Mason Sudermann: Will attend University of Arkansas and fish on their Bass Fishing Team

The only birthday present senior Mason Sudermann has ever asked his grandpa, Kenton Hupp, for is to go on their annual fishing trip. In their three to four day trip where they go to various lakes and rivers, such as the Big Piney River, they search for bass and hire a fishing guide to help find striped bass. The fishing guide shows them the area, bringing along any equipment needed for the specific area. 

While out on the boat, or even when they fish in innertubes or off a doc, Mason and his grandpa catch up, from talking about the type of lure his Hupp received for his birthday to the remains of a mouse found in a fish when cleaning it. 

“We certainly talk about what’s working that day and catching fish,” Hupp said. “But it’s a good opportunity to just talk about life. Talk about what God’s doing in his life, what God’s doing in my life. It’s an excellent time to reflect if something’s going on is troubling him or are encouraging him that we get a chance to talk about it. Just being out in God’s amazing creation, it’s just a great place to talk about anything that’s on your mind. Fishing is just an avenue to be together.”

Hupp taught him to fish with a Superman fishing pole when he was 2 years old on their family farm. Now, Sudermann is on the Kickback Bass Fishing Team, a competitive fishing team in the Kansas City area for high schoolers and will attend the University of Arkansas and fish for their Bass Fishing Club. 

“I always wanted to go fishing and I had a bigger passion than pretty much anyone around,” Sudermann said. “My mom was kind of looking around for things to do, fishing-related, and she found the team. I went, checked it out and went to one of their meetings and it clicked.”

The team meets once a month, exchanging tips on how each person fishes and discussing upcoming tournaments. At another meeting, the team stocked a lake with bass before the season opened. He’s loved learning about the different ways other people fish, asking all the members how they catch bass. 

Sudermann has his own way which certainly works for him. Hupp says Sudermann is now a better fisherman than Hupp is after fishing for his whole life. Sudermann will compete in the 2022 Kansas Bass Fishing State Competition in May. He qualified for this event after catching five bass with his partner totaling over 17 pounds — with all fish required to be at least 15 inches long to qualify — at the semi-finals. At an earlier time, he unofficially broke Lake Perry’s record for smallmouth bass — 5.8 pounds — compared to the usually three or four pound bass he typically catches. 

“A bunch of old guys who love to fish will come to check the weigh-in, and they will talk to me about my catch and what not,” Sudermann said. “Then I ask them cause clearly they are more experienced than me. I ask them what they do and get a lot of information.”

When Sudermann decided on Arkansas, Sudermann messaged Arkansas’s Bass Fishing Club’s Instagram account, which put him in contact with the club’s president. After texting back and forth, the president told Sudermann that he could expect an interview before joining in the fall, and after that, he’d be in the club. 

The Bass Fishing Club is a school-sanctioned club sport and travels across the country to tournaments like the Bassmaster, Collegiate Bass, MLF Collegiate Circuit and many local competitions as well. In addition, Sudermann will receive a jersey and discounts from fishing supply companies like Epic Baits, Woo Tungsten, P-line and Spearpoint Hooks. 

He’s excited to try out new techniques of fishing. The bass fishing experience is different in Arkansas, Sudermann says. The lakes are deeper and there aren’t the same aquatic plants. There will be more largemouth bass than smallmouth bass. He’ll have to approach it with a more “southern” fishing style.

All of these factors will take some fishing trips to adjust to, but he knows he’ll have to talk extensively with his teammates and competitors to see how they’ve adapted to the new fishing environments. 

“It’ll be a little difficult with school going on, but I’m hoping to just basically travel the country and fish,” Sudermann said. “That’d be my ultimate dream is just to fish for a career.”