Bigs Only Founder
Joe Vaulton
Bigs Only Founder
Joe Vaulton
Joe’s Story
Bigs Only founder Joe Vaulton has been an angler for most of his life. He is dedicated to all aspects of fishing. He spends his free time learning, practicing and helping others learn about fishing. Bigs Only started as a hashtag on his fishing posts. In three years, Bigs Only has become a popular clothing brand among anglers young and old. Joe uses Bigs Only as an additional opportunity to reach out to other anglers and talk about fishing. Bigs Only has recently partnered with Bill Dance: Giant Bass Open to collaborate on the BDGBO / Bigs Only Bonus Hour T-Shirts. Joe also uses Bigs Only as a way to give back to charitable organizations in East Tennessee.
Joe achieved great success during his high school fishing career. He was recently chosen as a new member of the prestigious Bassmaster High School All-American Fishing Team. Only twelve of the top high school anglers in the country have been selected for this honor. He has done all this while maintaining a 4.2 grade point average. He recently graduated 11th in his class from Carter High School. He also completed 15 hours of college credit prior to starting college. He is now a freshman at Carson-Newman University and is on scholarship with the Eagle Anglers fishing team.
Joe dedicates time outside of fishing to help others and contribute to conservation projects in his community. In addition to his college fishing tournaments, he also fishes in many adult tournaments and charity tournaments. When he is not actively fishing, he spends hours watching YouTube to learn from professionals in order to make himself a better angler.
Joe’s goals as an angler are to get better everyday, be a responsible conservationist and share his knowledge with those younger than him in order to continue to make youth bass fishing successful. He knows how fortunate he has been to learn and grow as an angler under his mentors/peers.
Joe’s Story
Bigs Only founder Joe Vaulton has been an angler for most of his life. He is dedicated to all aspects of fishing. He spends his free time learning, practicing and helping others learn about fishing. Bigs Only started as a hashtag on his fishing posts. In three years, Bigs Only has become a popular clothing brand among anglers young and old. Joe uses Bigs Only as an additional opportunity to reach out to other anglers and talk about fishing. Bigs Only has recently partnered with Bill Dance: Giant Bass Open to collaborate on the BDGBO / Bigs Only Bonus Hour T-Shirts. Joe also uses Bigs Only as a way to give back to charitable organizations in East Tennessee.
Joe achieved great success during his high school fishing career. He was recently chosen as a new member of the prestigious Bassmaster High School All-American Fishing Team. Only twelve of the top high school anglers in the country have been selected for this honor. He has done all this while maintaining a 4.2 grade point average. He recently graduated 11th in his class from Carter High School. He also completed 15 hours of college credit prior to starting college. He is now a freshman at Carson-Newman University and is on scholarship with the Eagle Anglers fishing team.
Joe dedicates time outside of fishing to help others and contribute to conservation projects in his community. In addition to his college fishing tournaments, he also fishes in many adult tournaments and charity tournaments. When he is not actively fishing, he spends hours watching YouTube to learn from professionals in order to make himself a better angler.
Joe’s goals as an angler are to get better everyday, be a responsible conservationist and share his knowledge with those younger than him in order to continue to make youth bass fishing successful. He knows how fortunate he has been to learn and grow as an angler under his mentors/peers.
Joe’s Accomplishments
First Place Finishes
5/18/24 Bass Pro Shops Trail, Angler of the Year “Points Race”, 165 teams
5/18/24 Douglas Lake, Bass Pro Shops Championship, Top 25 teams
5/5/23 Douglas Lake, UTK Smokey Invitational, 25 teams
4/21/24 Douglas Lake, Bill Dance Giant Bass Open Youth Division, 100 teams
2023 TN Bass Nation Angler of the Year “Points Race”, 500 anglers
6/24/23 Douglas Lake, UTK Smokey Invitational, 35 teams
5/14/23 Ft Loudoun, TBN SE Championship, 140 teams
10/28/23 Ft Loudoun, Bass Pro Shops, 180 teams
Second – Fifth Place Finishes
2nd 6/1/24 TN Bass Nation State Trail “Points Race”, 375 teams
3rd 4/13/24 South Holston, Bass Pro Shops, 14 teams
3rd 3/24/24 Kentucky Lake, Tn Bass Nation State, 150 teams
2nd 1/7/24 Harris Chain of Lakes Florida, MLF Open, 40 teams
2nd 12/2/23 Norris Lake, 8th Annual Brandon Card Open, 35 teams
2nd 11/11/23 Cherokee Lake, TN Bass Nation State/Southeast, 175 teams
2nd 7/29/23 Douglas Lake, Mountain Music Kids Tournament, 275 teams
4th 6/2&3/23 Douglas Lake, TBN: State Championship, 200 teams
3rd 4/22/23 Cumberland River, TN Bass Nation State, 158 teams
Sixth – 20th place finishes
15th 6/20/24 Lake Hartwell, TBF/SAF World Finals, 437 teams
6th 6/17-6/19/24 Lake Hartwell, MLF Championship, 250 teams
8th 5/31-6/1/24 Kentucky Lake, TN Bass Nation State Championship, 375 teams
7th 5/11/24 TN Bass Nation Southeast “Points Race”, 272 teams
11th 4/27/24 Chickamauga Lake, TN Bass Nation State, 140 teams
12th 11/18/23 Norris Lake, Bass Pro Shops, 35 teams
13th 10/14/23 Chickamauga Lake, TN Bass Nation Southeast, 136 teams
7th 9/9/23 Nickajack Lake, TN Bass Nation State/Southeast, 235 teams
9th 2023 Bass Pro Shops “Points Race”, 165 teams
6th 5/20/23 Douglas Lake, Bass Pro Shops Championship, Top 25 teams
14th 4/8/23 Watts Barr, Bass Pro Shops, 160 teams
17th 4/1/23 Pickwick Lake, TN Bass Nation State, 160 teams
7th 3/5/23 Chickamauga Lake, TN Bass Nation Southeast, 140 teams
8th 2/25/23 Lay Lake, Bassmasters High School Open, 210 teams
Other significant achievements
15 Time Qualifier Bassmaster High School National Championships
2 Time MLF Championship Qualifier
2024 Alcoa Fishing Team Angler of the Year
2024 Alcoa Fishing Team Top Team of the Year
2023 Alcoa Fishing Team Top Team of the Year
2022 Alcoa Fishing Team Top Team of the Year
1st 5/4/24 Douglas Lake, Children’s Miracle Network Tournament, 40 teams
1st 3/30/24 Douglas Lake, AFT Team Tourney, 35 teams
Marshalled a boat in BassMaster Tournament on Douglas Lake in March 2023
3rd 1/14/2023, Pickwick Lake, University of North Alabama High School Tourney 25 teams
1st 1/1/2023, New Years Day Tourney, Ft Loudoun, 40 teams
Scholarships
Carson Newman Eagle Angler Scholarship
Carson Newman Academic Scholarship
Hunter Northcutt Tn Bass Nation Scholarship
TN Hope Promise Scholarship
Joe has Scholarship winnings from his high school tournaments totaling over $14,000.
Charity work
July 2024 – Mountain Music Kids Tournament Casting Competition
April 2024 – Organized and held a casting competition for youth anglers at 28th Annual Alcoa Fishing Derby
March 2024 – Collection effort for Knox County Red Book of Resources – Went to local business to collect needed items for the homeless in Knoxville, TN.
February/March 2024 – Fundraising efforts for Children’s Miracle Network Fishing Tournament (responsible for over $3K in donations)
Dec. 2023 – Community outreach program at Lyons Creek Baptist Church
April 2023 – Organized and held a casting competition for youth anglers at 27th annual Alcoa Fishing Derby
Maintains a web page dedicated to fishing & fishing conservation.
Conservation
April 2024 – Alcoa Fishing Team Clean up – Douglas Lake
January 2024 – Douglas Lake conservation project creating bedding areas for Bass – Local project that Joe led with the help of several friends and family.
2023 – Habitat Project with TBN, TWRA and TVA on Douglas Lake – large successful projects for clean up efforts for the lake and fishery
2023 – Douglas Lake Kenny Chesney’s No Shoes Reef Foundation
January 2023 – Alcoa Fishing Team Clean up – Dale Hollow
Bait recycling – has drop points in his community for local anglers to recycle unwanted baits
