Students get hooked on fishing

Students from three LPS high schools lined the shores of Holmes Lake on Sept. 28 and competed in the district’s semiannual fishing tournament, held in cooperation with the National Fishing in Schools Program and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

Matt Avey, LPS health and physical education curriculum specialist, hopes the students are lifelong anglers as a result.

“Hopefully they get hooked,” Avey said. 

About 200 students from Southeast, Northeast and North Star participated at different times throughout the day. Students competed in teams of two and shared one rod. To be eligible, a student had to complete one of two LPS courses - Lifetime Sports or Outdoor Education, both of which include a fishing unit.

Students earned two points for their school for each fish they caught, with bonus points based on the length of the fish. North Star won the team competition with 24 points, with Southeast placing second (14 points) and Northeast third (six points).

In total, students caught and released 18 fish. Carter West from Southeast took home honors for longest fish by hauling in an 18-inch largemouth bass. North Star’s Bailey Wynia and Estefania Heraclio Arellano took first in the pairs competition by catching six bluegills and one largemouth bass.

The weather was perfect, Avey noted, but the students caught fewer fish than usual.

Of course, that also served as a valuable lesson: Sometimes the fish just aren’t bitin’.    

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