Best underdog story in Minnesota sports? Two fishermen from Mankato

They attended the same suburban Twin Cities grade school, middle school and high school, and in recent years have been students together at Minnesota State Mankato — where their goal is to turn that school into a national bass-fishing powerhouse.

Nathan Thompson and Brian Linder, both 22, have shared a passion for fishing throughout their young lives, and they've logged tens of thousands of miles — on highways as well as lakes and rivers — honing their skills.

"Since we were kids, our dream always has been to fish together in college,'' Linder said.

Now the two are poised to compete in South Carolina in early September for a national collegiate bass-fishing championship that southern schools have long considered theirs by default.

Perhaps this year will be history-making, and the trophy will come north.

For the last three years, Thompson and Linder have finished among the top 10 collegiate angling teams in the country. Last month in Michigan they qualified for September's national tournament by beating Auburn University's reigning champions, Tucker Smith and Logan Parks, at the Strike King Bassmaster College Series at Saginaw Bay presented by Bass Pro Shops.

To notch the victory, on the tourney's second day the Minnesota duo pounded Thompson's 20-foot metal-flaked Stratos 45 miles onto Lake Huron, slicing the watercraft through whitecaps en route to an underwater boulder they hoped would hold trophy-size smallmouth bass.

"We had been running in rough water for over an hour to get where we wanted to go,'' Linder said. "There was no turning back.''

College bass fishing has become so popular that sponsors limit tournament entries to 250 boats of two-person teams. In January when signups for the season's four national-title-qualifying tournaments began, slots filled in 15 minutes.

"We were online trying to sign up, but each tournament filled immediately,'' Thompson said. "We were waitlisted every time. But we went anyway, driving with our boat first to Florida, then North Carolina and Arkansas, hoping someone wouldn't show up and we could get in.''

Their luck held, and they fished each tournament.

But until they drove to Lake Huron on June 5, they hadn't finished in the top 25 of any of the contests, which is the cutoff to qualify for September's national-title competition.

"Coming into Saginaw Bay we were hungry,'' Linder said.

On the tournament's first day, he and Thompson returned to the dock with a limit of five smallmouth bass weighing 21 pounds, 1 ounce, good enough for second place behind the Auburn team.

But the Minnesota anglers would need a hefty second-day bag to win. And they wanted to win — not just finish in the tourney's top 25 teams.

"Out in the bay 45 miles or so we knew there were boulders as big as our boat in 12 feet of water because we had fished there in practice,'' Linder said. "The fish weren't there in practice, and we weren't sure they'd be there the second day. We took the chance.''

Linder's dad, Michael, is the volunteer coach of Minnesota Mankato's nascent club fishing team. His son's and Thompson's bass-finding instincts are solid, he said, thanks in large part to the experience they gained on Eagan's High School fishing team.

"Nathan and Brian can fish all day, and they enjoy exploring new water and figuring out fish patterns,'' Michael Linder said.

Deploying a Humminbird 360 side-imaging sonar on Thompson's boat, the Minnesota anglers could see fish hanging on the big boulder. But the water was crystal clear. So they positioned the boat as far as possible from the boulder before casting.

Tossing Outkast Feider Flies and drop-shotting Berkley Powerbaits, Thompson and Linder had 21 pounds of bass in their boat by 9 a.m. They finished the day with a five-fish bag weighing 23-2, for a two-day total of 44 pounds, 3 ounces, topping Auburn's squad by more than a pound.

The win can be a springboard for Minnesota collegiate bass fishing, Michael Linder believes.

"Eight years ago, when Nathan and Brian were sophomores at Eagan High School, there were 92 Minnesota high school fishing teams,'' he said. "Today there are more than 2,000 teams. The growth has been explosive, and some of those anglers, when they graduate, should be fishing for Minnesota colleges.''

Instead, he said, some of the state's best young anglers enroll at colleges in the South, where bass fishing can be a varsity sport and scholarships are sometimes available.

"We compete all the time against teams from the South that have their travel expenses paid and in some cases are provided with boats and trucks,'' Thompson said.

Linder and Thompson's goal since enrolling at Minnesota Mankato has been to grow the school's fishing team into something big.

"But when COVID hit, everything got put on hold,'' Brian Linder said. "Now we're up and running again, with club meetings and events and some support from the school. Next year we hope to have three or four Minnesota Mankato teams traveling to tournaments, not just Nathan and me.''

Marketing majors, Thompson and Linder hope someday to earn livings as professional bass anglers.

Even after his son and Thompson graduate, Michael Linder plans to coach Minnesota Mankato's fishing team.

"People are starting to understand this is an important untapped avenue not only for young men but young women,'' he said. "When the school sees we can recruit great young anglers to compete for Minnesota Mankato, they'll realize this isn't just another club sport.''