The Heritage Angler Fishing team is a team of about 20 people coached by Jake Ross, one of the member’s step-father. They meet up about every two to three weeks to fish, play football, baseball and prepare for competitions. Freshman Mason Boyd joined the fishing team in his seventh-grade-year with his fishing partner, freshman Garisen Haney. They met in class and started talking about it, so they decided to join the team together. When they left middle school, the fishing team went with them. The competitions start at daylight with “blast off:” they call about the numbers, and then they blast off. The maximum is five fish, and the fish have to be a certain size to be kept. The person with the most pounds wins. They use their own equipment to fish. To prepare for these competitions they could pre-fish at the lake a week before.
What’s so great about being on the fishing team? Boyd said his favorite part of being on the team is “meeting new people, going out, and doing what I love.” Haney and Boyd placed 6th in the competition out of 24 boats with 16.01 pounds. The other students, juniors Lucas Redwine and Will Smith, placed 7th with 15.76 pounds.
Haney explained that he is very close to everyone on the team: “I think of it as a part of a family.” Haney’s favorite part about the team is being able to fish and incorporate it into his school life. With his step-father being the coach and having his friend as his fishing partner, it’s apparent that he loves to fish and that it’s a big part of his life. They have another competition coming up at Lake Weiss, Alabama.
