Mike Deroche Jr, known as "MJ" to family and friends, was born in the late 70's in the bayous of Cajun Country, Houma, La. Raised in south Louisiana, he started fishing at a very young age for everything from Bass and Crappie to Redfish and Speckled Trout. He is a member of American Bass Anglers, Fishers of Men, MLF (formerly FLW), and a lifetime B.A.S.S. member.
MJ followed in his father's footsteps becoming a career Firefighter in the city he grew up in, where he not only became an EMT, but worked his way up the ranks to Captain. He then became a Safety Instructor in 2011 for an oil-field safety school on his time off. He would go on the teach safety part-time for the next 10 years. In July 2022, after 25 years in the fire service, MJ retired from Houma Fire Department. He now travels full time with his family in their camper. He enjoys seeing new places and fishing everywhere his family travels.
His dad, grandfather and uncles were the ones who taught MJ to fish, drive a boat, navigate the waterways, and more. They got him involved in small local events early on as a child but he didn't really get into the competitive side until he was 16.
During his teenage years, MJ watched one of his uncles compete in several of the Bassmaster Top 150 series, as it called back then. This fueled his desire for competitive fishing. Having fished in local tournaments since he was young, his focus was now on the bigger stage. He wanted to fish the Bassmaster series.
MJ continued to fish local events for years to come, finishing 2nd place in a saltwater tournament and 10th place in a local charity bass tournament. Then in November of 2009, his dream to fish a Bassmaster tournament came true. MJ competed as co-angler on the Bassmaster Central Open on the Atchafalaya Basin just 30 miles from his house.
The following year MJ started a saltwater tournament series, with the help of his cousin Peter, along the Louisiana coast for Speckled Trout. Unfortunately, after just 2 events, their series was cancelled due to the BP oil spill in May 2010, which closed waterways and fishing in south Louisiana.
MJ started competing again as a co-angler on the Southern division of the Bassmaster Opens series in 2013 and 2014. He then competed as a co-angler on the FLW's BFL series in the Bama division in 2015 and 2016, but dropped out in mid-season 2016 when his dad passed away. In 2017 he only fished local events, while doing marketing and promotions for GATOR STIX custom rods to help them get started.
MJ decided in 2018 to team up with long-time family friend Chris Jackson to fish the Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series, a trail Chris had fished for two years already. They chose to fish the South division of the trail.
The ABT is an officially sanctioned B.A.S.S. team trail, consisting of 225 teams per division. Both divisions, North and South, fish 5 regular season events with the top 75 teams in the points moving to the Championship. The top 9 teams move on to the Bassmaster Team Championship to compete for a berth into the Bassmaster Classic.
MJ and Chris had a rough first year together on the ABT, finishing 201 out of 225 in the points. The following year looked better for the guys after they placed 11th in the second tournament of the 2019 season. They ended up finishing that season just outside the championship cut.
MJ took the 2020 tournament season off as he and his wife welcomed their third child together. He also required a major knee surgery, which had him on crutches for over 3 months and out of work for almost a year. MJ recovered and teamed up again with Chris in the South Division for the 2021 Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series. He also fished one Phoenix Bass Fishing League event hosted by Major League Fishing (formerly FLW) as co-angler in the Bama division. But in August 2021, MJ's hometown of Houma, La took almost a direct hit from Hurricane Ida. His home suffered moderate damage but his family was safe. MJ's wife and younger kids evacuated to stay with family out of state, while MJ and his oldest son (who is also a career firefighter) stayed behind to work. Unfortunately, this ended his 2021 tournament season.
After sitting out the 2022 season to fix his family's home, MJ's is back on the ABT for 2023 and fired up, ready to hit the trail full speed.
Since 2009 MJ has worked numerous shows, including the Bassmaster Classic and ICAST, promoting sponsors. He truly enjoys working booths at these shows to promote products he believes in. He also promotes his sponsors on Facebook, Instagram and of course here on his website. MJ had the honor of serving as Staff Director for Fatsack Outdoors Inc from March 2016 - Dec 2019, as well as Marketing Manager and Staff Director for GATOR STIX Custom Fishing Rods from July 2016 - Sept 2019.
MJ wrote a couple of blogs in 2013 for a former sponsor, Pink Fishing. Back in May 2016, The Rod Glove did a profile blog about him on their website. Then in 2019, he began doing video recaps of his tournaments, or vlogs, and uploaded them to his YouTube channel as well as here on his website. MJ has started writing blogs about his travels & tournaments again, as well as doing the video recaps of his tournaments. His blogs get posted on here, while his videos get posted on his YouTube channel and shared on here.