Ranch life with Luke Palmer

Written by

Kyle Jessie

Growing up in the small town of Colgate, Okla., Bassmaster Elite Series pro Luke Palmer dreamed of being a professional angler, but he always felt as if that was a far-fetched dream. Palmer believed that his life would begin and end working at C&C Hardware, a hardware store in Colgate that has been owned by his family since the 1940s, and working at his father’s ranch. 

“I always imagined that I would be in the hardware store my entire life,” Palmer said. “Growing up I always watched Bassmaster and thought it would be so cool to be a Bassmaster pro, but I just thought there was no way I would be able to make it happen.

“Living in a small town, you kind of get the mindset that you can’t do anything outside of this.”

In 2018, Palmer broke through and qualified for the Bassmaster Elite Series. Having qualified for three Bassmaster Classics and racking up over $260,000 in his Elite Series career means that Palmer has left his hometown and the blue-collar work behind him, right? Not quite.

 

In between fishing across the country on the Bassmaster Elite Series, Palmer spends his time back home, working at his family’s hardware store and managing cattle on the ranch. The Oklahoma pro gives himself one day before practice each event to travel to the destination of the tournament, but up until that day he works. Right when Palmer gets back from each tournament, he goes right back to work.

“In the offseason and in between events, I’m up at the hardware store every day,” he said. “In the fall and winter, we head straight to the ranch and feed the cattle. We definitely stay busy here.”

Between the traveling during the season, sponsor obligations and days spent on the water, Palmer has very little free time. This begs the question — why does he continue to work so hard when not on tour?

“I really just enjoy the people,” he said. “It’s been in the family for so long that it just drives me to keep working hard. 

“Really, I just like to be able to help people. Pretty much everybody that comes into the hardware store needs help, and I love getting the chance to help.”

The principle of helping people is the same reason that he continues to work on his father’s ranch while he is in town as well. He says his father has helped him out so much over the years, that he loves to be a helping hand on the ranch. 

“It just keeps me driven,” Palmer stated. “I could just quit and go to guiding fishing trips, but as long as my dad and family wants to keep me around, I’ll still be here to help out.”

While the three-time Classic qualifier loves to be home, helping out on the ranch, he’s also ready to get the 2022 Bassmaster Elite Series season underway.

“I’m pretty pumped up for this year,” he said. “The schedule is really setting up to how I like to fish, and I really like that we’re getting to go to a few new places too.”

Palmer will head to the St. Johns River in a few short weeks to fish the first Elite Series event of the season, to be held Feb. 10-13 in Palatka, Fla.