Troy bass fishing team schools competition, reels in No. 10 national ranking

Troy University’s bass fishing team is now ranked No.10 in the country, turning a small student organization into a competitive program.

Team President Avery Padgett, a senior business major from Elba, Alabama, said when he came to Troy, there were only five members on the team. Now, according to Major League Fishing, the team sends eight or nine boats to every competition during the season.

Padgett said the team’s growth did not occur overnight. Since the team is a student-led organization, the students are responsible for recruiting new members, setting up competitions and working together to get ready for each tournament.

“The biggest part of it was just getting a handful of guys together in the early stages who actually cared about the team,” Padgett said. “We basically restructured the way the team was ran.

"That, alongside of doing some good recruiting, was the biggest part that helped us.”

Recruiting new anglers is also a team process.

“We have high school anglers reach out to us wanting to join the team, and we sit down as a team and decide who would be the best fit,” Padgett said.

This team-centered approach continues on the water.

Maxwell Hondorp is a junior business major from Pensacola, Florida and has been competing in bass tournaments since he was 10-years-old. He said college competitionsencouraged him to spend more time practicing and developing his skills.

“When I came to college, I knew the competition level would be higher, so I spent more time on the water trying to perfect what I do,” Hondorp said.

Hondorp also said when competing, his focus is on what lies below the water, not on the other anglers on top of it.

“My mental approach is that it's not me against the rest of the field,” Hondorp said. “It's simply me against the bass.”

Members of this program have many other opportunities besides tournaments. Ryder Krureger, a junior business major from Sarasota, Florida, said being a member of a student-led organization has allowed him to form friendships that will last long after he is done fishing.

“It has led me to make new friends whenever I came to college that I now look at as brothers,” Krueger says. “I think a part of that bond was made from bass fishing and being a team.”

The growth of the program has shown success is not achieved by an individual alone; it is achieved through a group of students who work together towards the same goal and represent Troy as a team.