High school bass fishing imparts life lessons
BASS FISHING HAS BEEN A BIG PART of my life for as long as I can remember. It was fun, rewarding and kept me out of trouble. If I wasn’t playing football or baseball, I was somewhere with a fishing pole in hand. While I loved playing sports, fishing was always my passion. Today, 118 Kentucky high schools offer a sport that would have been the best of both worlds when I was a kid—competitive bass fishing. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association announced bass fishing as a high school sport in 2012, and the number of schools offering the sport has steadily grown.
Mitchell Fort, a science teacher at Hopkinsville High School and fishing coach at Christian County High School, says the high school program is a great way to pass on a love for fishing and for teaching life lessons. Fort is well-qualified to coach. He was a member of the Murray State University fishing team that brought home the trophy for Murray State in the 2019 Fishing League Worldwide College Fishing National Championship.
“I grew up bass fishing with my dad and grandfather on lakes near our home with occasional trips to other lakes,” Mitchell says. “I knew that I wanted to be a teacher, and teaching science is great, but when the chance presented itself to coach the bass fishing team at Christian County, I jumped all over it. What a great opportunity to pass on my love of fishing, as well as life lessons that come with teamwork, and responsibilities that will always be an asset to the kids I coach.”
The enthusiasm these young anglers exude when competing in bass tournaments shows how important it is for them to be a part of a team and to put together all the lessons they’ve learned as they compete against friends and peers. Mitchell loves this part of the sport, but being a coach has given him more insight into deeper lessons, as well.
“Coaching bass fishing has given me a behind-the-scenes look at what it really means and how important it is to these kids,” he says. “Some kids come to the team that have never had the opportunity to fish before, while others come already with a wealth of knowledge about bass fishing. […] The lesson can be as simple as waking up at 4 a.m. to get to the lake on time, [or] as complex as learning how to get along with others and realizing that working together only makes you stronger. These are the things I enjoy most as a bass fishing coach, above and beyond the actual fishing.”
