WHITE LAKE, Mich. — Two former Adrian College bass anglers have started a program to help young anglers develop their skills.
Caleb Taylor and Nick Marsh have created A1 Angler Development of SE Michigan for Michigan high school anglers. “We will work with younger kids as long as they have a passion for the sport,” Taylor said. Taylor and Marsh fished together for Adrian College and competed in Carhartt Bassmaster College Series tournaments.
The idea for the angler development program came to Taylor when he noticed the growth of high school fishing in the last four years. “As I was going through college I had this idea of why there isn’t something like any other sport where if you want to pursue it you can have someone to help instruct you and have access to equipment,” Taylor said.
While at Adrian College, Taylor participated in the college team’s weeklong youth camp that introduced young anglers to competitive bass fishing. Taylor decided to offer young anglers a similar instructional camp with an expanded schedule. “What we are working on here is more of an all-year type of club where you can focus on fishing,” Taylor said. The inaugural program will run from the week of June 24 until the end of August with a limit of 20 two-man teams.
The program will feature some tournaments for anglers interested in competitive fishing and will provide help for other youth tournaments. “So if you want to fish in the Michigan B.A.S.S. Nation high school events and you don’t have a boat or anyone to chaperone you we include that into one of our programs,” Taylor said. “So that way we can take these anglers and their parents wouldn’t have to invest in a boat and a truck and they can get the whole experience. Hopefully while they are learning everything they need to know about fishing and college fishing they can also get into competition and we can help them succeed.”
The first session of the program will be evaluations of the anglers to determine their experience and skill levels. “We can then develop the outline of the program to fit their needs then,” Taylor said. “Maybe they really struggle at a certain tactic or maybe they just don’t know how to talk to sponsors, etc., all the stuff we feel like we can help them with.” There will also be programs set up for younger and inexperienced anglers needing to learn the basics. Based in Southeast Michigan, the program has access to more than 70 lakes for on-the-water sessions.
For more information about the A1 Angler Development program, visit a1anglerdevelopment.com.
Taylor and Marsh have also started a podcast series aimed at informing youth anglers and parents about college fishing. “We started it after fielding many questions about how to fish in college,” Taylor said. The Vision Series: How to Fish in College is available at howtofishincollege.podbean.com.
