UM Fishing Team members Costa Kell, left, and Christian Braswell compete in a tournament. Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Fishing.
After being a student-run organization since it was founded five years ago, Ole Miss Fishing has been approved as an official UM club team.
The 11-member team, which ranges from skilled fishermen to those who simply want to learn more about the sport, has for the last five years been funding its own tournaments out-of-pocket. Now, they are looking for donors to help with expenses related to trips to the nearly 15 tournaments the team fishes each year.
Since the team gained its new status, the fishermen will receive some financial support from the university to travel to tournaments.
“We want to keep growing and representing our university in a positive way,” said Andrew Hulbert, vice president of Ole Miss Fishing. “Many schools recruit fisherman and are able to give scholarships to be on the fishing team, and in our near future we look forward to being a frontrunner in the college fishing world and be able to do the same.”
Hulbert, a junior from Ridgeland, said the team recently participated in an Egg Bowl fishing event with Mississippi State at the Bass Pro Shops store in Pearl. There, the Ole Miss team members gave demonstrations on fishing techniques and participated in several friendly fishing-related competitions. But, the team doesn’t just make appearances for fun, they compete in large bass tournaments around the region, some of which have hundreds of contestants. Typically, the tournament format calls for teams weighing in their largest five fish to determine the winner.
In September, Ole Miss Fishing competed in a tournament at Pickwick Lake and had two different boats of fishermen finish 14th and 18th, respectively, out of 76 boats entered.
The team members are Christian Braswell, a senior from Gulfport who is president of Ole Miss Fishing; Hulert; P.J. Braun, a freshman from Alexandria, Virginia; Costa Kell, a junior from Dallas; Kevin Coan, a senior from Bridgeport, Texas; Sam Cox, a senior from Madison; Vic Andrews, a sophomore from Jackson; Chase Goodman, a senior from Jackson; Christopher Cunningham, a junior from Tupelo; Doug Dunlap, a junior from Memphis; and Pratt Rogers, a junior from Jackson.