Two Lipan High School fishing teams advance to state competition

Four Lipan High School students are ‘reeling’ from their latest accomplishment.

After qualifying for and competing in the Bass Fishing Team Regional Competition on April 15 at Lake Ray Roberts, two Lipan High School fishing teams are now advancing to the state competition in May.

Calie Vance, the coach and sponsor for the Lipan bass fishing team, said that there are five tournaments per season — two in the fall and three in the spring.

Vance, who is also a second-grade teacher at Lipan Elementary, explained that as part of the competition’s West division, her team has gotten the opportunity to fish in several lakes around this area, including: Hubbard Creek Lake in Breckenridge, Possum Kingdom Lake, Lake Granbury, Lake Bridgeport, and Lake Whitney.

“Usually at our tournaments, we compete against about 200 to 215 other teams,” she said.

Each fishing team normally consists of two student anglers and an adult team captain who oversees the driving of the boat.

Vance said that during the regional competition a total of 277 teams competed, and only the top 40% advanced — meaning only 83 teams advanced to the state competition.

“They give you points on how many fish you catch,” she explained. “You can only catch five fish per tournament. You weigh your five largest and they have to be 14 inches or more to weigh in.”

Out of five Lipan teams that started this season, two have now advanced to the state level: anglers Whitt Vance and Cole Reynolds, with their captain, Brad Vance; and anglers Weston Vance and Hunter Mills, with their captain, Kit Getchell.

Sophomore Whitt and senior Reynolds placed 72nd in the competition, with three fish weighing 6.66 pounds, while senior Weston and sophomore Mills placed 12th, with four fish weighing 13.45 pounds.

“This is something that these kids work at and really love to do, so it's really neat to see them excel at something they're so passionate about,” said coach Calie Vance.

Calie, who is the mother of Whitt and Weston, created the Lipan bass fishing team in 2019 after then-freshman Weston asked his mom an important question.

"He's always really loved fishing, and he's been passionate about it," she said. “So one day, he said, ‘Mom, why do all these towns around have a fishing team and we don't? Why can't we have a fishing team?’ So I'm like, ‘Well, let me look into that and see what I can do.' I started it because my son really loves fishing and he couldn't imagine why we couldn't have one at our school, so I just looked into it and got the information I needed to get it started up.”

Calie explained how hard the teams have worked this season to prepare for the competitions.

“Fishing, it's fun for them, but they're up at four in the morning preparing and they're on the lake at five o'clock waiting for the first cast at six and they fish all day long,” she said. “They don't stop for lunch. They don't stop for anything. They are on the water before the sun comes up in all kinds of weather and fish all day without complaining. It's just really cool, because it's not really for the weak — there's a lot to it and they're very dedicated, so it's pretty neat to see that.”

Calie added that the support of the community has also helped the teams tremendously.

“We have a great community,” she said. “Lipan really backs the kids in this town, so the support and the sponsorship is really awesome to see in a small town like this because the town's really behind the kids and they've helped the team out a lot.”

The two teams will soon be heading to Lake Sam Rayburn near Jasper on May 20-21 for the state fishing tournament.

“I am proud to be their sponsor/coach,” Calie said, via email. “They are a great group of kids getting to excel at what they love to do. They have drive, stamina and determination.”