Baldwin County High anglers national-bound

Eight fishermen representing Baldwin County will compete in 315-boat national championship in South Carolina

By Cole McNanna
Sports Editor
cole@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 8/5/22

The four teams of national-qualifying anglers from Baldwin County High School hit the road earlier Friday en route to Lake Hartwell in South Carolina for the Bassmaster High School National …

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Baldwin County High anglers national-bound

Eight fishermen representing Baldwin County will compete in 315-boat national championship in South Carolina

Posted

The four teams of national-qualifying anglers from Baldwin County High School hit the road earlier Friday en route to Lake Hartwell in South Carolina for the Bassmaster High School National Championship.

Although members of the Tigers’ fishing team have qualified for the national tournament in four straight years, the eight fishermen are the most students Coach John Black has taken to the last tournament of the season.

Ryan Wright, Brody Lineberry, Chance and Noah Bryars, Hunter Travis, Jameson Norris, Jed Defee and Conner Lanham will serve as eight of Alabama’s 50 representatives at the 315-boat nationwide tournament.

At the state championship, Travis-Norris registered the highest individual finish in 34th place and were part of the six-man team with Wright-Lineberry and Bryars-Bryars that registered seventh place in the team competition with a total haul of 45.41 pounds on 45 fish.

With experience has developed a sense of calm even in big moments, Black said.

“The biggest thing we’ve learned to get better and qualify is to pay attention to detail and be focused. If you’re not paying attention, you’re going to miss stuff,” Black said Friday. “We’ve learned how to do that and to be patient and don’t give up. That’s what we’ve done. We’ve learned that over the years.”

They have also learned to take the time to study their new territory and scope out the waters as best as they can beforehand.

“We’ve done our research on it. It’s a clear lake, there’s a lot of ledge fishing and we’ve got to figure it out when we get there,” Brown said.

The water will be open for practice starting Monday until Wednesday at noon before the tournament fishing begins Thursday. The top 10 anglers fish Saturday for the national championship.

The weight of the fish is the name of the game and the coach said if the fish also aren’t at least 12 inches, the team is deducted points.

“Can only have five fish in the boat at any given time,” Black said. “If we catch bigger fish, we have two live wells so the big ones go in one and the smaller in another. We’ll put the lighter one back in the water if we catch something that’s bigger.”

As the Baldwin County fishermen will be hunting for the biggest haul, stay tuned to social media (@GCMSportsAL) and gulfcoastmedia.com/sports for updates.