Board Member

Tom Lang is the Founder and CEO of Lang Conservation Partners, an organization which specializes in developing strategic, mutually beneficial partnerships among conservation organizations, industry leaders, foundations, and private individuals to advance fisheries
conservation, stewardship, and the future of fishing. Prior to forming Lang Conservation Partners, he served state fish and wildlife agencies for nearly two decades. In his time at Texas Parks and Wildlife he served as Outreach Director for the Inland Fisheries Division, Director of the
Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, and as the fisheries biologist in Wichita Falls. At TPWD he provided leadership for statewide outreach programs, including the Toyota ShareLunker Program and Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. At Kansas Wildlife and Parks, Tom served as the statewide Fisheries Programs Specialist where he coordinated the Community Fisheries Assistance, Walk-In Fishing, and Fish KS Angler Education programs.

Tom spent his formative years in Louisville, Kentucky where the mighty Ohio River and nearby
Rough River Lake began his fascination with fishing and fisheries resources. Tom is a graduate
of Purdue University where he majored in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, with minors in
Communication and History and he is also a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
where he earned a Master of Science in Aquaculture/Fisheries. Tom’s research at UAPB
focused on evaluating the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Family and Community
Fishing and Fishing Derby programs.

Tom is an accomplished author in the fisheries field having written numerous manuscripts, and contributed to multiple book projects including, most notably, developing and co-editing two American Fisheries Society books titled “Urban and Community Fisheries Programs; Development, Management, and Evaluation” and “Angler Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation: The Future of Fisheries and Aquatic Conservation.” Tom routinely organizes symposia and delivers presentations on a host of pertinent topics in the fisheries field. He recently co-authored two manuscripts on ShareLunker Bass and co-organized an international symposium on Black Bass.

He has been tremendously active in serving the largest and oldest society of professional
fisheries scientists, the American Fisheries Society. He served on the Society’s Governing
Board, has served on and chaired numerous Society level committees, is a past-President of
both the AFS Socioeconomics Section and the AFS Fish Habitat Section. Tom is also a past-
President of the Aquatic Resources Education Association, has served on the National Fish
Habitat Partnership board, and the board of Fishing’s Future.

Tom has been the recipient of many honors but most notably were being selected in the first
class of “Friend of Reservoirs” by the Reservoir Fish Habitat Partnership and receiving the
American Fisheries Society’s Meritorious Service Award. However, Tom says that his greatest
and most rewarding accomplishments are being a good husband to his wife and a good father to his four amazing children: Hunter, River, Fisher, and Meadow.

Amid a fishing trip on the bass-starved Ohio River in the summer of 1987, Alan McGuckin’s Dad told a then 16-year-old “Guck” — “I don’t care what you do for a living, just promise me you’ll do something you love.”

Originally from Pittsburgh, McGuckin considers himself a blue-collar kid, who has been richly blessed to live-out the best piece of advice his dad ever gave him for many years now in the Tulsa area.

After earning a degree in ecology at Juniata College in Pennsylvania, where he placed radio transmitters in largemouth bass to track their habitat preferences, he moved his life to Oklahoma in 1992, where he earned a Masters in Zoology and Fisheries under the direction of Gene Gilliland at the University of Oklahoma, before then embarking on what’s now a nearly three decade long career as a marketing and media veteran in the fishing industry.

His career spans 28 years of wisdom-rich marketing experience working to strengthen brands and increase sales for Lowrance, Terminator Lures, Toyota, Yamaha Outboards, Boat U.S., Carhartt, Costa, Quantum, Vexus Boats, and Zebco.

• Member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame voting committee, as well as a Board of Directors member for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful.
• Co-piloted the Terminator brand of premium lures from its birth to more than 10 Million pieces sold between 1997-2006.
• Has authored and published more than 800 stories on Bassmaster.com, along with several other popular bass fishing websites.
• He has generated $3 Million dollars’ worth of branded digital media since 2020, as a content creator.
• Serves as emcee for hundreds of guests at the annual Toyota Bonus Bucks Owners event.
• Avid angler, who fishes nearly every weekend when not on the road working.
• 13,000 followers on Instagram @GuckFishing.

“Guck” lives just north of Tulsa, OK at Lake Skiatook with wife Sherrie, an elementary school principal who also loves her job, and has a genuine passion for slinging a Rapala Brat crankbait on shallow points and habitat-laden flats.

Joseph Opager has worked in the professional bass fishing industry since 2011, when he was first hired as a public relations intern by Fishing League Worldwide (FLW). Following his brief internship, Opager was hired as a full-time Communications Specialist. His communications prowess and enthusiastic personality were recognized by FLW in 2014 when he was promoted to Director of Communications, a position he held until Major League Fishing (MLF) acquired FLW in October of 2019.

As Director of Communications for MLF, Opager oversees the communications and creation of all brand messaging for the organization and associated sponsors. His role is to develop, plan and execute public relations strategies to generate earned media impressions and build brand awareness.

Over the years, working with many of the most successful professional bass fishing anglers on the planet, Opager has successfully secured national media placements in Time Magazine, the New York Times, CNN, Autoweek and the Huffington Post.

Opager, who resides in Milaca, Minnesota, grew up fishing Mille Lacs Lake in Onamia, Minnesota, and graduated from St. Cloud State University, majoring in Mass Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations. He enjoys spending his free time fishing, cooking, playing poker, watching MMA and rooting for his beloved Minnesota Vikings, but most of all spending time with his wife Amber, his daughters Camille, Kayla and Kendall, and his son Kyle.

Brandon Palaniuk burst onto the national bass fishing scene in 2010 by winning the B.A.S.S. Nation national championship. Ever since, he’s been a force in all facets of the sport. Now 34, he is an established star with an impressive resume that includes five Bassmaster Elite Series victories, a Bassmaster Open triumph and a Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year title (2017).

Hailing from northern Idaho, where he was a two-time state high school wrestling champion, Palaniuk always had a passion for bass fishing. He competed in local club tournaments before earning a spot on the Idaho state team in 2010. In March 2010, he won the co-angler division at the Lake Norman FLW Tour, pocketing $20,000 in the process. The following year, he finished 4th in his first Bassmaster Classic. In 2013, he took runner-up honors in the Classic. He has competed in 10 Classics.

Off the water, Palaniuk is an avid hunter and enjoys videography and photography.

Matt Pangrac  has been involved in the professional bass fishing industry since graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 2008, where he was a founding member of the Sooner Bass Anglers collegiate fishing team.
He began working with The BASS ZONE, an independent website that covers professional bass fishing, and was on-location for every Bassmaster Elite Series tournament from the 2008-2018 providing tournament coverage as The BASS ZONE’S senior writer. He started his own media company, 71 Media L.LC. and worked as a beat writer for the PAA Tournament Series and Toyota Texas Bass Classic. He also freelanced for both B.A.S.S. and FLW, served as the lead contact for professional team management for all Pure Fishing bass pros during the 2013 and 2014 seasons through Blue Heron Communications, and worked as an FLW LIVE analyst during the 2019 FLW Tour season.

Since 2011, Matt has been the co-host of Bass Talk Live, the nation’s longest running podcast covering the sport of professional bass fishing. An avid tournament angler, he qualified for back-to-back B.A.S.S. Nation Championships in 2016 and 2017, finished 3rd in the MLF Toyota Series Championship in 2019, and currently competes in the Bassmaster Opens.

Dan Quinn has worked at Rapala for over a decade and is the Director of Field Promotions and R&D which has him wearing many different hats. From managing the top anglers in the world, working with key media partners, as well as the talented Product Development teams at Rapala, Dan has a contagious passion for fishing and the outdoors. He is an avid angler and enjoys chasing anything that swims but his passion lies with bass. Being the son of Steve Quinn, Dan grew up with fishing in his blood and a rod in his hand. In 1997 he officially began his journey into the fishing industry, working with the Professional Walleye Trail. Aside from fishing, Dan enjoys bowhunting whitetail and introducing his young children to conservation and the great outdoors. Dan resides in Hudson, WI, is married to his beautiful wife Megan and has 2 great kids, son Mac and daughter Delaney.