Lakeside fishing team making a splash

Kanon Goss and Cole Martin show off the bass they caught during the Commissioner's Cup tournament last May. Photo courtesy of Randy Teale.
Kanon Goss and Cole Martin show off the bass they caught during the Commissioner's Cup tournament last May. Photo courtesy of Randy Teale.

It may not get the attention that other teams get at Lakeside, but the school's bass fishing team is making waves across the country.

The team had a strong year last season, winning six of the 11 tournaments it entered with 21 pairings that finished in the top five.

The pairing of Kanon Goss and Cole Martin were the Trader Bill's Trail Junior Anglers of the Year and finished second in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commisioner's Cup for the second straight year. Another pair, Holten Phillips and Griffin Ralph, were the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster Junior State Champions, qualifying them to compete in the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School National Championship Oct. 18-24 on Kentucky Lake and Barkley Lake in Paris, Tenn.

Holten Phillips and Griffen Ralph, members of the Lakeside fishing team, display their catches during a bass tournament last year. Photo courtesy of Angie Ralph.
Holten Phillips and Griffen Ralph, members of the Lakeside fishing team, display their catches during a bass tournament last year. Photo courtesy of Angie Ralph.

Goss and Martin have been fishing with the team for the past four years, but it was Martin who helped get the team started.

"Cole had mentioned to me that we needed a fishing team," said Britani Martin, Cole's mother. "He's always loved to fish. He's fished with his dad, but mainly with his pop (Randy Teale) since he was probably 3. After over and over him nagging me about schools having fishing teams and Lakeside needed one -- at the time, Lakeside had a trap shooting team, and it was more like a club separate -- so when I looked into it, they said, basically, to have a team that's sanctioned with the organizations, you just basically needed four kids."

Britani Martin said that they got in touch with assistant superintendent Bruce Orr, who got them in touch with someone else who had been interested in starting a fishing team. Their first meeting went beyond their wildest expectations.

"We were hoping for maybe 10 kids, and, gosh, we had over 100 there," she recalled. "So there was a big interest. There's a lot of work, though, that goes into actually signing up and having a team. These boys have worked extremely hard -- finding a boat captain and finding a boat and finding a partner and then putting in the work, and it's pretty grueling."

While many of the junior anglers often compete in other sports, they do not let that keep them from putting in the time on the water.

"I'm either going to the lake, or I'm out here in the shop reorganizing the boat because I want to spend every second on the water I can," said Martin. "Because I know I want to do this in my future, and I feel like every second I'm not on the water, I'm not learning anything. So that's kind of my drive to get out there after practice."

While fishing is the main part of what the team does, it is more than just getting out on the water.

"We do community service things," Britani Martin said. "We do some conservation projects, too. We've built brush piles. ... We unfortunately didn't get to do it this year, but we do an event at the end of the year -- Fishing with Friends for the kids with special needs at Lakeside."

"We take the special needs kids out to a stocked pond at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, their hatchery ponds," said Goss. "We take them out and show them how to fish and just have fun with them because some of these kids don't ever get to fish. Some of them get fish every now and then, but it's just fun to bond with them and just take the day off to go fishing and get away from the stress of school and just everything else in the world."

Brody Luke, another member of the team, said that it is always exciting to see one of them catch a fish.

Brody Luke and Kaleb Snow, members of the Lakeside fishing team, display the bass they caught during a tournament last year. Photo courtesy of Angie Ralph.
Brody Luke and Kaleb Snow, members of the Lakeside fishing team, display the bass they caught during a tournament last year. Photo courtesy of Angie Ralph.

"I feel like it's the coolest whenever we're fishing, and then like someone will catch like a big fish," he said. "Like last time, a kid almost caught like a 5-pound bass. And just to see how their faces light up and how excited they are and how much fun it is."

Since the team is separate from the school, the members of the team have to collect sponsorships to help pay for their tournament fees, boat upkeep, organization memberships and more.

"Since we're not school sanctioned, we don't get uniforms," said Britani Martin. "We don't get anything supplied by the school, so these sponsors, I think Ms. Culbreath and the board have worked really hard to ensure that the cost is as minimal as possible.

"But this is a super-expensive sport, I'm really finding. ... The fishing jersey and who they represent up there, all that is paid for through our club, so that these boys can not have that expense because they're paying for every entry fee for a tournament. They're paying for their yearly memberships. They're paying for the gas to run the boat for two days. So sponsors are pretty big part of what we're able to do."

Holten Phillips, a member of the Lakeside fishing team, holds up the big bass that he caught during a tournament last year. Photo courtesy of Angie Ralph.
Holten Phillips, a member of the Lakeside fishing team, holds up the big bass that he caught during a tournament last year. Photo courtesy of Angie Ralph.

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