I was born and raised in the small town of Grove, Oklahoma on the shores of Grand Lake of the Cherokees. I grew up on my family’s farm and ranch just a couple of miles off of the Elk River arm of Grand Lake, along with the many stocked bass ponds scattered across Cowskin Prairie.

I give my dad credit for introducing me to fishing, but the person that really got my fishing fever going and instilled the love and passion that I have for fishing and being around the water was my grandmother who was relentless in taking me and teaching me about fishing my entire childhood. Luckily for me, she is still fishing to this day at ninety-four years old.

I became a professional pilot after high school and kind of lost touch with my fishing roots while moving around all over the Midwest pursuing a career in aviation. However, I still always had that itch to go fishing. I have remained in aviation over the last 28 years and I am currently a First Officer at Southwest Airlines flying the Boeing 737. My love of airplanes and the speed of flying some of the world’s fastest civilian jet aircraft actually helped fuel my love for fishing and the exhilaration of gliding over the water in my Mercury powered Phoenix PHX 21.

I began fishing bass tournaments around 2004. I started out as a co-angler in the old Red Man tournament trail before it became the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, the Bass Masters Weekend Series/Ram Open Series/and now the Bass Pro Shops Open series and one season as a co-angler in the Central Pro-Am circuit. I decided about six years ago or so to move to the front of the boat in order to take some control of my own destiny when on the water fishing. I will continue fishing until my dream of becoming a professional fisherman is realized.

Darin Crowder
Contact: Email dcrowder70@aol.com