PARK FALLS, WIS.– Young talent. There’s plenty of it to be seen, followed, and admired within the sphere of today’s competitive bass-fishing. The top ranks of the sport’s highest-level series and tournaments are flush with rookies, competing and winning alongside veteran anglers who have – conversely – grinded, scratched, and clawed through years and even decades of competition, change, and adversity in pursuit of their triumphs.

The advent of organized angling at the high-school and collegiate levels has much to do with bass-fishing’s baby boom. Scholastic angling provides smart kids who have a passion for fishing with accelerated opportunities for learning and development, dedicated resources, an environment of like-minded peers, and the precious commodity of tournament experience.

Hunter Sales is one of those dedicated resources. The 27-year-old from Blaine, Tennessee has served as head coach of the Carson-Newman University Eagle Anglers since he graduated from the university in 2018. But for Carson-Newman’s student anglers, Sales is more than a resource; his leadership is a force-multiplier to their success. Midway through the 2024-2025 season, the Eagle Anglers are currently ranked number one overall in the race for 2024-25 Bass Pro Shops School of the Year.

While doing more than one person’s part in cultivating emerging fishing talent, Sales, himself, should properly be considered one of today’s “young guns” of tournament bass fishing. After helping to start Carson-Newman’s fishing team during his own senior year, he’s fished competitively ever since. After investing a few years in the MLF Toyota Series, Phoenix BFL, and BASS Opens, he advanced to the NPFL last year, where he finished 12th out of 118 in the NPFL Progressive AOY points race while earning a pair of top-ten finishes in six events.

“St. Croix Rod and SEVIIN Reels are angler-centric family-owned brands fueled by angler input at all levels,” says St. Croix Vice President of Marketing, Jesse Simpkins. “We’ve watched and appreciated Hunter’s journey over the past few years. His passion, knowledge, experience, personality, and influence make him a great fit for our premium, American brands. We couldn’t be more excited to announce that Hunter will be fishing our rods and reels while serving as an ambassador for the St. Croix and SEVIIN brands.”

Sales has seen a lot of rods over his career, but St. Croix was the first. “My dad used a lot of St. Croix rods while I was growing up,” Sales recalls. “He raved about them. Later on, I developed a relationship with the Koza family – owners of The Dugout Bait & Tackle in Marietta, Georgia which is an important St. Croix dealer. I started fishing some of them and was impressed… not just with the premium quality, but with the story of the brand, American craftsmanship, and their history that goes all the way back to 1948. St. Croix is definitely an aspirational brand due to its heritage, quality, and the fact that it continually develops new and better rods that appeal to everyone. I got to know Jesse (Simpkins) during my time fishing the BASS Opens and saw how great the people are at St. Croix as well. That’s also when I was first exposed to SEVIIN reels. Joey Nania is an ironman on the Bass Opens circuit and he’s also an ambassador for SEVIIN. We developed a bond due to our faith and similar outlooks on fishing and life. He sold me on SEVIIN’s performance and reliability.”

Outside of his fishing, that faith is what’s most important to Sales. “Carson-Newman is a Christian college,” he says. “My responsibility is to help the young people on my team develop into the best anglers, the best Christians, and the best human beings they can be.”

Sales says he’s looking forward to working with brands that have an unbroken history of success.

“To succeed and endure for as long as St. Croix has, you need to continually adapt,” Sales says. “It’s interesting… I can draw a parallel to the upcoming 2025 NPFL season, where there is a complete ban on forward-facing sonar. This is going to expose those competitors who can’t adapt and reward those who can. I spend a lot of time around younger anglers, so I like to use as much technology as I can. Forward-facing sonar allowed a lot of anglers to make their living fishing offshore, and because of the ban I expect many of them will flood back to the bank this season.” But Sales says he’ll still fish offshore using light line, small baits, and legal electronics. “It’s a strength of mine,” he says. “You will likely see guys fishing high-percentage targets more so than in the past, and those who excel at bait placement will likely do well in the Progressive AOY standings.”

Sales is excited to get to Santee Cooper in early March to kick off the 2025 NPFL season. The roster was recently announced and includes an impressive number of some of the biggest names in the world of professional bass fishing.

Follow Coach Hunter Sales on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

About St. Croix
Headquartered in Park Falls, Wisconsin, St. Croix has been proudly crafting the “Best Rods on Earth” for over 75 years. Combining state-of-the-art manufacturing processes with skilled craftsmanship, St. Croix is the only major producer to still build rods entirely from design through manufacturing. The company remains family-owned and operates duplicate manufacturing facilities in Park Falls and Fresnillo, Mexico. With popular trademarked series such as Legend®, Legend Xtreme®, Avid®, Premier®, Imperial®, Triumph® and Mojo, St. Croix is revered by all types of anglers from around the world. The St. Croix Family of Brands includes St. Croix Rod, SEVIIN Reels, St. Croix Fly, and Rod Geeks.

About SEVIIN Reels
Wherever and however you fish, the reel in your hand should help create better experiences. Born from St. Croix’s seven decades of design and manufacturing expertise, industry-leading customer service, and unbroken private ownership by the Schluter family dating back to 1977, SEVIIN reels are meticulously engineered and purpose-built to help anglers conquer every species on every piece of water on the planet. SEVIIN focuses on reels and reels only, designing and crafting products that improve the angling experience, regardless of the rods anglers choose. Seven seas, seven continents, seven days a week, SEVIIN reels are fueled by a collective love of fishing surpassed only by a passion to deliver the most reliable reels on the water. SEVIIN is a part of the St. Croix Family of Brands, including St. Croix Rod, SEVIIN Reels, St. Croix Fly, and Rod Geeks.