When the Wren High School Fishing Team takes to the water in the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Eastern Open presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors at Lake Hartwell on Saturday, the Hurricanes will do so equipped with all of the tools necessary to sack the winning limit on their home lake. On Thursday night, the Wren “Hurricane Anglers” descended on the Academy in Anderson, S.C., in an effort to take full advantage of the new discount program offered by Academy as they made final preparations for the first tournament of 2019 Bassmaster High School Series.
As a part of their partnership with B.A.S.S. and being the presenting sponsor of the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series, Academy has extended a new discount program for anglers at the high school level. On the Thursday, prior to each Bassmaster High School Open, Academy will offer participating anglers (and their families) a 20 percent discount on their store purchase. The program is designed to support high school anglers as they make final tournament preparations.
“They have everything here,” said Seth Jenkins, a junior at Wren High School. “I come to Academy because I can get all of my fishing equipment here as well as the maintenance equipment and supplies for our boat. We’ve bought our oil and batteries here as well.”
Turner Seffrin, also a junior on the Hurricane team, offers another take on shopping at Academy. “Knowing that you can get all of your fishing supplies in one location makes a difference, but I also buy water and beef jerky for the boat too.”
The overwhelming response among the Hurricanes was that Academy is a place that has a wide variety of supplies to meet every need, and they do it at a very affordable price. Jake McGahey, a sixth grader on the Hurricane team, was excited to fill his basket with a variety of soft plastics. “They have a bunch of cool stuff here. I can find any bait for any situation.”
With changing temperatures, lots of rain and rising lake levels in the past 10 days, the fishing conditions are changing daily on Lake Hartwell, so the anglers used the shopping trip to try and nail down the winning combination of lures for the weekend event. “I’ve been practicing for this tournament for two weeks,” said senior Andrew Brock. “The changing weather, water levels and water clarity are going to have an impact on Saturday. Being able to come to Academy and knowing that I can find any bait, size or color, to match any condition I’ll face is a huge factor.” Seth Jenkins added, “I’ve been able to make notes following each practice and this new program from Academy allows me to come in here tonight and purchase a variety of baits and lures from the notes I’ve taken in practice. I even bought new rain gear tonight.”
Mark Stone, the coach of the Hurricanes, accompanied his team to Academy to make sure his kids had everything they needed for the weekend. The coach of the Wren fishing team, in its second year of existence, was complimentary of the efforts of Academy as well as B.A.S.S. “B.A.S.S. offers a great platform for high school fishing. They’re very dedicated to the development of the young angler, and it’s truly a kids-first program. Fishing gives kids an outlet. Most of these kids work and spend their own money on their fishing stuff. Having the Academy discount for high school anglers and their families on this particular night allows the kids a couple of things; it helps them to be able to buy more. And when the kids are buying their own stuff, they tend to take more ownership in their performance and hold themselves more accountable on and off the water.”
Academy’s commitment to high school fishing, was not lost on the anglers in the store. “Knowing that Academy is supporting high school fishing with this discount program makes me want to come back for all of my fishing needs,” said Seffrin.
“This program means everything to our team,” expressed Brock. “I love the idea of a discount program for high school fishing. The prices at Academy are great and that’s a big deal for those of us with a part-time job because we buy a lot of our own fishing stuff.”
Whether you’re an established high school fishing program with a lot of community support behind you or you’re a brand new program just getting started, the Academy discount for high school anglers offers everything you need to prepare yourself or your program for the tournament fishing experience. “We’ve been really lucky with our local sponsors and community support. We’ve been blessed financially in our program, to a point where we’ve been able to minimize the out of pocket expenses of our kids. The Academy discount program has made it even easier for more high schoolers to participate in fishing,” said Stone.
The Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors offers three more open tournaments in 2019, with the Southern Open on March 30, the Central Open on April 28 and the Western Open on May 11. That means there will be plenty of upcoming opportunities to take advantage of this partnership that promises to benefit high school anglers and programs nationwide.