As a star basketball player for Greenup County High School, his coach drilled into his head that success requires setting goals and working diligently to achieve them, recalls Dwayne “Boo” Williams as he drifts quietly down the Little Sandy River a mile from his hometown of Greenup, Ky.
Expertly, Williams feathers a cast, allowing his lure to enter the water with no more noise than what a small frog might make hopping off the bank. Already he has a tight line on the lure, and simply lifting his rod tip pulls the tandem blade spinner through a maze of dead limbs. “Got him,” Williams whispers under his breath, as he raises the rod farther and sets the hook into a keeper size spotted bass.
Williams says that achieving success in tournament fishing is similar to becoming a champion basketball player – both are long but satisfying processes. Being black, however, and a minority in tournament bass fishing, Williams’ achievements are a bit more complex than simply setting goals and working to achieve them. But, he says, he has had a lot of help and encouragement from anglers of all colors through the years.
Growing up near the confluence of the Little Sandy and Ohio Rivers, Williams found himself in the midst of a group of white anglers who loved bass fishing and were kind enough to show him and others how they could enjoy the sport as well. This influence, and the confidence he acquired as a successful basketball player, helped him become a serious bass fisherman at an early age.
Dwayne was a fun kid, says Fred Martin, owner of a Bass Pro Shop in town when Williams was growing up. The fishermen who loafed in Martin’s store and helped influence Williams agree. Though they sometimes lament that if it hadn’t been for his getting bass fishing in his head, Williams might be playing in the NBA instead of pulling shift work at the Dow Chemical plant where he is now employed.
Williams says it is Martin and others like Tom Applegate, Jim Garthee, and Rip Cales who made sure his interest in bass fishing was cultivated properly. “They took me fishing when no one else would,” he recalls, continuing to work the edge of the backwater for another strike.
As a youngster, Williams’ father, O.J., took him to the nearby Ohio River to catch white bass – the thrill of which made a lasting impression. Williams also developed a strong fascination with fishing shows. While most kids his age were watching cartoons or listening to rock music, he was enthralled by Virgil Ward and Bill Dance as they caught one bass after another on the tube. Bass fishing, in fact, became so attractive to Williams that at 8 years old, he gave up little league baseball so he would have more time to cast for bass in the river.
River fishing has always impressed Williams. “I’ll venture to guess that about everyone who develops their angling skills enough to catch bass consistently from a river system can be competitive with most fishermen on any lake in the country,” he says.
A natural competitor, Williams found that sparring in local tournaments with great fishermen like his buddies Rick and Nick Craft helped develop his angling skills. And as his success in the local tournaments grew, he began casting an eye on the Red Man Tournament Trail.
The Red Man weekend format and the fact that most events in the Mountain Division are within easy driving distance of Williams’ hometown allow him to fish the tournament trail with the ultimate goal of winning the Red Man All-American – a goal that is still very much in focus.
In 1998, Williams qualified for the All-American by placing fourth in the Mountain Division. At the All-American, however, he finished a disappointing 40th out of 50 anglers. “I just had a bad tournament,” he says, “but I knew, without doubt, that my angling skills were such that I could compete with the best.”
In 1999, Williams’ skills were put to the test again as he fell short of qualifying for the All-American during the regular season but made the field by winning the Chevy Wild Card Regional on Pickwick Lake with a 14-pound, 6-ounce catch. This time, he finished 9th at the All-American on the upper Mississippi River.
Today, Williams is convinced that, barring any bad luck, he someday will weigh-in a winning catch at the All-American. And along the way, he is recruiting other minority anglers to get involved in fishing on the Red Man Tournament Trail. “It’s a perfect setup for most minority anglers because of the one-day tournaments and low entry fees,” Williams says as he unhooks yet another 12-inch spotted bass from his ol’ “bread and butter” spinnerbait. “There’s no reason whatsoever why only 1 percent of minorities are now fishing competitively.”
Williams brags constantly about how fairly he, as a black angler, has been treated by both the staff of the Red Man Trail Tournament Trail and anglers who regularly compete in its various divisions. “I can honestly say that everyone I’ve met and fished with or against has treated me with the utmost respect and kindness,” he recalls.
Williams believes that the fishing industry – and fishermen themselves – must do more to encourage members of minority groups to fish. He notes that black men are highly competitive, and the tournament trail provides the ultimate challenge for their abilities. If more blacks and other minorities were to become interested in competitive fishing, Williams says, there would be a notable drop in social problems across the country and terrific growth in the sport fishing industry. He’s also convinced that competitive bass fishing is the easiest way to break through color barriers.
“When you’re bass fishing, what counts most is your ability,” he says. “Folks don’t care if you’re black, yellow or green for that matter. Sport fishing, in my opinion, is completely color blind.”