris Chain and a lot of these places I’ve been to before and am excited to fish under the format for all of the schedule for next year. The all-you-can-catch format, I understand it and just like it and like fishing the Bass Pro Tour. Not only do we have some great anglers on the Bass Pro Tour, but some of the best people in the outdoor industry, so I’m excited to work alongside them and help the Bass Pro Tour grow and bring out the good in this sport. And, I can’t lie – I’m excited to hopefully do some ledge fishing at Kentucky Lake. It’s something I have had success with in the past.
Q. There are some rule changes in 2025 regarding forward-facing sonar. What are your thoughts on the Bass Pro Tour’s new “one period rule,” and how will you game plan for both practice and live competition under those new rules?
MR: Yeah, I’m glad for some of the schedule to get back to traditional bass fishing. I’m not one of these guys that’s against forward-facing sonar by any means, but I also missed the traditional fishing that kind of got left behind due to forward-facing sonar. So, I’m excited to mix it up and do some forward-facing sonar and traditional fishing. Regarding practice, just reading the overall fishing as far as the numbers of fish grouped up and the numbers of bites you can get shallow and just seeing which one of those is the best. If it’s a timing thing, that’s just going to come from your time on the water in those two days of practice. When the clock is ticking, you have to take what you learned in those two days and make a judgement call on when you’re going to use your forward-facing sonar and when you will just go fishing. I think strategy is still going to be a big player there. While some people think they know what they’re going to do going in, I think those two days are going to help determine that and you’ll see guys’ minds change after the two days of practice.
Q. You’ll be fishing the Summit Cup in November with Zack Birge as your partner, which will be your first Team Series event fishing in a traditional team-tournament format. How much are you looking forward to that event, and how well do you think you and Zack will mesh as a team?
MR: I’m really looking forward to the Team Series. I always liked these specialty-type events. Tournament fishing can get in a rut with traditional tournament fishing where it’s the same old same old all the time. There’s nothing wrong with it, but mixing in something new and something different and something exciting can just kind of create a spark. And when you have been doing this for as long as I have, those sparks keep the fire burning. Zack is one angler that I have become friends with the last few years, and we have fished together in the Team Series in the past and I look forward to sharing a boat with him this time. We were in a Team Series together before, but in separate boats and now we’ll be sharing a boat …and him being a lefty helps.
Q. And to finish off: When you look back on your highly successful 25-year career, what are the memories that mean the most to you? What about those years from 1999 to today make you say ‘Man, I’m really glad I experienced that’?
MR: Outdoor ministry has always been a big passion of mine, reaching sportsmen and women with the love of Christ has been something that I’ve been passionate about incorporating into my career. I’ve experienced people coming to know Christ during those times and that’s been the most fulfilling. Regarding the fishing, the wins and the success has given me the platform to be able to be involved in the numerous outdoor opportunities I’ve had. So, the competition and the ministry have both been very rewarding. It’s also allowed me to work with some of the greatest companies in this industry. I’ve truly been blessed.