STA students compete at fishing championship

August 13, 2014 · 0 Comments

There’s a lot more to angling than tossing your line in the water and hoping the fish are feeling hungry.

Knowing where the fish are going to be and learning techniques to entice them to take the bait is something that requires patience and years of experience.

Six St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School students – all members of the school’s fishing club – tested their skills with a trip to the Ontario High School Bass Championships on Lake Scugog on July 27.

Jordan Santos, Emily Mount, Giovanni Dametto, Troy Giesler, Chad Siddons, and Brody Doyle, took part in the event with a chance for the winner to advance to the U.S.A. championships in Delaware. Club coaches are STA teachers Ed Donato and Justin Clayton.

Team members where partnered for the competition with pairs combing their total catch. Partners Emily Mount and Jordan Santos had the kind of morning most anglers only dream about.

After starting the competition at 6:00 a.m., they had already caught their limit within half an hour. They recorded a combined catch of 11.96 lbs to finish second in the competition.

Jordan is no stranger to the sport. He goes fishing between 50 and 100 times each season.

“Our club at the school started last year,” He explained of how kids at the school can enter the sport. “We had about 30 kids that joined. We did field trips and a lot of practical work such as which baits to use for specific fish, casting, and proper clothing as well as conservation and regulations. We went on two trips for a test run to the Grand River and met with a guide who took us around. We were fishing for trout and steelheads.”

The idea of having the students enter the Ontario Championship came about when the group met professional angler Cole Vardy, who suggested they enter the tournament. Jordan took the opportunity seriously. “I went out to Lake Scugog a few weeks before the tournament and pre-fished it to find my spot,” He said.

During the tournament, rules limited the team to five fish that had to be small or large mouth bass, and over 12 inches in length. Once you catch your limit, you can still fish and any larger ones you pull it can replace the smallest fish you have already caught.

Bait is limited to lures with no live bait allowed to really make this a game of smarts for those who know how a fish will respond to different lures.

For Emily Mount, being on a boat is second nature. She has been boating since she took her first trip at just three weeks old and has spent her whole life fishing the waters of Georgian Bay. At first she was the only girl in the STA fishing club until she convinced a friend to join as well. This was her first tournament.

“We work really hard at learning fishing, but never before in a tournament.” Emily’s uncle Lorne Mount volunteered to be the pairs coach for the day. He could go in the boat but not take part in reeling in any fish.

“It was a big accomplishment for us to come in second,” Emily said. “We left the house at 2:20 a.m. and got there around 4:30 a.m. and the tournament started at 6:00 a.m. The officials check your livewell and kill switch before you can start.”

It is a catch and release type tournament. Any fish reeled in are weighed and measured and eventually slipped back into the water.

Only the first place finisher in the tournament qualified to go to the American championships, so Jordan and Emily missed out by only a couple of pounds to Vardy and his teammate Cooper Gallant representing Nantyr Shores Secondary School who finished with a total catch of 14.82 pounds.

If anything, the tournament has increased the team’s enthusiasm for getting out on a boat and trying to outsmart their underwater prey. “It definitely made us more interested in fishing,” Emily summed up of their second place standing in the highly competitive tournament.

By Brian Lockhart