Bass club doesn't measure up to rival Purdue

Imagine sitting in a boat out in the middle of Lake Monroe for eight-and-a-half hours, focusing on one task -- holding a fishing rod and waiting for a fish to bite.\nThis is exactly what the IU Bass Fishing Club did Saturday in the final showdown of the season against Purdue for the Old Minnow Bucket.\nBy the end of the tournament, the team reeled in more than 15 pounds of fish -- enough to make more than four batches of traditional Belizean fish stew, feed a killer whale for a third of a day or add up to the weight of a large Shih Tzu. \nStill, despite the club's 15-pound feat, Purdue brought in more than 30 pounds of bass to retain the Minnow Bucket for another year. But for IU's bass club, a day spent fishing is never a bad day.\n"We had fun," said club President Matt Morgan. "It was a good day on the lake. The fish just didn't cooperate."\nTwenty of IU's best fishermen were selected by a point system based upon club participation to compete against Purdue's top 20.\nThe tournament for the Old Minnow Bucket -- bass fishing's equivalent to football's Old Oaken Bucket -- takes place each spring. The event is hosted each year by the Indiana Bass Federation and Skeeter Boats. In addition to providing boats for the tournament, Skeeter Boats awards scholarships, pays for team uniforms and helps plan the event. This year, the Hoosiers were hoping the home-lake advantage would be enough to bring the bucket home.\n"When the tournament's at home, we know what the fish are doing, where they are and what they're biting," Morgan said.\nBut a lack of time for practice on Lake Monroe for some of the team members left IU on the lighter side of the fish scale.\n"We need to work on getting our guys out on the lake," Morgan said. "There's a big difference between lake fishing and pond fishing."\nMother Nature can be another deciding factor in a team's performance this time of year, as fishermen can be left guessing the weather from one day to the next. And the fishermen aren't the only ones who notice the climactic changes. The temperature of the water affects a fish's activity and metabolism. For instance, rain cools down the water, and, as a result, the fish don't bite as often.\nDespite all of these challenges, the club didn't finish the season skunked, managing to win a tournament against Wabash College last September and finishing first in the Big Ten Classic in October. The club's successes might be testament to the fact that the fishermen genuinely love what they do. \n"I really enjoy the competitive aspect of the sport and feel it is a great way to spend time with your friends," junior Dan Lawson said.\nBut as competitive as the club is, for some members, tournaments take a back seat to the simple pleasures bass fishing offers. \nJunior Tim Fields, like many members of the team, started out fishing with his father at an early age. Despite the loss to Purdue, Fields looks past the sport and focuses on the survival aspect. For Fields, fishing isn't just recreational, it's a life skill.\n"It wasn't about going out and catching the biggest fish," Fields said. "It was more about survival. If I was alone on a pond, could I catch fish and survive."\n-- Contact staff writer Joanna Borns at jborns@indiana.edu.