The fishing team educates students on fishing in a variety of ways which includes fishing at competitions or practicing for those competitions. The club is one of the most popular at the school, drawing a wide variety of members all with one thing in common: their love of fishing.

“The fishing team is a group of experienced fishermen who go out once a month on a Saturday morning and just have fun, compete in the tournaments and try to catch the biggest fish,” freshman Evan Bass said.

According to Statista, recreational fishing is one of the most popular outdoor activities, and in 2017, 49 million Americans participated in freshwater, saltwater and fly fishing.

“I’m just a freshman, so I haven’t won [a competition], but last year one of the guys, Brett Velviz, won an inshore tournament, and he got a big cash prize,” Bass said.

Fishing is considered an actual sport, so the members take it as seriously as an NFL player would take football, going to competitions regularly and fishing a lot on their own.

“Competitions [are held] once a month, and we don’t really practice [as a team],” Bass said. “We just have meetings once a week, and then we just go home and fish on our own.”

They are always helping each other grow, not necessarily caring who wins the competitions as long as someone from their group wins. A lot goes into fishing and there are a lot of different things you can use to gain an edge against your opponents and the teammates on the team are always there to make you better.

“You can just tell your teammates what color baits to use, what kind of baits, where to fish it and what time of day to go fish the area,” Bass said.

If anyone wants to grow as a fisherman or even just want to go have fun and try to catch something, then the fishing team is for you. They are always looking for new members to join their club the fishing team is a year round club. Their next competition for the team is coming faster than you think. So, if you are interested be sure to meet with Associate Principal Dirk Heath on how to join.