Local high school fishing team producing great success on the water
LEXINGTON, Tenn. — The Scotts Hill Student Anglers are a highly competitive fishing team from West Tennessee comprised of middle and high school student athletes.
In just four years of existence, the Scotts Hill program has established itself as a national contender each year, qualifying for the Bassmaster National Championships, as well as the World Finals at the high school level. In 2017, Scotts Hill reached the number one ranking at the World Finals, and was the first school in the country to retire a high school fishing jersey.
More importantly, the anglers are a community that simply enjoys the sport, as several members explained Wednesday afternoon the concept of competitive fishing, as well as valuable skills they’ve learned along the way.
“When you’re out there, you’re against maybe 150 to 300 boats at a time, which is two people per boat, and you’re fishing over a span of water that anybody and everybody has access to,” said junior angler Bracyn Sullivan. “So you’re really fishing against yourself and everybody else, so that’s where the competition comes in.”
“I’ve been working on learning how to throw different baits into different types of waters,” said seventh grade angler Gabe Avalos. “There’s a lot of friends here, and you learn a lot.”
“I enjoy just the fun of riding around in a boat and catching a fish, and the chance of catching a big one,” said seventh grade angler Kaleb Winstead.
“I’ve learned so much,” said sophomore angler Nate Wilson. “There’s some really great guys, you learn a lot of lessons, not just fishing lessons but life lessons, and it’s really fun.”
As a result of their success on the water, the Scotts Hill Student Anglers have received four college fishing scholarships, and have had one individual move on to fishing at the professional level.
