HICKORY, N.C. — The Catawba Valley Community College bass fishing team recently completed what has been an extremely busy, but successful fall season.

The Red Hawks started the fall 2025 season off at Kentucky Lake for the ACA Big Bass Bash. It was a tough tournament for the Red Hawks, but the team's freshmen gained a lot of valuable experience on that lake.

October was a very busy, but successful month for the CVCC bass fishing team, which started by traveling to Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas for the Association of Collegiate Anglers (ACA) American Fishing Tackling company (AFTCO) Collegiate Bass Open. 

The Waynesville, N.C. freshmen duo of Evin Moore and Bridger Jones were the top finishing CVCC team with a two-day total weight of 23.54 pounds. Moore and Jones finished in 37th place out of a field of 284 college teams. 

Hunter Barrow (Ridgeway, Va.) and Kanton Trull (Morganton, N.C.) were the second-highest finishing team for the Red Hawks, helping Catawba Valley Community College earn valuable School of the Year points.

From Lake Dardanelle, the Red Hawks bass fishing team headed to Grove, Okla. to fish the Junior College National Championship on Grand Lake. Cabe Mackey (Denver, N.C.) and Aden Tompkins (Lincolnton, N.C.) brought in an impressive two-day weight of 25 pounds to secure a fourth-place finish.

Right behind them, Moore and Jones brought 24 pounds, six ounces to the scales for a fifth-place finish. Hunter Barrow and Kanton Trull also recorded a strong placement with 23 pounds, two ounces of bass, which was good enough for a seventh-place finish.

"This fall has been full of highs and lows," said Catawba Valley bass fishing head coach Angela Mayo. "We have a very strong freshman class, but as always, there is a learning curve when you jump to the collegiate level. We experienced those pains at Kentucky Lake, but the guys bounced right back and went to work at Dardenelle and Grand Lake. Our upperclassmen have done an outstanding job of mentoring the freshmen, and we hope to keep improving as we move into the spring."

The final tournament in October for the Red Hawks was the Major League Fishing (MLF) Abu Garcia College Fishing Tournament on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. 

Hunter Keller and Wes Smith caught 16 pounds, four ounces of bass in this one-day event with 233 teams battling it out for the final spots in the MLF College National Championship. The 12th-place finish for Keller and Smith qualified the team for the national championship that will be held on Lake Murray in South Carolina in February.

With this qualification, Both Keller and Smith have qualified for nine national tournaments each — Keller with two MLF, three Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) and four ACA nationals and Smith with three BASS, one MLF and five ACA championships.  

Mackey and Webb also qualified for the Lake Murray tournament earlier this year with their performance at Lake Seminole. Mackey has qualified for 11 national tournaments (two BASS, four MLF, five ACA) and Webb, in his very short time as a freshman, has qualified for one BASS and one MLF Championship.

The Catawba Valley Community College bass fishing team currently ranks 20th in the ACA School of the Year standings out of more than 400 colleges nationwide that participate in collegiate bass fishing.