This Taunton High athlete will compete in a unique sport in college
TAUNTON— Taunton High School has seen its fair share of student athletes commit to play sports collegiately the past few years, particularly for softball, baseball, football and track and field.
However the school hasn't produced a kayak bass fisher. That is until Bobby Tran put pen to paper last Wednesday, officially committing his academic and athletic future to Campbellsville University during a signing ceremony at the Rabouin Field House.
"I'm super excited," Tran said about heading to the Kentucky-based school. Both the Tigers' bass fishing and kayak bass fishing teams compete in tournaments put on by the Bass Anglers Sportsmen Society (B.A.S.S.), as the sport is not sponsored by either the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) or the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA), the organizations which the school's other sports are members of.
While Tran has competed as a member of the Taunton wrestling team over the past few years, fishing has been a lifelong love, aided by ample local opportunities.
"There's a lot of great places around here to fish (and) down the Cape," Tran said. "Massachusetts is a great place to fish."
A few years back, Tran took an interest in the Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship, an annual tournament put on by the Association of Collegiate Anglers (ACA). The organization puts on several national tournaments every spring , as does B.A.S.S. Around ninth grade, Tran began competing in fishing tournaments himself and soon began looking at colleges that offered fishing teams.
He came across Campbellsville University first and quickly took an interest in the school, speaking with former coach Dalton Smith who told him of the school's kayak bass fishing team, which was launched for the 2021-22 school year.
He also received interest from Carson-Newman University in Tennessee, but decided to stick with Campbellsville and new coach Dustin Jones.
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Tran is excited to head down to Kentucky and thanked his family as well as his wrestling coaches, who he said who have been there for him both on and off the mat since eighth grade, for their support along the way.
For Taunton wrestling coach Adilson Galvao, he couldn't be prouder than to see Tran headed to compete at the collegiate level.
"Bobby's self motivation and his love for fishing helped create an opportunity that he has seized upon by going to college as a kayak fishing athlete," Galvao said. "As a coach it is great to see any of your players go on and compete in the next level even if it is not the sport that you coach them in. Bobby deserves this recognition and I hope he has great success going forward."
What is kayak bass fishing?
Kayak bass fishing is similar to standard competitive bass fishing, but has a few key differences. Per Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) rules, a team consists of four anglers while scoring is determined by length, with is measured in quarter inch increments, with the five longest verified lengths totaled for the individual angler's score. Kayaks are limited to being propelled solely by paddle, pedal, pole or some electric motors, while all fish caught must be at least a foot long and a member of the Black Bass species, which includes Largemouth, Spotted, Guadalupe, Shoal and Smallmouth bass.
All fish are released after being caught, measured and photographed for scorekeeping purposes. The tournament schedule runs from February until October. As the name suggests, all fishing is performed from a kayak.
Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Bobby Tran commits to Campbellsville University for kayak bass fishing
