GILBERTSVILLE, Kentucky — Levi Kohl owns 200 fishing rods. Some people collect stamps. Some people collect baseball cards. Kohl collects fishing rods

He doesn’t merely admire them, though. He uses them. All of the time. Kohl, 20, a junior at Murray State who is a member of the school’s fishing team, fishes five days a week as much to year-round as he can.

It is said that if you want to get good at something you should practice every day. By going fishing so frequently, usually on nearby Kentucky Lake, Kohl is practicing for competition.

Earlier in 2024, Kohl, a native of Illinois, but now living in Kentucky, was named a Major League Fishing division’s angler-of-the-year. So, something is working.

We ended up in the same fishing boat at a recent outdoors writer event, him guiding me on the gorgeous, 160,309-acre lake only a few hours south of Seymour. We had calm water, sunshine, and 76 degrees. It was a weekday and probably most others were in class, or at work, so most of the time there was no other boat within sight of us on Kohl’s 20-foot bass boat.

We were on the prowl for smallmouth and largemouth bass.

For someone of his youthful vintage, Kohl had some stories. He said he has caught 50 bluegill at a stretch, using waxworms. Upon hearing that, I was ready to switch right away. Forget the bass. Ah, but such opportunity beckoned from another body of water.

This was one day I spent much time pondering what makes a good fisherman and why one angler catches so many fish when another sitting a few feet away in the same boat, with the same kind of lure doesn’t.

Kohl has fished for, and won, prize money in tournaments. This indicated he knew what he was doing on the water. I was a fishing schmo, which one definition stated as “an ordinary man.”

It was clear my guide was passionate. He had a lilt in his voice when describing catching a smallmouth flying through the air. “I had one a little while ago where he jumped to eye level with me,” Kohl said.

Was that a tall tale in the best tradition of fishing lore? No matter. Sounded cool.

Kohl got himself comfortable at the front of the high-speed boat. I sat in the rear. Kohl’s casts carried snap, an Aaron-Judge-like swing when he sent the bait into the water. I am an ambidextrous caster, throwing baits with either my left or my right arm, but not Brad Pitt in “A River Runs Through It.”

Still, Kohl looked professional in his casts. The line made a whipping sound as he thrust the bait. Also, he was crisper in how he wiggled the bait after its landing.

As Kohl spoke, he matter-of-factly reeled in a couple of smallmouth. The fish ignored me.

It was apparent there was no such thing as a fishing season for Kohl, indicating he had gone out in temperatures between 14 and 20 degrees.

“I’ve been the only one out on the boat ramp,” Kohl said, as he reeled in his third and fourth fish of the day.

They came in rapidly, leading to a memory.

“I’ve caught two fish at once,” Kohl said. “One got off. The bigger one.” Of course.

We cruised into a mayfly hatch unexpectedly, and they buzzed all around. The fish were pleased. They knew the mayflies would be good eating. Kohl quickly captured two more fish to release.

It would have been a fine thing for the congregating fish to send an alert to their friends, luring them to the spot but that did not seem to happen under the water.

We changed from crankbaits to tube baits and I reeled in a good fighting bass, although not of great size. “You didn’t get skunked,” Kohl said to me. “I know that word,” I replied. Anglers like Kohl never get skunked. People like me get skunked and live with the embarrassment.

Kohl nabbed two more fish. A hard bump vibrated from the bottom of my line and I began reeling. A moment later I said, “How did that get off?”

A friend of Kohl’s called on a cell phone saying where he was the fish were biting hard. Where he was, however, was on a lake a half-hour away.

Kohl recalled a day in June when 150 smallmouth and largemouth were landed. “It was so fun,” he said. I bet, finding that type of haul unimaginable.

Eventually, I reeled in another bass. Kohl kept reeling, bringing in 17 fish to my two. That’s what practice will do for you.