Rogers Making Strides in Latest Career

Mark Rogers has been an athlete as long as he can remember.

After lettering in various high-school sports, the Florida pro was well on his way up the professional volleyball ranks as a college student with Chrissy, now his wife of five years, as his partner. The Rogerses were talented enough to become national champions in the Co-Ed A Division of the Bud Light beach volleyball series in 1995.

Throughout his athletic endeavors, however, there had always been an interest in tournament bass fishing.

Rogers and his father competed in team tournaments in southern California before moving to Naples on the opposite coast in 1988. He continued fishing through high school, as well as during his years at the University of Central Florida, where Rogers majored in criminal justice.

“I thought I was going to take a different route with my life,” he said. “But I had fished my whole life, and I always wanted to be a professional fisherman. I just wasn’t too sure about it.

“I continued fishing and started getting higher up in the tournaments and really getting more and more into bass. I just kept going that route. And it’s worked out, luckily.”

The 33-year-old pro has made good strides in his second career.

A year after joining the CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail full time, Rogers garnered considerable attention when he opened the 2004 Tour stop on Alabama’s Lake Eufaula with a five-bass limit weighing a whopping 31 pounds, 3 ounces. Included was a 9-pound, 6-ounce largemouth that took Purolator Big Bass honors. That catch helped Rogers finish 10th in the tournament and qualified him for the coveted BUSCH Shootout.

Overall, Rogers has cashed a check in 17 of 33 Bassmaster events and posted a pair of top-10 finishes.

“I’ve had some great days,” he said. “That day at Eufaula was an awesome day. I’ve had several good tournaments. I’ve kind of been up and down. The past couple of years I’ve been trying to level it out and get a little better average in there.

“I think this next year I’m going to kind of change some things up and just fish for average fish. Sometimes I take chances a little too much, which has hurt me. I’m just going to try to average it out because I really need to make a (CITGO Bassmaster) Classic. That’s the thing that’s really lacking for me.”

Rogers has performed well enough to qualify for the prestigious CITGO Bassmaster Elite Series’ inaugural season.

“For years I’ve always thought that was the way it should be with the smaller field,” Rogers said in praising the Elite Series. “I think the most important thing is the increase in tournaments. It’s hard to get out there and fish six tournaments for three months out of the year and really promote your sponsors in a professional type of way.

“When they increased the tournaments, that really makes for a professional sport. And I think it’s going to be huge.”

As the Elite Series approaches, Rogers is negotiating with two non-endemics companies for sponsorship, but will likely run a Gambler Lures boat wrap. His other sponsors include Gambler Boats, Mercury Marine, Pflueger reels, All Star Rods, Thunder Shad crankbaits and Maui Jim sunglasses.
 

From BASS