Rebels hooked on bass fishing

Ross Spina has been fishing since he could muster the strength to hold a pole. He cast his first line as a toddler, around age 2. 

So when Spina entered Vestavia Hills High School in 2015, he was lured to the Rebels bass fishing team. 

“It was a dream come true,” said Spina, now a senior. “I had been waiting to get up to that level where I could join a team.” 

Spina is one of the top anglers in a Vestavia Hills program that has grown considerably in the past few years. The Rebels’ roster consisted of about a dozen members when Spina was a freshman. This year, head coach Keith Trotman said that number is closer to 45, an all-time high. 

“Generally, we’ve averaged about 20 kids a year,” Trotman said, “and this year it’s just a huge turnout and a huge interest.” 

Trotman, who also is the school’s strength and conditioning coach, has overseen the bass fishing program since its inception eight years ago. A group of students who were aware of his affinity for hunting and fishing approached him to gauge his interest in sponsoring the team. 

He complied, even though he already found himself crunched for time. 

“It’s one of those things that offers another avenue for kids that might not be a football player or a baseball player,” Trotman said. “It gives them another opportunity to participate in something that’s a school function, but not your normal school function.”

Bass fishing is considered a club sport in Alabama high schools and is not sanctioned by the state high school athletic association. Rather, teams compete in tournaments sponsored by the Alabama Student Angler Bass Fishing Association or B.A.S.S. Nation, which hosts events around the United States.  

Trotman said his program’s growth has paralleled the sport’s as a whole. He has noticed increased participation at the high school level, along with the emergence of college scholarship opportunities. 

Briarwood Christian, Hoover and Spain Park are just a few nearby schools that field teams. The competitive tension characteristic of other sports carries over to the water.

“This is literally cutthroat. From the time you go off until the time you weigh in, you better have a line in the water,” Trotman said. “This is not fun fishing. This is tournament fishing.”

Tournaments are held throughout the school year at lakes across the state, including Guntersville, Logan Martin, Neely Henry and Smith. Spina said a typical tournament day entails waking up on a Saturday around 3 or 4 a.m., towing his boat to the tournament, fishing for about eight hours and then weighing in. 

The goal is to catch the five biggest fish possible. 

“You get in this mindset where you want to catch every fish that you can, every fish that bites,” said Spina, who said he once reeled in more than 200 fish in a day while practicing at Logan Martin Lake.

Teams fish in pairs at tournaments while an adult serves as a captain. Trotman said team parents like Brian Marbut usually fill that role. Marbut’s son, Hayden, has been fishing on the Vestavia Hills team with partner Reese Petitti for the past couple years. 

The sophomore duo has done well on the high school scene, nabbing multiple top-three finishes at statewide tournaments. Brian Marbut has watched their success unfold from a front-row seat.

Captains drive the boats for their anglers at tournaments, but they aren’t allowed to touch a pole lest they risk disqualification. 

“I love to fish, but being a captain’s tough to do because you’re just sitting out there for eight hours and you’re wishing you were fishing, but you’re just watching your kid fish,” Brian Marbut said. “But listen, it’s all worth it. I really enjoy watching these kids. They get so fired up when they do good. I just think it’s a big confidence-booster for them.”

Spina, like his two sophomore teammates, also has made a name for himself in the realm of Alabama high school bass fishing. 

He finished as the runner-up for angler of the year in the King of the Coosa Trail competition. Standings were determined by cumulative finishes in four tournaments held this past fall and winter. 

Spina placed among the top 10 in each competition and narrowly missed winning it all. 

“Fishing is a straight-up confidence thing,” said Spina, who is going to fish collegiately at Jefferson State Community College. “If you have confidence in what you’re doing, you’re going to catch fish.” 

Preparation also factors in. Ahead of tournaments, Spina studies maps of the lakes he’ll fish and travels to them to practice, sometimes with teammate Evan Fisher. Spina typically is on the water multiple days per week. 

One day he hopes to fish professionally. 

“Competition and fishing, I mean, it’s the best of both worlds,” he said. “That’s what I really love about it, and it’s just a whole lot of fun to go out and fish.”