MEET JONATHAN KELLEY

Jonathan's passion in the sport of fishing started at a young age with his dad, John Kelley.

At 3 years old, Jonathan was introduced to fishing for the first time on the banks of the Susquehanna River. As time went on both Jonathan and his dad started expanding their horizons, and eventually got into a boat of their own. They began competing locally in Pennsylvania at club and open tournaments. Let's not forget Jonathan was still very young and always stood out in the crowd as the little guy operating his father's 18ft Bass boat. As time went on, Jonathan grew more and more passionate about the sport and picked up on any tips, tricks and styles of fishing from his dad, buddies and others. 

In 2015, Jonathan went off to college at Coastal Carolina University (CCU), where he earned his Master's Degree in Business Administration. During his time at Coastal, Jonathan became Vice President of the CCU bass fishing club and watched the team grow more and more throughout his time. During college, Jonathan competed in the Bassmaster College Series, qualifying for the Nation Championship four times! 

Upon graduation, Jonathan returned home to work as a Project Manager for his father's business. While working, Jonathan began fishing pro level events such as the MLF Toyota series and BFL series and a few other additional events.

Jonathan took each time on the water as a learning experience.  In 2020, after a successful year on the MLF Toyota Series level, Jonathan began to look at options for the next path in his fishing career. Feeling comfortable about his previous success throughout college fishing and beyond, Jonathan believed the Bassmaster Opens level was the obvious path to take. 

With everything falling in line and a dream of becoming a Bassmaster Elite Series Pro, Jonathan took the leap and signed up for his first season on the Bassmaster Open series in 2021. Accumulating two top 10 finishes and a mid 30th place finish throughout the season, Jonathan went on to win angler of the year in the Bassmaster Northern Open Division for 2021. As part of his success, Jonathan accomplished one of the hardest things to do in the sport of professional bass fishing, and that is qualifying for the Bassmaster Elite Series for 2022. Most impressively, doing so in his first attempt. 

Jonathan has tremendous support from his parents, brother, girlfriend, family, many friends and sponsors, all whom which make up the JTK Fishing Team.