Fishing club reels in members and awards
Noah Tiber on the Left and Kip Cunningham on the right showing off the fish that they caught during the 2021 Wisconsin bass nation event.
March 6, 2022
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Fishing Club is one of the fastest growing organizations on campus. The club now has over 50 members, a number that continues to climb every year.
Members compete in multiple events across the country with most of them taking place in the spring and summer. This year they will be traveling to different events in Arkansas, Missouri, Michigan, and one right on the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. The amount of time taken to compete is determined based on the events that have been chosen, however, the duration is typically one or two days. They compete against other schools from across the U.S. The goal for each competitor is to catch their five biggest bass and weigh them in for the top prize. After all of the fish are entered, they are released, and then they do it all over again the next day. The team with the heaviest overall weight wins. Due to the high numbers of involvement, they usually send multiple teams to these events.
“We try to get everyone to go,” says junior member Michael Zawicki. “All they need to have is a boat and the equipment to do it. An then they find a partner to fish with. We take as many teams as we possibly can with the funding that we have. Which is why fundraising is so important.”
One of the fundraisers they have coming up is a meat raffle fundraiser. The fundraiser will be at Lucy’s Hideaway Saturday, March 14 from 12-3 p.m. They will be raffling meat, as well as gift baskets including themes of hunting, wine and more.
“We’re getting all that stuff donated to us and then all our proceeds or the profit we get from the raffle will go to our team expenses,” says Zawicki.
The club isn’t just competitive. They have weekly meetings and like to just fish for fun on Whitewater Lake, as well as other fun events. During the winter the club enjoys ice fishing.
“It’s more to pass the time, and ice fishing is fun because you can have more people around you,” says Zawicki. “We could get the whole team together and fish all at once, whereas if you’re on open water in a boat, you can only have anywhere from two to four people fishing with you at a time.”
The UW-W Fishing Team is primarily focused on competitive bass fishing, but welcomes all recreational anglers. The team has had great success, including national qualifiers in both the Bassmaster and Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) series. For members, the team is a great way to make friends and to explore competitive bass fishing. The UW-W Fishing Team holds weekly meetings at 9 p.m. in room 185 of the Williams Center. For more information contact Alex Gaziano at [email protected].
