Dakota Fleming put his country first by serving 8 years in the Army and fighting for our freedom in Iraq, but he never wavered in his passion for bass fishing. After leaving active-duty Fleming went back home to Providence, La., and started tournament fishing in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. He fished club tournaments for three years and won Angler of the year and then moved up to the Media Bass Tournaments.
“I’ve wanted to fish tournaments since I caught my first bass at 5 years old,” Fleming said. “I couldn’t do it when I was younger and didn’t have the time or means to do it while in the military but I’m pursuing the dream now.”
During his first season on the Ark-La-Miss Media division, which holds tournaments in all three states, he won two of the six tournaments, while placing in the money in four of the six and finished in the Top 10 in all six tournaments. He was crowned Angler of the year after that season.
This year he fished the Media Bass Tournament series and also competed in the Major League Fishing (MLF) Mississippi Division Tournament series. He won his second straight Angler of the Year title in the Ark-La-Miss Media division in impressive fashion as well after winning their Grenada Lake Tournament. This year he’s also been in the money in four of those tournaments.
What’s to come
Fleming has qualified for the MLF regional championship which will be held Smith Lake in Alabama Oct. 20-22 with a chance to qualify for the 2023 All American tournament. He qualified for the prestigious regional tournament while fishing four places that he’d never seen prior to competing in the tournaments. He finished in the money in four of the tournaments winning one of those.
I met Fleming at the 2022 Fish camp held at Lake Ferguson earlier this year and spent a day on the lake catching bass with him during terrible conditions. Though the weather took a turn for the worse after an extreme cold front, Fleming put me on bass and I was able to catch enough to have an enjoyable trip with the avid angler and patriot. If talent and desire is any indication of his future exploits, then we will probably hear more out of Dakota Fleming as he follows his passion of fishing tournaments.
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