Watch Now – Local fishing prodigy wins national championship

A 14-year-old Smyth County teen is catching his dreams at the end of a fishing rod.

Blake Hall, an eighth-grade student at Marion Middle School, returned from North Carolina last weekend where he was awarded the 2022 winner of the U.S. Youth Fly Fishing National Competition, an annual sporting event that puts him in the running to compete at the World Fly Fishing Competition in Bosnia next year.

The largest national competition hosted by the U.S. Fly Fishing Team, the competition is the most important and prestigious competition for young anglers.

“I’m still in the shock stage, but I’m very proud,” the award-winning youth, only days from receiving the honor, said.

His father Brent Hall said the look on his son’s face when he won was one he had never seen before.

“The glisten in his eyes and his smile were unforgettable,” Brent Hall said describing his son’s reaction.

The stellar achievement is no surprise to those who know the teen and his keen sense for reading the water before casting his rod.

The teen said he’s not sure why he loves the sport of fishing as much as he does.

“It’s really peaceful to come out here on the water—-just you and the trout,” Blake said.

His mother, Kellie Hall, believes her son has an innate connection with nature, especially fish.

“He’s always liked being outdoors. That’s his peaceful place—-always playing in the woods. It’s very easy for him to go to the river and spend time there,” his mother said. “He has a wicked ability to spot fish. He really understands where the fish are going to be and how many fish are in that spot. He’s very patient and persistent.”

Her son smiled and replied, “It’s a skill that can’t be taught. It’s just something that has to be learned.”

The teen could be described as a “reel” expert.

Watching You Tube online videos, the self-taught angler has learned how to make his own custom fishing flies, sometimes selling them to neighborhood fishermen to earn a little extra money for fishing supplies.

The fishing flies he has learned to tie onto a fish hook resemble the aquatic insects that are food for the fish.

“With fly fishing, you can imitate the natural things the fish like to eat in the river, such as nymphs and other tiny bugs,” Blake said.

With the help of a family friend and avid fisherman, he’s even built his own fly fishing rod. The shorter, custom rod provides more control and maneuverability, he said, especially when he’s fishing in tight areas where there are many trees and brush.

The teen’s obsession with fly fishing began when he and his father came across fly fishing gear left behind by Blake’s late grandmother.

That’s all it took for the youth to get hooked.

His father remembers he was just a little kid when he started fishing with a Spiderman rod at the river near their house.

Now he has all the professional gear for a seasoned angler—the fly rods and reels, fishing waders and boots to keep dry while wading in the water, the fishing flies that imitate aquatic life, and even down to the sunglasses that help him follow the meandering fish in the water.

“He’s definitely easy to buy for at Christmas,” his father said laughing. “It’s been a great opportunity for us to spend time together. It started out as a pastime, but he’s built on it and taken it to a whole new level.”

A few years ago, the straight-A student opted to put his interests in playing Little League baseball and travel basketball on the back burner so he could devote all of his spare time to learning about fly fishing.

The choice has certainly paid off.

Last summer, the young self-taught angler reached out to a coach in the Southeast region for the fly fishing organization, inquiring about how to become part of the fishing team.

“I wanted to better myself as an angler and meet new people who love the sport the same way I do,” said Blake, who enjoys the camaraderie of the fishing community. He has received advice from local fly shops, attended fishing clinics, and learned from some of the best fishermen in the region.

After attending a required clinic offered by the organization, Blake entered the U.S. Youth Fly Fish National Competition for the first time last year, winning third place overall.

This year’s competition took the teen to Bakersville and Burnsville, both in North Carolina, where he competed in sessions on the South Toe River, Big Rock Creek and Little Rock Creek.

Competing with 20 youth ages 13 to 18 from throughout the country, Blake took the top spot in all four of the two-hour competitive sessions, catching 114 rainbow and brown trout with the largest one measuring 60 centimeters in length. The teen was the only young participant who placed number one in all four sessions.

During the event, Blake also participated in the Casting for Hope fundraiser where he has raised more than $900 for the non-profit that benefits women with gynecological cancers in Western North Carolina. An amount of $4.25 was pledged by donors for each of the fish he caught.

“I am happy to be able to help out by giving women an opportunity to learn to fly fish and spend time in nature when they are going through a rough time in their lives,” Blake said.

As a young teen, Blake grasped the sport and soon fell in love with everything about it.

When he wasn’t fishing, he was starving to learn more. He watched videos and read books and magazines about fishing and the people who had mastered the sport.

While most people think of fishing as simply attaching a worm to the end of a fish hook, fly fishing is quite different.

Fly fishermen use lightweight bait that resembles a fly for catching fish. The fly is presented on top of the water for the fish to spot as if it’s a bug that has landed on the water or slightly below.

Traditional fishing methods use bait—-such as worms- — that is cast out and presented to the fish below the water.

The teen said he never stops learning about the sport.

Most days, Blake dons his fishing attire and retreats to the river after school, fishing some weeks more than 20 hours.

“Every time I’m on the water, I learn something new. Rivers are very complex. Trout fishing is never the same. You can always figure out a new technique or a new bait to try out or a different place in the water.”

Confident with a fishing rod in his hands, Blake demonstrated his fishing skills in the waters near his home one afternoon last week. Clad in fishing waders, he overturned a rock in the water where he found a tiny mayfly. The young angler reached for a box of artificial fishing flies carried in a chest pack to help match up the size of the native bugs.

A retractable fishing net carried on his back allowed him to pull the fish out of water for viewing. He makes a point to always release the unharmed native fish back into the water.

“I like fishing when it’s sunny outside because there’s better bug activity on the water,” he advised.

“You need to fish in deeper water with a little moving current and one will probably eat,” said the youth, who, in minutes, pulled out a sizeable rainbow trout from the water.