With a new season comes a new club. The Sacramento State Bass Fishing Club is well on its way to bringing another winning-tradition to Sac State.

The club’s president, Stephen LeSieur, founded the club in January.

“I went back to Sac State to finish my degree in organizational communications,” LeSieur said. “I got word of the major tournament company called FLW (Forrest L. Wood). They were starting a college fishing tour and I inquired with Sac State to see if they had a team or a club set up for bass fishing and they didn’t,” he said.

LeSieur decided to take matters into his own hands.

“I just sent out some information on www.westernbass.com looking for others who may be interested and (go) to Sac State who are going (here) full-time and are undergrads,” LeSieur said.

The club has seven fishermen who actually compete in the tournaments.

“We’re looking for eight tournament fishermen,” LeSieur said. “We actually have nine members but some of them don’t actually fish with us.”

LeSieur hopes the club will eventually have 20 to 30 members.

A month before each competition, the club meets to talk about upcoming tournaments.

“In the past, we’ve invited some sponsors and some local pros to our meetings at Round Table or Starbucks and we have the pros talk with us about fishing strategy. The Buggy Whip is going to provide us with a place to eat and have two of our meetings,” LeSieur said.

Although classified as a club, the team hopes the campus will see it in a different light.

“We are considered a club by all the standards of Sac State. It is not like a club where you just go out and have fun. It is competitive fishing. It is a team/club,” he said.

Each member of the club is an experienced fisherman. Treasurer of the club and LeSieur’s fishing mate, Matthew Paul, has been involved with tournament fishing at a local club for two years.

“(The club is) just a bunch of guys who meet once a month and we fish tournaments,” Paul said.

LeSieur has put a lot of effort into fishing. He has spent the last four years on the Future Pro Tour amateur circuit and hopes to turn pro at the end of this year.

“I’ve always fished. I grew up in Wilton with my grandparents. We had a creek and I used to have fun competitions with my uncle to see who could catch the most bass,” LeSieur said.

Paul has fond memories of fishing as a child too.

“I fished a lot when I was little. Whenever I had free time I went fishing,” Paul said.

Paul attributes his love of fishing to his family on the east coast where bass fishing is more popular.

FLW hopes to raise the visibility of bass fishing to the west coast through its college-level tournaments, which are sponsored by the National Guard.

There are five divisions in the newly developed league. Sac State is a part of the West Division along with Arizona State, Boise State, Cal Poly, Chico State, Fresno State, Humboldt State, University of Nevada Reno, Oregon, San Jose State, Sonoma State and UC Davis.

There are only 40 spots available at each tournament. That means if there are 40 schools participating in one event, then a school can only bring one two-person team to the tournament. If 20 schools come to the tournament, then that means each school can send two two-person teams to the tournament, and so on.

Each angler is only allowed to bring five rods to a tournament. “It is tough because each body of water brings about different obstacles. When the water is dirty and the course is curvy you need a heavier line. You need a lot of equipment to be successful. Each angler must decide what type of lake (they) are going to and bring the equipment best suited,” LeSieur said.

The Hornets had its first tournament on March 7 in Clear Lake and was able to take three teams to the tournament.

Sacramento State’s LeSieur-Paul team finished second in the tournament by reeling in six fish at a total weight of 19.04 pounds.

It turns out bass fishing can be quite profitable for the anglers and the university. For taking second place in Clear Lake, Sacramento State won $5,000. Half went to the club while the other half went towards Sacramento State’s general scholarship fund.

LeSieur and Paul agree the money is nice but it is the competition that makes it worth their while.

“The competition of fishing against other people, trying to figure out what the fish are doing and figuring out what is the best way to catch them,” Paul said is what he enjoyed most.

“The competition is a lot of fun. It is really fun for me to figure out what the fish are doing and not to mention the camaraderie between the team,” LeSieur said.

Think of bass fishing in terms of golf; they both are thinking-sports. “It takes a lot of mental skill. With fishing anyone can do it at pretty much any age. It is a tough mental game to try to figure out where the fish is located (and) what baits to chose,” LeSieur said.

Yet for the all the money that can be won by finishing in the top five at tournaments, funding a bass fishing club is not cheap.

Sac State has to rely on the kindness of sponsors like NASCAR in order to survive.

“It has been pretty nice. Local companies and the community have been pitching in to help us succeed on this tour. It is a huge deal to have sponsors because even though it is free to play in the tournaments, we still have to pay for our own tackles, poles (and) reels. Our sponsors help us with worms and jigs,” LeSieur said.

The Hornets had to use most of its Clear Lake winnings to be able to go to its next tournament in Arizona, but is planning to thank its sponsors for their generosity with future earnings.

“We thought it would be cool to give a portion of our earnings to charity, so our team decided we want to donate all our money to Loaves & Fishes. We want to give something back to our sponsors,” Leisure said.

The club will have a chance to improve on its winnings when the Sac State will travel to Roosevelt, Ariz., for its next tournament on Saturday.

Andrew Hazard can be reached at [email protected]