Grae Buck decided to try to make a living as a professional fisherman after winning the a three-day event on the Potomac River in October of 2015. Buck, who

Grae Buck, 29, has earned more than $202,000 as a comp- petitive fisherman.  The Harleysville resident has made a  living catching small mouth and spotted bass on the Fish- League Worldwide Tour.

received a $65,000 in cash and prizes, waited unit the following spring to quit his job at a nationally recognized environmental consulting firm in Doylestown.

            "I love fishing," he said. "There's nothing like more being on the water and chasing bass. I figured it was now or never."

            Since 2014, Buck has earned $202,646 in prize money. On Saturday, Aug. 5, the Harleysville resident who is moving to Green Lane captured the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Northeast Division tournament on Oneida Lake in upstate New York. He earned $5,471 and 250 points in the Northeast Division presented by Gajo Baits standings after catching five bass weighing 16 pounds, 13 ounces. Buck, a three-year veteran of the Fishing League Worldwide Tour, has posted four tournament victories and 12 top-10 finishes in 67 events. 
            "I never knew I had what it takes to become a professional fisherman," he said. "But things just snowballed."

            A 2008 graduate of Boyertown High School who grew up fishing with his father, Buck was in eighth grade when he first fished in a bass boat in the Chesapeake Bay.  "I was hooked," he said.

            For three years, he was an active member of the Peace Valley Bass Anglers, a club based out of a Hatfield tackle shop. In college, where he studied enviormental science, Buck particpated on Penn State's club fishing team, which competed up and down the east coast.
            While working for Aqua Link, Inc. as an as environmental manager, Buck made his debut in professional fishing in October of 2014. He won the won the T-H Marine BFL 1000 Islands event in Clayton, N.Y.

            Twelve months later, he won the T-H Marine BFL Regional in Marbury, Marland. Buck, who posted a three-day total of 34 pounds, nine ounces, received a $20,000 check - a new bass boat worth $45,000, which he sold, and the confidence to quit his regular job. 

            "It was a scary time," he said. "I didn't know how things were going to work out."

            On the main FLW Tour, Bucks completes in events in Brookeland, Tex., Kissimmee, Fla., Bainbridge, Ga., Grove, Okla., Jefferson City and Dayton, Tenn., Plattsburgh, N.Y. and Hot Springs, Ark. Buck leaves home Jan. 1, with his bass boat en tow, and remains on the road for five straight weeks.

            "We travel like a NASCAR team," said Buck, who has won $49,000 in prize money on the main tour this season.

            According to Buck, the key to catching small mouthed and spotted bass is learning how they set up. He said a good fisherman has to know when to stay in a specific location to make a move.

            "The whole idea of being oon the water is trying to think like a fish," Buck said. "You're trying to read an entire ecosystem. You need to know where they live. It's a science."