After eight years under head coach Mike Chancellor, the 24-member Rocks bass fishing team is led by head coach Kevin Hunt and assistant coach Lee Rivette.  Senior Blake Spinks answered a few questions about his fishing career. 

Q: When did you start your fishing journey?

A: I’ve fished my whole life, but competitively, I started in eighth grade.

Q: Why fueled your passion to fish on a regular basis?

A: I love learning about things I enjoy, and every time I go fishing, I learn more.

Q: Would you rather fish alone or with a group of friends? 

A: I don’t have a preference as long as I get to fish as long as I want to.

Q: Do you see yourself fishing in the future, possibly with a family of your own?

A: Yes, 100 percent. I’m hoping to start fishing professionally after college, and I will always fish with my family when I get the chance.

Q: Have you influenced others when it comes to starting their own fishing journey?

A: Yes, my youngest brother wanted to go fishing with me, so I bought him his own bait caster and rod. We would go fishing a lot together, and every time we did, he would ask me questions constantly — “Why are you using that? Why are you casting there? Why didn’t you use this? “Would this work? When would this work best?” — questions like that.

Q: What’s your most memorable fishing trip?

A: This one is hard because I could choose when I caught my personal best bass or when I won my first tournament. But actually, my favorite memory doesn’t involve me fishing. It was after I went fishing. I got home, and I knew that my dad took my younger brother fishing. I got a text from my dad of my little brother, Cooper, holding a giant bass, and when he got home, he told me the story of how he caught it.

He said that he had been watching me cast in the same spot over and over again. I told him that there was a big female bass on a spawning bed, but I couldn’t get her get her to bite. He remembered that and decided to throw a smaller lure at it to see if she would bite. He ended up catching her, and it was his new personal best bass that weighed almost five pounds!