TRAVIS WILSON
Meet your neighbor, Travis Wilson, of La Harpe.bIf you don't see him out working construction with his Grandpa John and cousin, Jacob, he will likely be somewhere fishing.
Travis says he spends most of his free time on the water and his favorite place to fish is the Mississippi River.
Travis took an interest in fishing at an early age and says he started fishing bass tournaments, from the shore, at about age 10.
In high school, he joined the Illini West Bass Fishing Team which was implemented when he was a junior. The tournaments were two man teams and he partnered with friend, Brian Lafferty. They qualified for the state tournament Travis' junior and senior year winning the IHSA State Bass Fishing Title his senior year.
After high school, Travis enrolled at Western Illinois University and was a member of the Bass Fishing Team all four years.
Teaming up with Lafferty again his junior and senior year, they qualified for the national collegiate championship tournament in Arkansas (junior year) and Georgia (senior year).
Travis is currently involved with the Bass Fishing League (BFL) through the Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) organization which is the world's largest tournament-fishing organization.
So far, in 2018, Travis has placed in the BFL taking 5th place at Rend Lake on April 28, 3rd place at Lake Shelbyville on May 19th and most recently 1st place at Rend Lake on June 23. He netted $5,705 with his 1st place earnings at Rend Lake.
Travis explains "The FLW BFL's are a nationwide tournament series that has 24 divisions (I fish the Illini division). Each division is 5 tournaments which can qualify you for 1 of 6 regionals nationwide.
My win at Rend Lake automatically qualifies me for the regional this year at Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, TN, Oct. 25-27, 2018.
You can also qualify for the regional by accumulating enough points throughout the year based on your finishes in the 5 tournaments. From the regional, you can qualify for the BFL All-American tournament. " More information on the FLW organization can be found at www.flwfishing.com.
Travis is the son of Joani Wilson and the grandson of John and Leila Link of La Harpe and Jeri Wilson of Burlington, Iowa.
He is a 2010 graduate of Illini West High School and a 2014 graduate of Western Illinois University with a degree in Construction Management. He is currently employed with John L. Link Construction.