The Clarke Central High School bass fishing team poses for a photo in front of the breezeway on Nov. 16, 2017. CCHS English department teacher and bass team sponsor Christian Barner (second from left) says that the program started three years ago. “The bass fishing team started when Jack Byrne and Cole Bonner were in their sophomore year here at Clarke Central,” Barner said. “They’re currently seniors. They approached me in the fall and asked me if I would be willing to sponsor a fishing team.” Photo courtesy of Christian Barner
Those instrumental in the creation of the CCHS bass fishing team reflect on how it has developed over the past three years.
During their sophomore year, Cole Bonner and Jack Byrne went to Clarke Central High School English department teacher Christian Barner with a goal. Together, they hoped to create a high school fishing team that would eventually compete against other schools. Three years later, Byrne and Bonner are now co-presidents of the official CCHS bass fishing team.
Barner, the teacher sponsor of the CCHS bass fishing team, says that the program took off right after its creation and that he now has a number of responsibilities as one of the initial leaders.
“Initially I thought it was going to be a leisurely thing, but (Cole and Jack) had a vision of doing tournaments, of moving into competitive fishing. It’s grown from that initial encounter into what it is now,” Barner said. “I sponsor the team, so I basically help to organize stuff. I’m also a captain, which means that I bring a boat and take students when tournaments are held.”
Barner says that the team is now larger than it’s ever been and that more students are starting to take notice.
“We have more people participating in it,” Barner said. “It initially started with just those two guys, and now we have 12. Last year we had eight. They’re all in two-student teams. Each student picks a partner and stays with them for the whole season. The season is the whole school year — fall and spring. We’ve got more people and we’ve raised a lot more money.”
Byrne, now a senior, believes that Barner has been crucial to the team’s growth.
“He’s been a really good sponsor and captain of our team,” Byrne said. “(In) the first year we kind of just went on a few outings, but in our junior year we decided that we were going to join tournaments. In the beginning of the season it was really tough, we didn’t really know what was going on, but by the end of the year me and Cole won the last tournament.”
According to Byrne, the last three tournaments this season have gone fairly well, and that they’re looking forward to a national qualifier coming up soon.
“We’ve done pretty well, and our next tournaments are starting up,” Byrne said. “We’re also going to a national competition at Lake Hartwell. It’s a qualifier for the national tournament. Some of them are in Alabama, but Hartwell’s only an hour away. It’ll be a bigger tournament. If you get in the top percentage, the top 15 I’m pretty sure, you qualify for nationals.”
Bonner, also a senior, also believes that the team is doing well, but that preparing for tournaments can sometimes be difficult.
“We’re mainly getting ready for them, like getting equipment, finding boat captains, learning about the lakes and finding new spots,” Bonner said. “Getting boat captains (is the most difficult). No one in Athens really has a boat, so we have to find people with boats to help us.
Bonner believes that a number of younger anglers will be able to take over the program after he and Byrne leave, that that they’ll be able to compete just as much.
“We competed in our first tournament last year, and we ended up going to the state championship and placed 12th,” Bonner said. “Our tournaments are going pretty well. It’s grown. I also see a couple of guys who are going to take over and keep it going, (like freshman) Will Forrester, (junior) Max Stapleton, (junior) Evan Lehmann and (freshman) Henry Mayfield.”
Byrne has a positive outlook for the team after his and Bonner’s graduation this May.
“Since we’re co-presidents right now, we have freshmen, juniors and sophomores on the team. We even have an eighth grader right now who are fishing with us. That’s pretty cool,” Byrne said. “We think we know who our president’s gonna be, but we’re not quite sure. We’re definitely still going on since we taught the younger kids what we have done and how we’ve done it.”
