The Cassville High School fishing team hit Stockton Lake for a championship tournament recently, bringing back multiple awards, including Big Bass.
The Pro-Team Association Tournament(PTA)andNational Youth Fishing Association (NYFA) Championships were held June 10-11. Cassville fishing teams all qualified to fish in the top 40 percent of one or both tournaments. Teams included: Andon Goutney and Audrey Goutney, Cole Watts and Adelee Hendrix, Tristan Thompson and Chance Freed, and Hunter James and Cadyn Smith.
In the PTA Tournament, Watts and Hendrix earned fourth place and received the award for Big Bass with a weight of 5.28 pounds. Andon Goutney and Audrey Goutney placed 31st.
In the NYFA Championships, Thompson and Freed placed 12th.
The fishing program at Cassville began a few years ago with sponsor Eric White. The last couple years, Kelly and Tina Mills have run the program, and this fall, Troy and Linda Thompson will take over coaching duties.
“I coach wrestling and [former Athletic Director] Doug Martin asked one day if my son Tristan was still on the fishing team,” Troy Thompson said. “I said, ‘Yes,’ and he said, ‘Congratulations, you’re the new coach.’ Kelly and Tina have done a great job over the past two years, and we are excited to take over this coming year.”
The fishing circuit is a yearround affair, with five total tournaments on Lake of the Ozarks, Bull Shoals Lake, Stockton Lake and Table Rock Lake.
“Our first tournament next season isa shootout in September on Table Rock Lake,” Thompson said. “There is no cost for kids to join. They just have to find a boat captain.”
More than 300 boats were on Stockton Lake for the championships, and Thompson said boat captains are always needed. A boat captain provides the vessel for the high school anglers and may even fish with them in some cases. Anyone can be a boat captain, provided they own a boat, have a license and have experience bass fishing.
“Boat captains can fish with the kids in the PTA, which is cash prizes,” Thompson said. “But they cannot fish in the NYFA, only tie baits or net fish, because that one awards scholarship money.” Scholarships in the fishing world come in big numbers. At the Stockton Lake NYFA, the winning team received $114,000 in scholarships to Drury and other universities with fishing programs. The Team of the Year this year received $129,000 in scholarships.
“Fishing is a good way to build scholarship money for college and not just be plum broke,” Thompson said. “I coach wrestling and have coached football, and one benefit of getting a scholarship as a fisherman is you likely won’t have any torn ACLs or rotator cuffs. It’s a good way to get scholarship money and not beat your body up dong it.”
The Cassville fishing program has numerous local sponsors that help with baits and equipment, as well as helping students with lodging for distant tournaments.
“We try to raise enough money to get condos, and people give us a good break on those,” Thompson said. “Tournaments are Saturdays and Sundays, and we get to use Fridays as a practice round. I have a motor home, so I usually go up early and will give the kids tips on where we were catching fish and what baits we were using.”
Most anglers on the team have bass fishing experience, but Thompson said the program is a learn-as-you-go style.
“You have to be out there to learn the water and what the fish are biting on,” he said. “Time on the water is important. It’s a lot of learning as we go, but most everyone has been on the water fishing before. Kids can join with no experience at all; they just need a boat captain with enough bass fishing experience to help them.
“At our last Table Rock Tournament, guide Pete Wenners brought his boat to the high school and gave a seminar on what the fish were doing on Table Rock and how to catch them. Pete went the extra mile coming to the high school, and he brought Brian Snowden to help teach bass fishing techniques, knot tying and how to work the different baits.”
Thompson said he hopes to see participation in the program increase, especially with so many scholarship opportunities.
“I’d like to see more participation, more people volunteer their time to be a boat captain and us to be the No. 1 team in the state,” Thompson said.
For more information on the program or to become a boat captain, people may call Thompson at 417-8477396.
