STORY WALKER WOOD | PHOTOGRAPHY USED WITH PERMISSION

East has a new Fishing Club that is officially open to the student body. The club started in late February and has already grabbed the attention of many students with 15 members joining the club after just three meetings.

Fishing Club president and founder Andrew Cash is very excited about the new club. He came up with the idea when a few of his friends were talking about how the school should have a fishing club in one of their classes. Then he decided to just make it himself.

“Yeah it’s always been a really fun thought of mine” Cash told Spark. “It has honestly been a dream to get a bunch of guys together and just go fishing in a pure environment for the school.”

The high number of students in the new fishing club isn’t the only success they have had, however. The club has also been sponsored by Cabela’s– an outdoor outfitter that specializes in fishing and hunting. The club received the sponsorship when Cash and his club advisor, Joseph Walsh, reached out to Cabela’s over email.

“I contacted a couple of the stores around here,” Walsh says. “[Cabela’s] said ‘yes we want to help you’.”

This sponsorship includes free fishing rods given to the club to let new fishers who don’t have a rod a chance to get into the action. Their sponsorship also includes “swag” according to Walsh.

In return for the sponsorship, the club will help volunteer with events for Cabela’s. Walsh sees this as another bonus for students of the club. He will give students community service hours and believes “it will look good for colleges.”

The group meets every Tuesday after school in Walsh’s room where they discuss various different aspects of fishing. At their last meeting, they went over different types of lures and what the advantages of each are. They also discussed which conditions each lure should be used in.

At their next meeting Cash and Walsh plan to go over different fishing knots to tie on lures and hooks. 

As for the actual fishing, they haven’t started yet. The club is actively looking for where they can fish. There are other factors as well. Club members need to get a fishing license to be able to fish at many of the locations, and the weather is not warm enough for the group to fish yet. Despite these challenges, Andrew hopes to get the club out fishing soon.

“It’s been cold lately,” Cash says. “We plan to take some trips in the spring.”

The club is still looking for more members. Their goal is to be able to ask the group “who wants to go fishing” and for multiple people to be able to go at any time. Cash is trying to get the word out that they want more members.

“We’ve been on the announcements a few times,” Cash says. “We’ve been putting it up on the TV’s around the school.”

For those interested in joining the club Cash says to, “just show up”. The club doesn’t require a club card or any entry fee. One of the kids who “showed up” recently is C.J. Muñoz. He is very excited about the proposition of fishing with the club.

“I always enjoyed fishing,” Muñoz said. “But I can never find the right time or I don’t have the right equipment necessarily.”

This club and Cabela’s sponsorship gives students like Muñoz the opportunity to fish without any of the equipment needed. 

“It’s a very fun, safe environment for just somebody that wants a good group of friends to do something that we all enjoy,” Cash said. “There aren’t any requirements to join.”