San Joaquin BassMasters building a community for youth anglers
When thinking of youth sports, football, baseball, and basketball often come to mind.
But fishing is often thought of as a recreational activity.
San Joaquin BassMasters is seeking to change that.
The club, founded in 2019 by longtime fisherman Cam Cardoza, is for youth anglers across central California who are looking for the club sports feel but not within traditional sports.
“When Cam Cardoza started this club his vision was that he wished there was something like this when he was growing up,” Brandi Rose, a club board member said. “We want to provide a fun, safe environment for the kids to continue to learn, grow and enjoy fishing.”
The Manteca-based club's fourth season began Aug. 30 with the first meeting of the 2022-23 season.
The anglers come from Stockton, Tracy, Ripon, Lodi, Modesto, and other cities in San Joaquin County. They range from fifth to 12th grade and are of all levels of fishing experience. Some of the more experienced members of the club are Mateo Garcia, 16, and Melinda Neumann, 13.
Garcia and Neumann discovered other anglers who are about their age, which provided them with peers to socialize with who also share their love for fishing.
“It feels like it's very rare to find people in my age group that enjoy being outdoors, enjoy hunting, fishing and everything like that,” Garcia said. “So finding out that there was a club specifically for my age group, and I can meet new people and learn more about fishing from person to person. It was cool.”
For Neumann, along with making fishing connections with kids from all over the county, she gets a chance to volunteer through the club at adult fishing tournaments and Bass Pro Shop. Since she is involved in other clubs and sports at school, fitting in a sport that’s all year round can be challenging.
“Fishing is a high priority for me because it's something I really love to do, and I'm passionate about it,” Neumann said. “It's sometimes difficult when you have other things on the same day but I always end up picking fishing.”
Along with making friends and volunteering, members compete in at least one tournament a month hosted by The Bass Federation, California Bass Federation, and Future Pro Tours.
At these tournaments, youth anglers are guided by boaters, typically volunteers for the San Joaquin BassMasters, to areas in the designated body of water and compare their catches of the day. Different tournaments have varying rules and regulations such as the type of equipment they can use, the type of fish you’re supposed to catch, and the state of the fish after it's caught.
Having an outlet to fish competitively opened doors for one of the club's members Briggs Alavezos, who is now a sophomore competing for the University of Montevallo Fishing Team.
“Some of it was my family, some of it was the club and they kept telling me ‘hey, you know, why don't you check out college fishing and there are scholarships,’” Briggs said on how he got introduced to collegiate level fishing. “The club really try to push that idea and try to get as many anglers out of their program or just to local tournaments.”
The club has 15 members who pay an annual membership fee of $25 to $30 depending on their age division. They said they hope to recruit more members this upcoming season.
"It's all about the kids and it's exciting to see their skill sets continue to grow as the years have gone on," Rose said. " It is more than just fishing though it's really about the community and that's why we do this."
Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: San Joaquin BassMaster building a community for youth anglers
