Outdoors

By Tom Venesky tvenesky@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter
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This isn’t your ordinary high school sports team.

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Hanover Area sophomore Antonio Costantino with a 2-pound bass he caught during a recent Hanover Area Bass Club tournament in Susquehanna County. The bass club is in its second year and is comprised of students from the Hanover Area School District.

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Hanover Area Bass Club member Stephen Dokas holds a largemouth bass he caught during a recent tournament.

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Instead of practicing on fields or courts, the group of Hanover Area High School students hone their skills on the water. Rather than tossing baseballs or footballs around, the students toss rubber worms and crankbaits.

And their ultimate goal isn’t a touchdown, home run or goal. It’s a hefty largemouth bass.

The members of the Hanover Area Bass Club take their fishing seriously. But in the year-and-a-half since local angler George Bowers and Hanover Area teacher John Centak started the club, the student members also have learned that there is more to the organization than bass fishing.

It’s about becoming more aware of the environment and using fishing as a way to better their community.

“I joined the club because I like fishing. It’s a hobby that I do all the time,” said Antonio Costantino, 15, who will be entering his sophomore year at Hanover Area High School. “But the club is about so much more than fishing. We’re able to use the sport and hold fundraisers to help others.”

In addition to teaching the students about bass fishing, Bowers and Centak have included a heavy dose of science into the club – via hands-on lessons on the aquatic life that inhabit the places they fish.

And last year, the club teamed up with Bowers’ nonprofit organization, Fishing for a Cause, to hold a charity bass tournament on Lake Winola to raise money for the St. Joseph’s Center in Scranton, something they will do again this August. In addition, club members make an annual trip to Geisinger hospital to pass out fishing poles to children and give fishing demonstrations to elementary school students in Hanover Township.

The club currently has 15 members between the ages of 13 and 18. Centak, an avid bass angler himself, said he wasn’t sure how much interest the fledgling group would generate among Hanover Area students when it started, but as a coach of other high school sports he knew that a lot of youth were interested in fishing.

“While working with the kids I noticed that a lot of them liked to go fishing together in their spare time,” he said. “But when you start talking about a club that includes volunteer work and getting up at 2 a.m. to fish in a tournament, you don’t know how many kids will sign up.”

Ten students signed up initially, and Centak said he noticed something else a few months later.

Kids that might not be good at traditional high school sports such as football and baseball now had a new avenue – fishing – to pursue. It was a club that catered to their interest and the only requirement was simply having an interest in the outdoors.

“The club gives them that opportunity to experience the outdoors,” Centak said. “It has also started a few friendships because the kids who play sports and those who don’t are starting to hang out together and go fishing.”

Before the club members hit the water, they hold monthly meeting in Bowers’ garage learning about different lures, angling techniques and aquatic life.

Bowers said the instructional part of the club is a major component, and last year the group received a $5,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to bolster that element. Bowers said the money is being used to purchase classroom supplies, freshwater testing kits, provide transportation for fishing trips and, of course, fishing tackle.

Bowers credited PFBC education coordinator Walt Dietz with obtaining the grant for the club.

“Everything with the club really took off when we got the grant,” Bowers said. “A lot of kids might never get the opportunity to go fishing, but now we can not only give them the chance to do it but the equipment to do it with.”

While science and community work are vital parts of the club, there is another element that emerges when the members hit the water – competition. Earlier this month the club held a bass tournament on a farm pond in Susquehanna County, and Costantino finished in first place by catching five bass that weighed a total of 8 pounds.

Bowers’ son, Conner, who is entering the seventh grade at Hanover Area, said the club tournaments get pretty competitive. Still, it takes more than finishing high in the tournaments to win a plaque at the end of the season.

“The plaque is given to whoever has the most points, which are earned from fishing in the tournaments, attending meetings and helping out with the charity events,” Conner said. “It’s a lot of fun and there’s more kids that plan on joining.”

George Bowers said he and Centak are planning on contacting other schools to see if they would like help starting a bass club. If other clubs do start up, Bowers hopes to hold bass tournaments with different schools competing against each other.

In the meantime, Bowers and Centak, who fish several bass tournaments together each year, will continue to build the Hanover Area club and give any kid with an interest in fishing the opportunity to pursue it.

“The first time I saw kids catching fish using the techniques that we taught them, it told me that we’re teaching them the right way to do this,” Bowers said. “I firmly believe that getting a child involved in the outdoors makes a positive difference in their future, that’s why giving these kids that opportunity is the most exciting part to me.”