FREEBURG — Noah Dickneite had one heck of a year on the water, winning three tournaments and finishing second in two others as a co-angler between March and September. He did so well, in fact, that from Nov. 6-8, he will be competing at Grand Lake in Grove, Okla., in the Major League Fishing (MLF) Toyota Series national championship for a new boat and motor.

“This is huge,” said Andre Dickneite, who has won several championships of his own over the years, and is proud to see his son succeed. “There will probably be between 200 and 220 boaters, and most of these guys are professionals. It’s a great achievement.”

Noah competed in his first Pro-Am event when he was 16, and has the distinction of catching a keeper from the back of the boat in every tournament over the last five years, which is a very difficult statement to make. “Not very many co-anglers can make that statement,” Andre said.

What is a co-angler?

That fisherman (or woman) is on the back of the boat while a professional boater works the front. Andre explained that boaters have the option to fish wherever they want. The boater must have a dependable boat and motor.  Andre uses a Phoenix 21PHX boat and Mercury 250 Pro XS motor from Angler’s Port Marine in Warsaw. The co-angler is along for the ride, and it’s a difficult proposition in terms of catching anything worth keeping.

“They have to adapt to the conditions —  the water color, the temperature, and other things — and they basically have to figure out how to catch bass behind these boaters at the highest level in the United States (the Toyota MLF series),” Andre said.

Noah won a Gasconade Bass Club (GBC) event in March on the Lake of the Ozarks using a crankbait. He earned 16th in the Major League Fishing Toyota Series at Lake of the Ozarks, again with crankbait.

In April, Noah finished second at the MLF Toyota Series event at Kentucky Lake.

While fishing with his girlfriend, Lexi Mears, in the GBC competition in August, Noah finished second using worms. He continued his streak of excellence with a first-place finish in August, also with Lexi, Crock-o-Gator tube at the GBC tournament on the Osage River at Wardsville using a tube, and later that month, won the Joe Bass tournament at Pomme de Terre Lake with his dad using worms and Whopper Plopper.

“That was an incredible day,” Andre said.

Noah agreed. “That tournament fit right into our wheelhouse,” he said.

What made the event remarkable, in addition to winning, was how they did it. “In the last five minutes, Noah caught our biggest bass of the day,” Andre said. “He did the same thing on the Osage River; he caught the biggest fish right at the end to get the win in one of our first tournaments when Noah was younger.”

Noah then finished third in the MLF Toyota Series at Lake of the Ozarks using jig and glide bait. That earned him a second-place plaque in the Co-Angler of the Year points race. Noah missed Co-Angler of the Year honors by only 8 points. “I’m not saying I’m one of those top-level co-anglers, but I put in the work and do as much as I possibly can to put myself in good positions for these tournaments, and so far this year, it’s paid off.”

Every year that he fished a full circuit through MLF, Noah has qualified for either the regional or the championship based on his capabilities and fishing.

“I pretty much attribute all of that to my dad,” Noah said. “I grew up spending all that time on the water, and he’s always pushed me to get outside my comfort zone and become a better fisherman.”

GENERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Andre recalls at a young age accompanying his grandfather, Alex Dickneite, Sr., to the former Luecke’s Lake, now owned by the Breese family. “I have a lot of great memories from fishing with him,” he said. “My dad (Alex Dickneite, Jr.) took my brothers, Chris, Gerard, Alan, and I fishing on the Gasconade River, and I grew up with a love for it. I got more involved, not just with going out and catching crappie, but the tournament side of it.”

“It’s ingrained in our family,” Noah said. “All of my Dickneite uncles fish Gasconade Bass Club tournaments. My dad’s fished them. I won twice before I turned 13. It’s really big for a lot of local guys who like to fish. It’s how they get their competitive edge. When we fish against each other, it’s mostly for bragging rights.”

Founded on Sept. 9, 1979, the Gasconade Bass Club is one of the longest-running bass clubs in Missouri, and Alex Jr. was part of its creation.

“It’s incredible that a local club has been going strong that long,” Andre said.

GBC holds 11 tournaments a year, including the recent second annual Cooper Dorge Memorial, and the final event of the season, the Ernie Hale Memorial house tournament.

The rules for the last tournament stipulate that everyone has to fish with either someone who hasn’t fished a tournament all year or a kid under the age of 16. “We go out to a lot of vendors, shops, and businesses, and we receive donations so that no matter what happens at the end of the day, everyone who shows up is walking away with something,” Noah explained. “It might be a shirt or a hoodie; it might be $50 cash. It varies, but we always have many things.”

Hale, known for his love of the outdoors, hunting, and fishing, was the club’s largest donor for several years before he passed away. He provided guns, bows, and crossbows that GBC raffled off at the tournament.

“That raffle was one of the ways the club has stayed around as long as it has,” Andre said.

Cooper Dorge passed away last year, and the tournament honors him and his love of fishing. “It’s another tournament where everyone is urged to fish with a kid,” Noah said.

The challenge to involve children in the sport of fishing is nothing new, as Andre has helped students every year for a long time. “My dad has always done his best to get kids into fishing,” Noah said.

“We want to do as much as we can to get the youth of not only Osage County, but everyone in general, into fishing,” Andre added. “We do as much as we can to encourage the next generation to keep fishing and enjoy the sport.”

When Noah was a freshman, Andre attempted to start a bass club at Fatima, offering a $500 donation to begin the program.

At the time, the school wasn’t interested, but a year after Noah graduated, the Fatima Bass Club officially launched.

“Matt Baker was instrumental in getting that going and keeping it moving,” Andre said. “I can’t thank him enough for taking the initiative to get that going. They’ve had a lot of success, even with a small team.”

Despite the delay, Andre, his Dad and his brothers support the club through donations, with the Dickneite family name on the jerseys in recognition of that sponsorship.

SUPPORT SYSTEM

Like anyone with a job (or pastime) that takes them away from family, Andre acknowledged that his pursuits would not be possible without his wife of 31 years, Vickie.

“Vickie is so supportive, loving, and patient,” Andre said. “You can’t be successful at fishing without having a very good support system, and she’s been there all these years.” Andre recalls that she even brought their three children (Katie, Ross, and Noah) along to many of his tournaments to cheer him on, something they continue to do today through calls, texts, and watching live weigh-ins online when they can’t be there in person.

Vickie recalls the moment she discovered his love for the sport. “The way I found out that he was a fisherman when we were first dating is that the checkbook for the Gasconade Bass Club had fallen into our driveway and the dog picked it up,” she said, noting that Andre was the club treasurer. “We had no idea where this Gasconade Bass Club checkbook came from. I was 18 years old, and that’s how I found out he was a fisherman.”

Over the years, as Andre competed — and succeeded — on the water, Vickie’s support was steadfast.

“He can have the worst day at work, but if he comes home and starts talking about fishing, it turns his day around just as quick as anything,” she said. “I’m not gonna tell him he can’t do something he loves that much. And it’s the same with Noah. It makes me proud to see them going out and doing something they love and succeed at.”

“Once a year, the Gasconade Bass Club has what’s called the couples tournament,” Andre said. “The screensaver on my phone is a picture of Vickie holding up a great big bass she caught in that tournament.”

After every tournament, Andre said, his dad calls to find out how it went. “If the tournament ends at 3 p.m., I can just about guarantee at about 10 after, I’m getting a phone call,” he noted. “He’s always the first person to call. He’s excited about it even though he can’t fish anymore; Dad still enjoys the stories and hearing what happened in the tournament.”

Andre said that his three sisters don’t fish much, but two of his sisters’ sons, Lee Verslues and Brooks Robertson, are very interested in fishing.

“They are often recruited by my uncles to fish in the house tournament, and they’re both very good fishermen, especially because they spend a lot of time fishing together,” Noah said. “It’s a full family affair. My whole family, especially my sister, Katie, and my brother, Ross, always make it a point to reach out and show support during our tournaments. It really means a lot to have their support even on our worst days.”

NEXT-LEVEL COMPETITION?

Andre said people ask him all the time if he wants to go to the next level in bass tournament fishing. His response?

“It was never really my desire to go to the next level because there are a lot of obligations between family and my job at Quaker,” he said. “The next level means traveling anywhere in the United States to fish. It’s pretty aggressive.”

Noah noted that the boater he was paired with at the last Toyota Series event, Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) Bassmaster Nick LeBrun, of Bossier City, La., is a full-time professional. “He fishes at the highest level of bass fishing, and he is gone from his family more or less seven months out of the year, with nothing but an occasional weekend home,” he said.

“That’s not something I want to do,” Andre said. “I mean, I love the competition, but I don’t feel comfortable doing it at that level with all the traveling.”

LeBrun has earned $128,010 in career winnings, and Noah said he enjoys the competitive nature of his job. However, there are times when that breaks down.

“Nick almost got emotional talking about his wife, just because he’s lucky to have her,” Noah said. “She takes care of the kids, signs them up for baseball, soccer, and all this stuff, and he misses a lot of those things.”

“Nick is a good person,” Andre said, noting he called Noah out of the blue to check on him recently. “He gets on Facebook, encouraging people to reach out to the Lord, and that if you’re at your darkest place, he’s there to help you. That’s amazing, and for him to call and check on Noah is special.”

“He told me when we were in the boat together that he does not look at what he’s doing as a call, necessarily, to just go fishing,” Noah said. “He really wants to inspire everyone he fishes with and anyone in the fishing community. The platform he has given to encourage people to find Jesus and to believe in God is a pretty impressive thing for him.”

Though his father is not interested in pushing for the next level of competition, Noah is motivated to do just that.

“I want to fish seven months out of the year,” he said. “I want to do all the traveling. I want to go all over the place, and it’s one of those things, I think, where absence makes the heart grow fonder. I think for a lot of people, a support system makes you appreciate what you have even more.” 

Andre wished his son the best of everything. “One thing I wanted to say about Noah is that he’s going to be successful because he makes the time and effort to do it,” Andre said. “If you have that much passion, I don’t care if it’s tennis, golf, or football — if you’re conditioning, getting things done, and have a desire to do this, then you’re going to be successful.”

NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Noah is stoked to compete and is doing all he can to gain a competitive edge before the tournament next week.

“I’ve got two weeks of prep time,” he said at the time of this writing. “The most important thing for me going into that tournament is conditioning, and that depends on whether I get the chance to take the boat out on the Osage River for a little bit in the evening, or I just grab a couple rods and go to local private ponds, or my uncles’ ponds. I’ve got a large private lake that I have the ability to fish. I’m thankful that these friends and family members allow me to hone my skills on their waters. I try to do as many things as I can to give myself time on the water so that I’m as ready as I can be. I’m not making bad casts. I’m paying attention to my line, and I do as much as I can to heighten my senses before I go into that tournament.”

Noah is familiar with Grand Lake, having fished it three times previously. “The very first regional I ever qualified for was on Grand Lake, late in the fall, just like this,” he said. “I’ve already seen what the lake can be exactly like for the times that I’m going to be there.”

Noah knows not only what to do, but what to avoid. “I really try to focus on my weak spots in fishing, and there are certain things that I, as a fisherman, do not do really well,” he said. “So, when I have this time leading into tournaments, I try to practice a lot of those techniques and tricks and things locally, and to give myself confidence in fishing on the highest level.”

Noah is following Andre’s approach to the tournament. “Dad has been very good at always doing his homework,” he said. “It might sound kind of funny, but we have old VHS tapes and DVDs, and folders for all of these lakes with articles from that time of the year, what that guy was doing, what he was throwing, what the water temperature was the day of the tournament. I’ll sit down and read through past events in that timeframe, and do as much as I possibly can to put the odds in my favor, to be as prepared as I can be.”

Reaching the nationals is no small feat, especially in the  Plains Division of the Toyota Series. “It’s one of the most competitive, especially in the aspects of the co-angler side of things,” Noah said. “There are a couple of different professional co-anglers who are exceptionally good at catching fish behind other people. To throw monetary value out there, one of the guys won over $200,000 fishing from the back of the boat.”

PROFESSIONAL ASPIRATIONS

Is there a transition from co-angler to boater?

“I think we’re at the end of the interview,” Andre quipped.

Seriously, though, Noah said he understands the sentiment. “I think something that both excites and terrifies Dad is when I have my own bass boat, and I can fish as the ‘pro’ in these tournaments. I feel pretty confident that I could be very competitive against most of the guys from the professional side. Right now, I don’t have a boat, so I’m staying in my lane; whenever I get my time, I’ll make my waves.”

“This is like any other sport,” Andre said, “I don’t see too many 57-year-olds playing in the National Football League. So, it’s kind of the same. I’m not saying that I can’t compete, but it’s long days on the water, and a lot of things to keep up with like electronics and forward facing SONAR. You’ve got to make accurate casts. Picture a dock on Lake of the Ozarks; you have to make a skip underneath those cables back up to where the walkway leads down to the dock. It takes a lot of practice to make accurate casts, and it takes time on the water. But as you get older, you just don’t fish the way you used to. The mechanics change. I love the sport; I’ll fish until the day I die, but sometimes reality hits you in the head, and I’m starting to kind of see that.”

Without a doubt, Andre said, his favorite tournaments are those he fishes with Noah. “When we can get together and spend time out on the water, that is absolutely my favorite, by far. One of these days, Noah will be going out with the boat, and I’ll pass the torch.”

“In relation to what Dad was just saying, it has been a privilege of mine to fish with him, after all of the years that Dad has spent taking me to Lake of the Ozarks, Truman Lake, and the Osage River,” Noah said. “I’ve had a lot of success fishing the Gasconade Bass Club on the Osage River.”

“Several people came up to me after Noah got second place at Kentucky Lake, and they said, ‘I bet you’re proud of Noah.’ I said, ‘You know what? I’d be proud of Noah if he didn’t catch a single bass in this tournament,’ because I see how much desire he has and how much effort, time, and energy he’s put in. Noah is constantly looking at things on Facebook to learn about other tournaments, techniques, and guys talking about how they fish. I mean, that it can really help you with your fishing.”

When it’s all said and done, Andre has imparted his love of fishing to the next generation and beyond. Andre’s grandson, Oliver (and Owen, sons of Ross and Kristen), represent the fifth generation of the Dickneite family to toss a line in the water.

Beyond the competitive nature of tournament fishing is the camaraderie between anglers.

“That’s where you have the most fun, getting together and talking with your buddies,” Andre said. “It’s a lot of fun, and after you’ve had a busy work week, it’s nice to spend the day on the water and talk to your friends. It’s no different from football, baseball, golf, or any activity you share with your friends and family. Whether I’m in the boat with Noah or watching from the shore, I am thrilled that he is continuing to pursue bass-fishing excellence. It makes me a very proud dad.”