Belton native Brian Latimer has dreamed of being a professional angler his entire life, and in those dreams, he imagined winning a professional tournament and hoisting the championship trophy over his head to the cheers of fishing fans everywhere.
On Sunday, those dreams became a reality as Latimer sacked up 21.3 pounds of bass to win his first professional fishing tournament, the FLW Tour on Lake Seminole presented by Costa. Latimer caught a four day total of 80.15 to hoist the trophy and collect the winning check of $100,000.
In his fourth year as a professional angler on the FLW Tour, Latimer has represented Green Pond Landing and Event Center as one of his many sponsors. He currently wears the Green Pond Landing and Event Center branding on his jersey and features a matching carpet decal located on the front deck of his Falcon bass boat.
“We had an opportunity to get to know Brian and begin working together during his rookie year on the FLW Tour. We were beginning our second season hosting tournaments at Green Pond and we were a relative unknown at that time. Aside from being from Anderson County and an obvious choice to partner with, Brian was hungry and determined and knew what a sleeping giant that Green Pond was. Over the past four years, to be able to watch Brian’s development as a professional and compare it to the success of Green Pond, it’s been really cool to watch them both rise to this level of achievement,” said Neil Paul, Executive Director at Visit Anderson.
Latimer grew up in Belton and enjoyed fishing with his father and grandfather. Lake Hartwell has always been a part of his life. “Even though I live in close proximity to five tournament lakes in the upstate, I’ve always favored Lake Hartwell because of its endless diversity. I never get bored and there’s always a new way to fish Lake Hartwell,” recalls Latimer.
“I have watched Brian Latimer for several years grow from a dreamer to a winner! His desire to learn, his hard work and ability to stay focused has moved his game to the highest level of tournament fishing. His skills and his ability to work hard in promoting his sponsors make him one of the best out there. He’s done an outstanding job as an ambassador for Anderson County and Green Pond Landing and I know the community is very proud of him,” said Bill Taylor, FLW Tour Tournament Director.
