Pursuits: Matty Wong Is the Reel Deal
Matty Wong is the first person from Hawai‘i to qualify for the highest level of professional bass fishing tournaments.
Fishing for Matty Wong is far more than a hobby, sport or even, despite the name of this series, a pursuit. It’s given him purpose, solace and threaded his life with one serendipitous adventure after another.
It started at age 2, when the now 37-year-old began fishing with his dad for tilapia at Ala Moana Beach Park, barely sturdy enough to hold his bamboo pole. Almost immediately, he was “obsessed,” and over the years, his love for it only grew. Then in his 20s, with hopes for a musical and acting career, he moved to LA, but found after a few years that Hollywood was depleting his spirit. His desire for acting waned, and LA’s music scene wasn’t what he thought it would be. His reprieve: fishing at lakes and ponds in city parks.
So how did Wong, a Hawai‘i guy who grew up surfing, wind up as one of the country’s elite anglers?
Serendipity, of course.
Wong’s “Uncle Bob”—his father’s close friend, a fisherman—passed away, and Wong bought his boat, a 1990 Ranger 364v. “Even though the thing was super old and rough, it could still float, and I was able to get out in the water and fish the California Delta for a couple years, spending as much time as I could away from LA,” Wong says.
It so happens that California is an epicenter for bass fishing, so Wong, who by then was quite skilled at reeling in the freshwater fish, joined a local bass fishing club, then entered his first tournament in 2018, which he ended up winning. “It was just a local club event and from there, I got bit by the bug,” Wong says.
Fast forward a few years and tournaments later, and Wong won the 2021 BASS Nation Championship, on Uncle Bob’s boat. That victory earned him an invitation to the 2022 Bassmaster Elite Series, making him the first person from Hawai‘i to qualify for the highest level of professional bass fishing tournaments. “The boat was very outdated compared to my competitors’ boats,” he says. “It had one working gas tank and not a lot of storage for anything, or the latest and greatest electronics.”
This past summer, Wong announced his retirement from professional fishing. He says he’s ready for his next chapter, which includes developing an outdoor adventure show, something he’s long dreamed about. He also made an Emmy Award-winning short film with Nella Media Group, Aloha Goes Both Ways, that’s now playing on Hawaiian Airlines flights. The film documents his 2021 BASS Nation victory.
So despite ending his professional career, fishing still is steering Wong to new opportunities. Throughout his life, he says it’s grounded him and offered so much joy. “When I do it, time stands still, and it suspends my reality,” he says. “It’s always there for me, guiding me—and somehow, it just all comes together.”
Diane Seo is the editorial director of HONOLULU Magazine.
