Champion Mt. Vernon fishing team heading to national tourney

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Mt. Vernon High School Bass Team member Devan Skaggs, left, coach Tim Cornelius and member Casey Cornelius pose for a photo after the team won the Indiana Bass National High School State Finals for their trail on Raccoon Lake last month. 

HANCOCK COUNTY — After proving they’re the reel deal with a fruitful fishing season and statewide distinctions, two young Hancock County anglers hope to tackle success at an upcoming national tournament.

Casey Cornelius and Devan Skaggs of the Mt. Vernon High School Bass Team were the state champions at the Indiana Bass National High School State Finals last month. The points they earned there contributed to a season-long score that made them the Anglers of the Year for their division. When they head to the Bass Nation National Championship on Kentucky Lake next month, they’ll be representing a state where competitive youth fishing is surging in popularity.

Devan, 19, a recent Mt. Vernon High School grad; and Casey, a rising senior, went up against 50 other teams on Raccoon Lake west of Indianapolis in the recent state tournament. Despite losing power in their trolling motor for about an hour and having to rely on the wind blowing at just the right speed, they came out on top after reeling in the majority of their catch near a bush off a roadbed along the lake.

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Teams could each enter five bass that they caught, as long as the fish were at least 16 inches long. Casey and Devan’s winning weight totaled 16.27 pounds. They entered their five heaviest bass out of the 11 they caught that day.

Succeeding at fishing is a combination of luck and skill, the anglers said. They prepare for tournaments by scoping out lakes ahead of time along with studying lakes via maps and Google Earth. When they’re out in the boat, they’re always keeping bass’ structure-oriented nature in mind and finding the right way to present bait with a variety of tackle that work the bottom, middle and surface of the water. Bass tend to congregate near objects close to the shore such as submerged logs and pilings, and so do the anglers trying to entice them to bite.

“It sounds silly, but you just got to let the fish tell you what they want,” Devan said. “Every fish is completely different, every spot is completely different, every day is completely different.”

Tim Cornelius, Casey’s father and the Mt. Vernon High School Bass Team’s coach, said the tackle trial-and-error is what makes fishing a sport.

“You’re trying to trick that fish that has a pea-brain into eating that bait that looks like a real something to them,” he said. “That’s what makes it fun.”

Staying focused is important as well, Casey said, adding mental distractions can compromise reaction times when there’s a bite on the line.

“If you’re not sharp in your head, you can let yourself just spin off the wheels and be done for the day,” he said.

Casey and Devan earned the most total points in their trail throughout the fishing season based on where they finished in each tournament. A trail is a series of tournaments throughout a season that spans from about April to about August. There are about seven to eight tournaments available to teams. The trail the Mt. Vernon High School Bass Team competes in has about 80 other teams. A second trail, which recently had to be added to accommodate the activity’s rising popularity, has about 34 teams.

“Every year there’s more and more high schools getting on board,” Tim said. “It’s just grown exponentially.”

Mt. Vernon’s trail takes the team to bodies of water like Monroe Lake, Patoka Lake, Brookville Lake and Geist Reservoir. Tournaments usually last about eight hours.

Tim said competitive fishing for high school-age kids started out in Indiana with a handful of clubs across the state before “taking off” over the past four to five years. As a former competitive fisherman himself, he thought it would be worthwhile to help facilitate and offer the opportunity to students at Mt. Vernon four years ago. A team started up last year in New Palestine, which Tim helped get started as well.

Mt. Vernon has four high school teams and three junior teams made up of seventh- and eighth-graders. Each team consists of two anglers.

Casey and Devan have been paired up since last year.

“If you’re in a boat together and you’re trying to work as one, you can’t work against each other,” Devan said. “Me and Casey always worked well together.”

They both have the same high level of commitment to the activity, Tim added.

Casey and Devan have been fishing most of their lives. When Casey was younger, he used to practice casting into a coffee cup in his family’s yard. The exhilaration spurred by a bite on his line and the battle of wills that follows keeps him coming back year after year.

He, Devan and Tim described the competitive fishing community as like a family. They meet people from all over who address them as if they’ve known each other their whole lives. Anglers at the bottom of tournament standings congratulate winners free of any bitterness. Sponsors who contribute funding and tackle, adults who accompany the young anglers as boat captains and parents who take the time to drive their kids to tournaments boost the sense of community even more, they said.

Casey and Devan aren’t the only Mt. Vernon duo to find success. Maxwell Hayse and Jacob Vestal won a state tournament this season on Brookville Lake. That victory qualified them for a national tournament on Pickwick Lake in Alabama, although they weren’t able to compete due to scheduling conflicts.

Casey and Devan, who qualified for Lake Pickwick as well, finished 104th out of 405.

They’re expecting about 370 teams at their upcoming national tournament on Kentucky Lake next month. Last year, they placed 36th out of about 340.

“It’s a big tournament, but at the same time, we’ve done this all through high school and parts of middle school, so it’s just another tournament,” Casey said. “We got to wake up and do the same stuff we always do.”