The Wolverine Fishermen Fished Against Teams from 40 States and Canada
By: Garrett Mitchell, Staff Writer
As the Woodruff High School bass fishing team continues to grow its program by leaps and bounds, two pairs of Wolverine anglers cast their lines into uncharted waters on Aug. 18, fishing in the Bassmaster National Championship on Lake Hartwell.
It was the first time in the program’s history that student anglers from Woodruff have earned their way into the prestigious tournament.
Clay Taylor and Arden Layton formed one pair, while Lake Smith and Micah Horton comprised the other. For a tandem to earn their way to the tournament, it must be among the elite anglers in the state of South Carolina.
For coach Ricky Edmonds, it also demonstrates the love of fishing that students in Woodruff have.
“For Woodruff to put two teams in the (Bassmaster National Championship) shows the caliber of young people who love the art of fishing,” said Edmonds. “Lake and Micah started a new (fishing) trail in 2020 called the South Carolina Bass Nation Trail, and in their very first year fished against an average of 135 boats per tournament. They had to finish in the top two or three of every tournament they fished in to earn their way to the Bassmaster National Championship. They won the trail two years in a row, and to accomplish that back-to-back is nearly unheard of. These guys eat and sleep fishing.”
Clay, Arden, Lake, and Micah came up a bit short during the national championship, but to have the opportunity to compete in the country’s most prestigious angling tournament is in itself a major accomplishment.
“A lot of people in Woodruff don’t know what a high level of fishing it takes to be able to compete in this tournament,” continued Edmonds. “To earn their place, they had to fish against 194 boats in the South Carolina state championship, and they beat 194 boats. Not only that, they are also fishing against their teammates in other pairs.”
The talent also runs deep at Woodruff Middle School, with younger anglers already hooked on the sport and working their way through the program. Anglers like Trenton Nix and Parker Sloan will soon join Taylor, Layton, Smith, and Horton on the top bass fishing trails in South Carolina, hoping to cement their own spot in the national championships in the near future.
“We’ve got a great thing going,” Edmonds said.
Woodruff’s anglers are readying to begin a new fishing season as well. In what is a near year-round sport, the new trail season begins in late September on Lake Hartwell and will run through mid-August 2023. Edmonds is also confident that fishing will become a sport sanctioned by the South Carolina High School League in the very near future, something he says “Is coming.”
Added Edmonds, “I had a man ask me one time, ‘What constitutes an athlete?’ Most people would tell you it’s the quarterback who throws for 400 yards, the running back who rushed for 2,000 yards, the basketball player who scores 42 points in a game, or the baseball player who hits .300 with 30 home runs. Now, take these young men, put them in a boat in millions of gallons of water, and watch them try to catch something that they can’t even see and do it in all kinds of weather, from freezing cold to pouring rain. That’s also an athlete.”
Author: Tracy Sanders
