seymour teen aims for fishing-big league

Preston Julian, an 18-year old Seymour High School senior, has landed on the professional fishing fast track.

After spending most of his childhood feeding his competitive jones on the baseball diamond, Julian found an unexpected avenue of quenching his competition-thirst after learning of his father’s diagnosis with multiple sclerosis in 2002.

Preston Julian’s father, Danny Julian, received the life-changing news from the staff at Vanderbilt Hospital when his son was 12. Shortly after his initial diagnosis with the chronic disease, Danny Julian was told by his doctors that he could expect to live another year and a half.

Danny Julian immediately made up his mind to make the most of the days he had left and find every way to spend as much time as possible with his two sons—Preston and Ty, who was just a toddler at the time.

Fortunately, Danny Julian has proved the medical professionals wrong so far, but the decision he made to spend time with his son on that dark day six years ago has changed both of their lives.

“I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him so we took up fishing,” Danny Julian explained. “We just crappie fished a little at first but it became apparent that (Preston) had a knack for it.”

Preston Julian’s dad said a few of his longtime fishing buddies soon took notice of his son’s prodigious angling skills.

“A bunch of guys we fished with and against (in local tournaments), that were pretty good fishermen themselves, started to see how good he was when (Preston) started beating them on a regular basis,” Danny Julian said.

With his fishing skills flourishing Preston Julian made the tough decision to give up baseball, his first love, and pour all his attention into becoming a better angler.

It wasn’t long before the Seymour teenager began turning the heads of local pros with his unusual skills he regularly displayed, alongside his father, at local tournaments.

Last year, at the age of 17, Preston became one of the youngest fishermen to qualify for the BFL (Bass Fishing League), a branch of the popular Wal-Mart Fishing Series that Preston Julian describes as “Basically a minor league of professional fishing.”

Preston Julian competed last year in the BFL series that consisted of five regular season tournaments at Cherokee Lake, Douglas Lake, South Holston Lake, Watts Bar Lake and Ft. Loudon Lake. He earned enough points in those tournaments to qualify for regionals in Clarks Hill, South Carolina, where the polite teenager finished 35^th out of 200 other competitors.

Preston Julian, who credits such local fishing pros as Ott DeFoe, Mark Mauldin and Gerald Swinde for taking him under their wings and helping him learn the ropes in the highly-competitive world of professional fishing, said his next goal is to move up a level and compete in the Stren Series . He said his ultimate goal is to someday fish the FLW Tour.

At the amazing pace he’s been moving through the professional fishing ranks so far, Julian thinks it’s possible he could make his debut with FLW as early as next year.

Danny Julian said watching his son do so well, and so quickly, with fishing has been a pleasure beyond words.

“It’s something that we’ve done together and it’s been great for me seeing him do so well,” said Danny Julian. “That’s his dream (to make it to the FLW Tour) and that’s something I’d really like to see him do while I’m still able to.”

Preston Julian is looking for sponsors to help him accomplish his dream of making it to professional fishing’s highest level. The BFL tournaments costs $300 each to enter and the Stren Tournaments that Julian hopes to compete in next costs $1100 each to enter.

Danny Julian said Joe and Mitzi Graham, from Seymour Ad Value, have been a big help as sponsors so far. He said Shoneys of Knoxville has helped cover some of Preston’s expenses as a sponsor so far, as have Andy Cantillo of Bayou Bay and Dennis Dalton of The Fishing Place in Halls.

“I am very thankful for the help and support they give me,” said Preston Julian. “Without their help I wouldn’t have gotten to participate like I did last year.

“I still need a lot of help though,” Preston Julian continued. “Any help would be greatly appreciated and I would mention my sponsors name every chance I get. I am hoping to maybe have a corporate sponsor in the near future but until then I have to scrape and save.

Preston Julian says he mows lawns in the summer to help pay his own way. Julian says the name of any potential sponsors will be prominently displayed on his shirts as well as his “boat wrap.”

The next season of professional fishing tournaments for Julian begin in March. Anyone wishing to speak to Preston Julian regarding potential sponsorship should call 865-300-2173