🎣 Who We Are — The Franklin-Simpson Bass Cats

Most people never see where the Bass Cats season really starts.

It doesn’t begin at the lake or at a pond — it begins in a farm shop on Thursday evenings. Inside, rods line the walls, stations are setup, and a group of students gathers around talking strategy, practice knot tying, and getting gear ready for the weekend.

Our coach just calls it “shop practice,” but it’s where you quickly realize how much work goes into this sport.

I’ll be honest — before my kid joined the team, I knew absolutely nothing about fishing. I thought a “jig” was just a dance and assumed every lure was basically the same thing. I was VERY wrong.

These kids, however, are not guessing.

Before a boat ever launches, they’re practicing accuracy at the flipping station, organizing tackle, and planning how they’ll approach tournament day. They’ll stand there over and over trying to land a bait in the same exact spot like it’s a free throw line. Nobody is forcing them to be there. They show up because they want to get better.

As the season goes on, practice moves from the shop to the water and the lessons start getting tested for real.

Then tournament mornings come early.

Very early.

The kind of early where alarms go off and nobody knows what day it is yet. The kind of early where you’re standing in the kitchen in the dark questioning your life choices while packing snacks you’re 90% sure no one will eat and double checking that a life jacket actually made it into the truck. Coffee is mandatory, conversation is minimal, and somehow something important always gets remembered halfway down the road.

Parents are running on caffeine and determination while anglers somehow have more energy than anyone else in the truck. By the time they meet their boat captains before sunrise, the kids are wide awake and excited… and the adults are still trying to figure out if they brushed their teeth.

Anglers meet their boat captains before sunrise, launch in the dark, and spend the day adjusting, problem-solving, and working together. Some days are exciting. Some days are frustrating. But every tournament teaches something.

And somehow… every single early morning is still worth it.

The Franklin-Simpson Bass Cats is a middle and high school competitive fishing team, but it quickly becomes more than that. Students learn responsibility, patience, teamwork, and how to handle both success and disappointment. Older anglers help younger ones, and over the course of a season you can truly watch these kids grow — not just as anglers, but as people.

We’re also incredibly fortunate to have two great coaches leading this team. They aren’t teachers or school staff — they’re local farmers who still make time to invest in these kids every single week. After working full days of their own, they open up the shop, run practices, answer a lot of questions, and patiently help anglers figure things out. They don’t have to do this, but they choose to, and this team simply wouldn’t be what it is without them.

We also have to recognize our boat captains. They volunteer their weekends, their boats, their gas, and a whole lot of patience to help these anglers learn. They’re teaching, encouraging, keeping everyone safe, and calmly talking through decisions while teenagers confidently explain their fishing plans. Our kids gain so much experience because of them, and we are incredibly grateful for the time they give to this team.

As a parent, I get to see the part most people don’t — the preparation, the effort, and the growth that happens long before weigh-in. And yes, my own kid is on the team, so I’m obviously biased… but after watching these students put in the work week after week, I’d still be impressed even if mine decided tomorrow he suddenly preferred video games.

I may not always understand what lure they’re talking about, but I absolutely understand the effort.

We’re proud of this group — not just for what they catch, but for how they work and how they represent Franklin-Simpson everywhere they go.

I’m excited for our community to follow along this season and see what we get to see every week.

🐾A proud (still learning) Bass Cats mom