Youth fishing club growing
COSHOCTON – There is a fast growing sport in the United States today. That sport is tournament bass fishing at the high school and college level. The nice thing about this sport is that boys and girls can enjoy it and enjoy it the rest of their lives too.
Tim Ward started the high school club at Coshocton, but is willing to open it up to other student anglers in the area.
“We have students in seventh grade through 12 grade,” he said. “We have been meeting every Sunday at Coshocton Elementary school from 7 to 8:15 p.m. We have been talking about different techniques to catch bass. Another thing I’m doing with the student anglers this year is getting their boaters safety course out of the way so these students can drive a boat.”
The United States has two different organizations B.A.S.S. Bass Anglers Sportsman Society and the FLW Forest L. Wood are the circuits that put on high school bass tournaments. Both of these organizations have state tournaments in Ohio to give high school anglers a chance to advance to National tournaments.
Boys and girls can fish. This is about the only sport that students can do this competitively for the rest of their lives. Two student anglers are paired in each boat with an adult (captain). The captain drives the gas motor and the students run the electric motor and fish. Both of the organizations give scholarships away during the year and at certain tournaments.
The biggest problem so far is finding enough adults that have boats that want to spend time on the water taking student anglers during tournaments. The majority of the tournaments are during late April early June.
“Our club has traveled to Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, and Tennessee for tournaments,” Ward said. “We qualified for BASS National Tournament on Kentucky Lake and twice qualified for the FLW Regional Tournament on the Ohio River in Indiana. If you look at the numbers of high school student anglers the numbers have gone up. Most of the high school anglers are in and around Columbus and Cincinnati area. This year I went to Claymont High School to help get their club started. Eventually I would like to see fishing tournaments between area high schools, where we set dates and have a one day tournament on area lakes to see which high school can bring in the most weight.”
Last year the Coshocton club went to Indian Lake which is on the other side of Columbus, about a 2 ½ hour drive. Two years ago it went to Rocky Fork Lake at Hillsboro, about 2 ½ hours away. “It would be nice to bring those tournaments closer to our area because of the numbers of clubs,” Ward said. “The college anglers have changed the most. Some schools have really stepped up the amount of money that is available for the anglers at these schools. Some have hired fishing coaches to help these anglers through picking classes and checking on grades, and help with different techniques that are used in tournament fishing. I think this is a great way to have a team work together and students work toward a goal, how to face adversity, this gives a lot of students a purpose to live a clearer way of life while fishing, because getting up at 4 a.m., these students must go to bed early. This gives young people a healthy activity that steers them away from crime and drugs.”
The Coshocton club relies on businesses and individuals for their sponsorships and orders jerseys that have the business’ logo on them. Some of the past sponsorships are: Coshocton Trucking, The Lawn Barber, Home Loan & Savings Bank, Auer Ace Hardware, Three Rivers Energy, Central Ohio Tire, John’s Auto Detailing, Woodbury Outfitters, Farmers Insurance, and Designs By Michele.
If you are interested in joining the club or helping out with the anglers, call Tim Ward at 740-502 -7497.
Category: High School, Sports
