By Tammy Millsaps
October’s trip was, by far, my favorite since I’ve been sponsoring the Swainglers! Two-dozen plus anglers ventured to the river at Darnell Farms. By the way, Darnell Farms Farmers Market is AWESOME! They have the best homegrown produce, activities for everyone and the best staff around!
I have several new members in the club this year. The student that always seems the most excited and ready to go is Alexandria Styles, Alex for short. Alex is a very special person in many ways. She has kind words for everyone and is very respectful to her peers and teachers. Alex and her class have jobs in the school. One of them is to come work in the office. Their duties are cleaning and stocking the coffee area and distributing the mail, so I see her everyday. The closer it gets to our fishing trips, the more excited she becomes. Once it’s fishing day and time to load the bus, she’s usually the first one on.
During our bus ride to the river, she talked about what bait she is going to use and told me about her daddy taking her fishing. On that cool October day, Alex brought nightcrawlers. She doesn’t like the feel of them but her fellow club members were happy to offer a hand baiting her hook. Within minutes, she reels in a fish and BIGGEST smile comes beaming from her as she says, “I caught a fish, I caught a fish!” Not only did she catch that one, she caught two more before our forty-five minute trip was over. No, she didn’t catch a big bass or trout, but to Alex and the rest of the Swainglers, the three knotty heads she reeled in were trophy size. Alex wasn’t fishing for sport, she was fishing for fish and just being outside enjoying the outdoors! Her bait and fishing-pole weren’t the most expensive or fancy new lure that is advertised on the Outdoor Channel. She proudly caught her three knotty-heads with nightcrawlers using a basic spin-caster reel and rod. To be honest, I had tears in my eyes when she caught her first fish. Seeing the joy and excitement in her face was contagious. Alex’s fellow anglers were congratulating her with high fives and rounds of, “Way to go Alex”!
We did have another fish caught. Experienced Angler Trevor Jones caught a nice brown trout. Trevor is an avid angler. I can always rely on him to help fellow students baiting their hook or whatever they need.
I hope you read this and take something from it. I admit, I love to catch big fish too, but that’s not what it’s always about. When we go on our Swaingler fishing trips, I don’t fish. I walk the banks checking on the kids and, of course, taking pictures. I wish everyone could catch something, rather it be a knotty head or a trophy sized tournament fish, it doesn’t matter! As you can tell by the picture of Alex displaying one of her catches, she is happy-and that’s why I sponsor this club!
Tammy Millsaps is the Leader of The Swainglers fishing club at Swain County High School in Bryson City, North Carolina. They fish once a month of the school year during club time. Contact her at tmillsaps@swainmail.org for more information or to support this popular club.