MOORHEAD — Sometimes our career path and our hobbies turn into the best possible life story out there.
"This is Moorhead, Minnesota's Tom Huynh, your day one leader after sacking up a limit yesterday at 16.16 (pounds)," an announcer said during a 2021 broadcast of the National Walleye Tour.
Huynh never dreamed of moments like these — not only on big water and rivers, but getting big wins recently on the National Walleye Tour.
"Fish No. 1, two minutes in. That is a start," Huynh says on the tournament broadcast.
"My goal for the year is to make the championship. Now that I got here, I've thought about, maybe, trying to win it," Huynh said.
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Now, getting ready for more upcoming summer walleye tournaments, even Tom is a little surprised at all the successes.
"It's just been absolutely crazy, but I am putting in the time," Huynh said.
"I started fishing as a little kid down in Arkansas, on the farm ponds with my grandpa and my mom and my uncle," Huynh recalled. "Always wanted to fish out of a boat, but never had the opportunity because we didn't have the means for a boat."
But when Huynh isn't bringing in the walleyes and trophies on the National Walleye Tour, he is busy operating, even working at his chain of successful nail salons, Polished Nail Spa.
"I never thought I'd do fingernails," Huynh said. "I come from a cattle farm in Arkansas to go into school for computers and I'm like, 'what am I going to tell my friends, that I am doing fingernails.'"
You guessed it, he gets a few funny looks from fishing competitors.
"That's the same color as my boat," Huynh said to a customer at Polished.
"Especially when I started winning tournaments and that question would come up and people would be like, 'Really? really?' Now people think it is cool," Huynh said.
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But Huynh's success has allowed him to take his favorite hobby on the water, bringing home awards he only dreamed about.
And that grandfather in Arkansas who taught him to fish years ago? You bet he'd be proud.
"He would just think it's amazing," Huynh said.
You have the chance to meet Huynh at the Scheels Fish Fest on Friday, May 6, at 11a.m. at the Scheels parking lot on 45th Street. He is also a guest on the Scheels Outdoors Podcast.
