While FLW Tour pros were sinking their teeth into another day of practice at Kentucky Lake this past Monday, Lancen Halbert was focused more on, well, teeth.
The 24-year-old Tour rookie from Enoree, S.C., started dental school this week, effectively ending his career as a full-time angler — for now. Through four events this season, he was 52nd in Angler of the Year points and had a legitimate chance to contend for a berth in the Forrest Wood Cup.
But when he was accepted into the College of Dental Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina back in December, he knew the day was coming when he’d have to stow his rod and reel in favor of a white dentist’s coat. He’s facing 4 more years of schooling – the first 2 being quite intensive before doing more clinic-based work during the final 2. It’s then that he envisions being able to get back on the water in a competitive fashion.
“All along, I knew it was coming and that I’d have to start (classes) in the middle of the season and in the back of my mind, I had some hopes of maybe talking them into letting me finish out the year,” he said. “Maybe if I wasn’t doing so well, I wouldn’t mind quitting. The way it turned out, I felt like I was going pretty well for my first go-around with it.”
He opened the Major season with an 18th-place effort at Lake Hartwell. He blew up at Table Rock Lake (128th) before cashing checks at both Beaver Lake (42nd) and the Potomac River (44th).
“I was really looking forward to these next two tournaments,” he added. “These were the ones I had my mind set on the whole year. The timing just wasn’t there.”
Since graduating from Clemson University in 2010, he’d been turned down by several out-of-state dental schools so he shifted his focus to fishing. He finished 9th at the Lake Champlain FLW Eastern Series in August 2010 and fished mainly local tournaments last year before deciding to dive into Tour-level competition this season. Then, a month after he paid his deposit for the Tour Majors, he received his acceptance letter.
“I kind of figured that would happen,” he chuckled, “but I think it’ll all work out for the best. I had a lot of assistance from some friends and people I look up to and respect that pushed me in this direction – to go back to school and get my degree and come back later.”
His father, Darryl, is a dentist and also did some tournament fishing when he was younger so it’s clear the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
“I always wanted to be a dentist, but once I got into fishing, it’s all I wanted to do,” Lancen said. “He was one of the big supporters of me going back to school so I can get it out of the way. Then I can fish forever and not worry about it as much from a financial aspect at least.”
