Students create a thriving fishing club at high school

GAYLORD — Colleges and universities reward unique skills by offering scholarships. Whether it is athletics, music or the fine arts, students can earn credits toward a degree if they have a special talent.

You can add fishing to that list and it's one of the reasons why Leeland Fox and Luke Somerville, sophomores at Gaylord High School, approached teacher Daniel Stoffer and asked him to be the adviser for the school's fishing club last spring.

"The boys came to me and said they wanted to do competitive bass fishing. They knew that I fished," Stoffer said.

So last April Stoffer, Fox and Somerville formed the GHS fishing club. Stoffer said the club has about 17 "solid" members out of a total of 25. All are boys except for one girl and Stoffer hopes to recruit more female members in the future by appealing to those who already have an interest in the outdoors.

"We can get more women involved by talking to them and exposing them to the experience of fishing while showing them what the outdoors has to offer," he said.

Fox and Somerville said Adrian College, Central Michigan University and Grand Valley State University provide bass fishing scholarships in the state.

Both students have been fishing the lakes, rivers and streams of Northern Michigan since they were children.

"I have been fishing my whole life and it's something I want to keep on doing over and over," Fox said. "Tournament fishing is something most won't be able to do."

"This is a gateway for a different type of fishing (tournament competition) plus we want to pursue fishing the rest of our lives," added Somerville.

Fox, Somerville and rest of the GHS club began entering competitive tournaments for high school anglers last spring and competed at Lake Charlevoix, Mullett Lake, Saginaw Bay, and Lake St. Clair in Michigan. They were successful enough to earn an opportunity to compete with high school teams from 39 states and Canada on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina last August at the 2022 Abu Garcia Bassmaster High School National Championship.

The Gaylord anglers finished fifth in that tourney.

"The competition (from tournaments) is good. If you go out by yourself or with friends there really isn't competition - you are just having fun," said Fox. "At tournaments it's like before a big basketball or football game. You want to compete."

"The bass fishing competition is a new world to me that is exciting," added Stoffer.

At the tournaments competitors practice "catch and release" in which anglers release fish back into the water where they are caught. This improves native fish populations by allowing more fish to remain and reproduce in the ecosystem.

Fox and Somerville not only do it at tournaments but also when they are fishing on their own. "Whenever we catch bass we normally throw them back in the lake. Occasionally we may fry up a nice perch or walleye," Somerville said.

Just about every angler out here has experienced a dry spell. No matter what lure or presentation you are using, the fish just aren't biting. Fox and Somerville are no exception.

"There are dry spells all the time and sometimes it can take hours to get out of it," Somerville said.

"At Lake Charlevoix the first day was slow but we caught fish," said Fox. "Then on the second day we got two little fish in the morning then nothing. We changed lures tried different presentations. The one thing the pros are good at is adapting when conditions change like when it is raining."

Fox and Somerville are grateful for the time Stoffer devotes to the club and also all the sponsors that have helped with the costs of entering tournaments.

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As winters approaches Stoffer said the club will turn its attention to ice fishing on Otsego and other public lakes in the area.

"I will probably bring in an experienced person to go over the safety measures like using a spud bar to get out on safe ice and wearing a life jacket," he said.

— Contact reporter Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Students create a thriving fishing club at high school