By Tammy Parris
Wow, what a great day for Swain High School Fishing Club! We accomplished our inaugural all-day fishing tournament. Swainglers, along with a few Leader In Me Group students, competed against each other for bragging rights. The day began at school with students checking in at school and loading the bus. We made a pit stop at Great Smokey Mountain Bait & Tackle to load up on last minute fishing necessities. After a short drive to the lake for check in, anglers swarmed the banks or met their parents and departed to fish Fontana from a boat. The tournament was open to all lake fish species. A variety of live bait and tackle invaded the waters.
By lunchtime, several fish had already been caught from the shore, including smallmouth and spotted bass. Reports of a slow start were rolling in from the boats, but the bite was picking up quickly. It was weigh-in time before I knew it. Countless fish were brought in, over twenty pounds! First place, which included assorted bass, walleye, and crappie, were caught from a boat by anglers Payton Ball and JT Neugin. Second place was awarded to a group of students that pooled their fish together, Ben Franklin, Jamie Edwards, Tanner Howell and Emory Shuler. Brooke Shropshire won third place. I have to brag on Brooke, our club president. She was the only girl that fished and she fished solo from the banks. Brooke didnât have the advantage of being on a boat or combining her fish with a group. The solo female angler fished the entire time and she fished âhardâ. Brooke is a rising senior, Secretary of the FFA and an original member of the Swainglers. She didnât receive the first place prize, but she earned the respect, admiration and, of course, a little jealously from her male peers. The biggest fish prize went to freshman, JT Neugin.
I decided to award gift cards instead of fishing tackle to the winners. Eighty dollars was shared between the two-member team for first place, Fifty dollars was split for second place between four anglers. Third place was twenty dollars awarded to a single angler. Biggest fish prize was twenty-five dollars. Gift cards were from the best bait store in the southâŚGreat Smokey Mountain Bait & Tackle, also know as Jacks. Store owners, Jack and Joanne Parton, have always supported The Swainglers and we appreciate that so much! A special âshout outâ to Swain County High Schoolâs new principal, Sonya Blankenship, for allowing the all-day tournament that has been my goal from the beginning. School and community support mean so much to the Swaingler students, myself and co-sponsors. Iâm super proud of âmy kidsâ and look forward to many more fishing trips!
Tammy Parris 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 tparris@swainmail.org for more information or to support this popular club.