1st Annual Randleman Outdoors Youth Tournament

Randleman Regional Reservoir
Randleman, NC

What do you get when you take 22 highly self motivated youth in a traditional rural community, 1 very committed coach and a local lake developing a regional reputation for spitting out both large fish and good stringers for about anyone willing to be worn out catching fish? They named themselves the Randleman Outdoors Club.

These young people took a look at themselves and their community and said, “Hey, we have all the academics, team sports and opportunities. We’d like to have more hunting and fishing in the mix”. Their plan was to stage an outdoor expo of businesses and community leaders by kids for kids for their city cousins and others interested that may not have as many of these opportunities. But, being the practical, well grounded youngsters that I’ve quickly come to know, they knew they needed funding. So, they went to Randleman High School’s Coach Willie Duvall and hatched the plan to have a fishing tournament at the new lake in their community.

The learning curve was steep for the club members and Coach Duvall. They spent a lot of personal time seeking and talking with fishermen as well as many hours on the hoof posting and handing out flyers. They developed a logo and had shirts and hats made for themselves and their adult support network. For someone that has been fishing tournaments for 26 years, I cannot convey how amazed I was at their tenacity in making this happen. It is a great example of how only a genuine love of what they wanted to do for their community and fellow youth powers itself.

62 teams registered to fish. Most of them in the last week. If you were fortunate enough to be around HWY 220 in Level Cross at 4:00 am Saturday morning, you could have seen the long lines of very patient competitors waiting to launch into this venture with the Randleman Outdoors Club.

Third place went to Jim long and Chris Coble with a weight of 18.99 pounds. Second was the team of Mike and Aaron McDonald with 19.30 pounds. First place honors were for Howie Snotherly and Jerome Crews with 21.69 pounds. This team also netted big fish for the tournament with a hawg weighing 8.29 pounds. The total weight of fished brought to the scales Saturday was an eye popping 511.86 pounds.

Many of the club members stayed around to fish. I had the pleasure of fishing with Mr. Ryan Vickers of the Outdoors Club. Coach told me he placed him in my boat because all he cared about was fishing. Good choice. I got to meet a fellow fishing fanatic and the results reflected it. Our total weight was 14.59 pounds placing us somewhere around the top 10 for the tournament and Mr. Vickers caught the second largest fish of the tournament at 6.39 pounds. He said it was the largest one he’d ever caught and it was certainly my pleasure to fish with this future fishing leader.

The Club hit all of their fundraising goals so the expo is a go. No date set yet. The most remarkable contribution was the winners, Snotherly and Crews donated the money they won back to the club to further support their efforts. Ladies and gentlemen, many thanks to all that supported these intrepid future leaders in our community, especially the good folks at Randleman Regional reservoir for their efforts, and we’ll look forward to bringing you more good news of their progress.