By Tammy Parris
Year two of the Swainglers Fishing Club is in the books. Dozens of fish were caught but the best thing of the year was the countless smiles and laughs I witnessed! Throughout the school year, we ventured out to Fontana Lake, The Tuckasegee, Nantahala Rivers and Deep Creek. The Swainglers caught Just about every fish species of the Great Smoky Mountain Waterways.
We accomplished our goal of having an all day fishing tournament at Fontana Lake this year. JT Neugin and Payton Ball were the overall winners of the day. Our waiting list for the club continues to grow with over eighty students on it! The club is getting so popular that students from the middle school are already asking for their names to be on the waiting list so that when they arrive at the high school, they will have a better chance to be in the club.
Our last trip of the 2017-2018 year was spent at Bryson City’s favorite place to eat and fish, Nabers Drive-In Restaurant, which sits right beside the Tuckasagee River. It has become our ritual to fish there on our last trip of the year, as we did last year. Nabers is the home of the best cheeseburgers, milkshakes and their famous cherry-lemon-mountain dews.
The Tuck waters behind Nabers, require single hook, no live bait or scented lures, and is catch and release only. Several trout were reeled in by JT Neugin, Nick Bishop and Ashton Buchanan.
Summer will fly by and The Swainglers will start up again in the fall. I’m sure the members will continue to enjoy the outdoors this summer. Most of the anglers have summer jobs, but I’m sure they will find time to cast a line and set a hook!
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.