Who's Who: Praveen Kumar, Bay Tackle Manager

Name: Praveen Kumar

Age: 31

Occupation: Store manager at

How long have you worked here? Two years.

What brought you to Bay Tackle? One, to help out a friend, who is an owner here, and also, I’ve been in the fishing business all my life. It’s a fun thing to do.

Did you start fishing when you were little? Since I was 3.

Was it something that was passed on to you? I got the outdoors from my grandfather. Ever since then, when I got a fish on the line and I felt my heart beating, I liked that high.

It gives you a rush? Absolutely.

What are you best catches? Many — a 25-pound striped bass, a sturgeon a little over 250 pounds.

Wow. That must have been a hard one! It was.

Was it one of those where you really want a big fish and then you get it and you don’t know what to do with it? Yeah. We released it, but it was cool.

How did you get it? I was on my boat and we were fishing on the Napa River using grass shrimp. Next thing you know, you get a bite. The cool thing about sturgeon fishing is that a fish can be this size (holds up his hands not very far apart) or a fish that can be as long as this room here, and that’s what this happened to be. It took a little over an hour to come in.

Did you need help? No, but I had a crowd of people there and I actually had a buddy on the river who came by, and they just watched us. I had two people in the boat help us get it alongside.

Were they cheering you on? It was cool — once I got him in I got a big round of applause.

Was that your rock star moment? That is your rock star moment. It’s pretty neat.

Besides fishing, what do you do for fun? I hang out with family, I ride jet boats and I go up to the lake.