Since its inception in 2005, NC State’s club bass fishing team has gained prominence in the realm of university club sports, a feat not easily attained.
The Basspack, as the club is also called, has won three national championships and also appeared on ESPN. Alumni have even expressed an interest in creating scholarships for bass fishing, something that some other universities offer incoming students interested in the sport.
The club has been able to benefit from hardworking students over the years who look to enroll at NC State to compete, and that is why current Basspack President Will Monti, a fourth-year studying agricultural science, chose to become a member of the Wolfpack.
“I knew in high school that I wanted to fish the college tournaments,” Monti said. “The Basspack has three national championships, which is the most in the nation. When I got here, it was a pretty easy choice between wanting to do the tournaments and the success of the team.”
Open to all students who are interested, the club offers a chance for those who wish to fish competitively while also providing an outlet for those who are interested in the sport itself.
Points are accumulated at the start of the calendar year, which makes it easier for rankings which are unveiled in the fall. There are multiple trails that can be followed throughout the year, with 3-4 locations accounting for over 10 tournaments.
“We do three club tournaments a semester,” Monti said. “Three in the spring, three in the fall, and then the national tournaments fall in there. There are three different trails we do. There are eleven national tournaments mixed in with the three club tournaments that we do.”
According to Monti, there are two types of competitions involved and always two people to a boat. Club tournaments play out for points in which all boats compete against each other, even those sharing a boat and those within the same club. The other is national tournaments, where the number of schools and boats can vary, but the clubs go head-to-head.
Basspack gives back to the community through working with its members and other organizations in order to host events to raise money and spread environmental knowledge to take care of the land it uses.
“We’ve done a bunch in the past, and we’re trying to build on some of them,” Monti said. “The American Cancer society has been the biggest one we’ve done. Between this year and last year, we’ve raised just shy of $4,000.”
Monti said the team also co-hosts events where families can bring their kids to fish off the docks at Jordan Lake and learn about wildlife.
A new venture the club is looking toward is helping the community through Adopt-A-Stream, which works like its highway counterpart in that volunteers clean up creeks and sections of rivers.
“That’s something that we really want to get into,” Monti said. “Because that is something we can always have. We don’t have to wait for an opportunity to open up.”
This weekend Basspack will team up with East Carolina to kick off the new club season. Together, they will host a tournament and fundraiser event at Lake Norman, which will be open to the public. With other small schools involved and an anticipated 50 to 100 boats in the water, it will be the first event of its kind.
