The Melissa Cardinals Bass Fishing Team recently competed in their first tournament of the season against 207 teams at Lake Texoma. Four of the Melissa teams placed in the top 20. As a whole, the team brought home the second place trophy for overall weight.

The team prepared for this win by making sure they had the proper equipment and managing their time.

“[It takes a lot of] preparation for this type of tournament because you’re not just down the road and can’t go pick up something if you left it behind,” senior Mason Wistl said. “You have to think about the bands you have to get, about the boat if it has gas or battery, to make the boat legal on the water. You have to go through the list four or five times to make sure you have everything. It takes time, but unlike past occurrences where we have been underprepared, it ends rough.”

Fishing is all about patience and waiting, and the bass team was able to get a bite early on in the tournament.

“It was only about 20 minutes into the tournament, and Thomas said he had one; we pulled it up, and it was just under the legal length,” Wistl said. “We had caught a five bag limit in the first four hours. We went up on the stage and weighed the fish, and it was 9.85 pounds, and it put us in first place at first. After it was said and done, we ended up getting sixth place.”

Four of the Melissa teams placed in the top 20, which led to a victory in the fishermen’s eyes.

“I thought we did extremely well as a team,” Wistl said. “We all had a play in the tournament, and everyone pulled through as a team. I don’t think Melissa has ever been this high up in a tournament before, so I think we are just getting better and better every time.”

Because this was the first tournament, the team believes they have a lot of room to improve for the future.

“It was a relief because we had put a lot of effort into this tournament,” Wistl said. “We couldn’t believe we actually did this well. We were honestly so surprised. I have a lot of hope that this team will do extremely well. If we can pull second place overall on an okay day, then I couldn’t imagine how well we would do on a good day.”

The following are the winners from the Lake Texoma Tournament Oct. 2:

• Freshman Camden Sarret & Junior Aiden Crawford – 3rd place / Top 5
• Seniors Mason Wistl & Thomas Baxley- 6th place / Top 10
• Seniors Vicente Sparks & Logan Rangel -17th / Top 20
• Freshmen Chance Cabana & Cris Saenz -18th /Top 20

For more information about the Melissa Cardinals Bass Fishing Team, visit their Facebook page: Melissa High School Bass Fishing