After top 10 finish in Bassmaster Classic, Valley Ford’s Taylor Smith credits region’s diverse fisheries

The Spokane region is full of master bass anglers, so much so that The Spokesman-Review overlooked one of the best: Taylor Smith.

And that, Smith said, is a testament to the quality of angling here in the Inland Northwest (but also an editorial oversight).

“Bass fishing is huge across the country to have three guys from within 30 miles is pretty impressive,” he said.

“It speaks to the diversity of the fisheries here.”

Smith, of Valleyford, snagged eighth place in the 2022 Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina, beating out Spokane-area locals Joey Nania and Brandon Palaniuk (13th and 49th place, respectively).

Unlike most anglers in the “Super Bowl” of bass fishing, Smith isn’t a professional. He’s worked at Progressive insurance for nearly a decade and describes himself as “not a risk taker.”

“It’s hard to give up a good job,” he said, adding that Progressive sponsored him at the classic.

Not being a professional makes it harder for him to qualify for elite competitions, like the classic. He had to qualify through the Bass Nation Series, an amateur competition. To go to the classic, he had to beat out anglers from all 50 states and some from Canada.

But he’s found success. Smith has competed in three professional tournaments and qualified for two classics, an efficient ratio. In his short career he’s caught 71 pounds and 10 ounces of bass, winning $31,000.

To reach Lake Hartwell, Smith had to borrow an aluminum boat during the closing day of the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship and “jump a beaver pond” to get to an unfished hole upriver.

“I’m super fortunate it happened. I’ve only fished the Bass Nation twice and I’ve made the classic both times,” he said.

Despite that success, he nearly didn’t go to Lake Harwell. That’s because his wife Michaela was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and it wasn’t clear if he’d be able to leave her to compete.

But chemotherapy has had good results, he said, and she was able to accompany him to Lake Hartwell.

“It was so awesome to have her there, regardless of how the tournament went,” he said.

But the tournament went well. At the end of three days, Smith had landed himself in the top 10.

“The Spokane area and Coeur d’Alene area has some of the best fishing in the world,” he said. “There are a lot of good anglers, a lot of good guys, from this area that have gone pro just from the diversity we have in our fishery.”