Being a part of the SEC, Auburn is nationally known for its football, basketball and softball teams, especially with these programs’ success.
However, Auburn is home to more sports teams than students are even aware of.
One of these programs is the fishing team.
Fishing has been around at Auburn for about seven years, according to Lucas Brown, senior in mechanical engineering and member of the team.
“For competition wise, you’ve obviously got your pros,” Brown said. “But it’s slowly moved its way into college. It’s everywhere … Fishing is very predominant in the South.”
The way the fishing team works to fit in as a sport is through competitions the team competes in throughout the year. The approximately 40 members of the team draw from a hat and are divided into pairs of boaters and co-anglers. The pair then competes as a smaller team and must each catch five fish within their time slot on the water.
Once the five fish are caught, they are weighed, and this ending weight is how the anglers’ performances are measured.
However, the anglers can catch as many as they want, but can only keep a limit of five. For example, if an angler has already caught five, but catches another in their time slot of around seven and a half hours that weighs more than a fish they already have, they can swap the two to maximize the average weight they catch to increase their chances of winning the competition.
“You can catch fish all day long,” Brown said. “You’re just trying to get the five biggest.”
These competitions usually last around three days, where the teams with the most weight advance until there is a winner.
Once a winning team has been established, the boater and co-angler compete against each other, and the individual with the most weight advances to compete in the Bass Masters Classic.
“The Bass Masters classic is like the Masters or the Super Bowl for football,” Brown said. “So there’s two things you’re going for.”
Auburn has sent two anglers to the Bass Masters Classic; Jordan and Matt Lee, brothers who won the National Championship back to back.
Matt did not make it far in the Classic, but Jordan placed sixth the following year.
This month, Auburn is gearing up for the National Championship in Wisconsin, where they will send their top 18 anglers to compete.
“The national championship is by far the biggest tournament you can fish in college, that’s why it’s such a big deal for us.” Brown said. “We’re not the football team, we get it, but Auburn is a very sought-out school. Auburn is getting a lot of exposure through the fishing team when we’re at these big tournaments. If they see your jersey and see that you fish for Auburn, they want to come talk to you. It makes us feel good because then we know that we’re representing the school in the right manner.”
Murphy Klumpp, senior in marketing, joined the team last year after transferring from South Alabama, where he participated in their fishing program.
Klumpp and Brown both said that the team is divided when it comes to having the drive to make it to the professional level, but the ones who do are a tight-knit group.
“I’m really close with the guys on the Auburn team,” Klumpp said. “Pro is always a goal, but you have to be realistic.”
Brown said since the team holds pproximately 40 members, the difference is easy to spot.
“We’re one of the larger teams in the South,” Brown said. “Anyone that wants to fish can fish. We have a lot of people that want to just fish for fun. There’s probably like 15-10 of us that are super serious about it. We’re close, we kind of have a bond within the team because we all share the same passion. We all chase the same dream.”
Ben Wall, junior in supply chain management joined the team this year, and also said being a part of the fishing program has allowed him to meet other people who share his passion for bass fishing.
“I’ve made so many friends from joining this club and we’ve made friends from other colleges just because we all love the same thing, we’re all around the same age and so you meet so many other people,” Wall said.
When it comes to seeking recognition, the team has enough to show for to prove its success.
According to Klumpp, the team holds impressive national standings, and has even won boats from competitions.
“There’s so many programs here and being such a large school, it’s not really something that a lot of people focus on, even though we represent the school as best we can,” Klumpp said. “We’ve done so well in so many events.”
Brown said it would be nice to receive some support for the Auburn Family every now and then.
“As much effort that we put into it, and the way we represent the school, it would be nice to know our school is supporting us, it makes you feel better,” Brown said.
Wall said the team tried to sell T-shirts once on campus, and were approached by many students that didn’t know the team existed.
“We used to sell T-shirts, but people would stop and say ‘We have a fishing team? I didn’t know we had a fishing team,’” Wall said. “A lot of people don’t understand the sport of bass fishing. For the guys in our club, it’s a lot more. We put a lot of time into this, a lot of money, but we’re just in love with bass fishing. Just the fun and the thrill that we get from it.”
Wall said the team is planning on bringing in more publicity by getting involved in the community.
“We really want to help play a big part in the community,” Wall said. “Whether it’s little fishing events, little fundraisers to spread the word about tournament fishing and bass fishing and helping to get kids involved and seeing them light up when they catch their first fish. We really strive for that.”
Brown said although he takes fishing seriously, there is a lot more to it than what it seems.
“There’s a lot more to fishing than just catching fish,” Brown said. “There’s nothing better than watching the sun rise on the water where it’s quiet and you have time to think.”
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