While most student athletes in the Bolivar School District participate in their sport by attending after school practices and playing home games in front of large crowds of their classmates, there is a select group of student athletes whose sport looks very different. These student athletes are part of Bolivar’s bass fishing team.

The Bolivar fishing team began about 10 years ago when some high school students expressed interest to one of their teachers about starting a fishing team. Now managed by Erin Branstetter, a teacher at Bolivar Middle School, the team consists of 10 students in both middle and high school. The student fishermen compete in pairs with middle schoolers competing at the “junior” level and high schoolers competing at the “high school” level. Since September, the team has had members compete in six tournaments and experienced much success.

“I have one high school team that already qualified for a national tournament, which means they finished as Team of the Year for that series,” Branstetter said. “That qualified them to go to a national tournament where they’ll compete against kids from all over the United States. They had to get first to do that.”

Not only does bass fishing require the students’ time, but it also requires immense skill.

“That’s the biggest, I think, misconception about fishing is that they think anybody could go out and do it and do it well and it’s just luck, like you just happen to catch the fish that you catch,” Branstetter said.

Easton Cloyd, a middle school student on the fishing team, added, “You've got to have skill… you've got to know what to do.”

The hard work and time put in is well worth it for the student fishermen, however, because of the strong emotional highs they get when they reel in a big fish.

“We spend a large amount of time fishing at places that might have the big one…so when we pull up on a spot and we can see fish on the FFS screen, it’s already an adrenaline rush,” Welch said. “Being able to cast and actually hook one that we have seen on our screen is an immediate rush. Then when we actually get it on the boat and in the livewell and know that that one fish could make the difference is even more of a rush.”

The fishermen who are good enough to qualify for nationals also get the chance to compete in exciting locations against a wide variety of other students.

“Every year we have the opportunity to go to the national championship, which is normally somewhere further off,” Welch said. “I’ve been to Wisconsin. I’ve been to Kentucky. I’ve been to some cool places just from that. It’s opened up some really cool opportunities.”

“We have kind of been all over the United States with it,” Branstetter said. “It’s really cool to see them compete against kids from all over the United States and other countries. We had some kids from Canada and Zimbabwe that we competed against in nationals the last two years.”

While seeing the country and interacting with diverse people are interesting experiences for the student fishermen, most join for much simpler reasons. Students like Welch and Cloyd joined to spend time with friends, pursue a hobby they loved, and get involved at school.

“It’s not like a regular sport, and it appeals to kids that don’t do regular sports,” Branstetter said. “It’s just nice to see kids that don’t do anything else have something for them.”

Bolivar’s fishing team has five more tournaments this school year, beginning with the second tournament in the National Youth Fishing Association (NYFA) series on April 25 and 26 and concluding with the NYFA championship on June 13 and 14.

There are many ways those interested can support the Bolivar fishing team, including buying a ticket in their yearly raffle fundraiser.

“That’s how we fund our whole season of tournament entries. If we go to a national championship, it pays for our hotel, our fuel to get there–that’s how we fund the team,” Welch said.

The fishing team holds the raffle in December every year. Participants can buy tickets from members of the fishing team for a chance to win one of three to five different prizes.

More than donating to the team, Cloyd says simply showing an interest and asking how tournaments went for him and the other team members can be a big show of support, and community support is key for ensuring these young fishermen feel as recognized as those who play under stadium lights.