While many students spent their spring breaks on the beach politely sipping margaritas and getting sun, a select group of members from BassPack, N.C. State’s club bass fishing team, were casting lines in 27 degree weather, braving rain, hail, and even snow in hopes to bring home a trophy from the Virginia Tech Invitational.

“It was tough. The weather was crazy all week,” Jason Livingston, BassPack president and a junior in english, said. “It rained all week, it was cold. It was miserable.”

Their efforts were not without reward, though, as the two-man team of Jarid Church, a senior in fisheries and wildlife sciences and Will White, a junior in wood products, took first place in the event.

The tournament consisted of 24 teams representing 10 different schools, with each school allowed a maximum of four teams, according to Virginia Tech’s bass fishing club president Scott Wiley. BassPack placed teams in first, fourth, sixth and in a tie for last place and also boasted the “big fish,” the heaviest fish caught in the tournament.

N.C State brought the maximum number of four teams, consisting of the eight club members who had earned the most club points from attending meetings, performing well in tournaments, and being active in conservation events, Livingston said.

The event is usually hosted by N.C. State though the lack of rain made a move to Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia a safer option than fishing Falls Lake, where the Wolfpack Invitational is usually held.

“We helped Virginia Tech host this tournament because we share a lot of the same sponsors and we actually helped them start their club,” Livingston said. “Falls Lake is so low that that it’s just dangerous putting a bunch of college kids in boats fishing. We didn’t want to put anyone in danger.”

The team arrived in Virginia early in the week to practice and test the waters for spots where bass were biting, though the weather made that difficult.

According to Kyle Hodgin, a senior in business management and Livingston’s teammate, the competition amongst BassPack members began before competition among other schools.

“Even though we were fishing as a team, there’s only one first place, and you’re kind of fishing individually for that,” Hodgin said. “I would say the first two days we didn’t say anything to each other, and by the third and fourth day, we realized this place is tough and we’re not catching any fish, let’s share some information so we can come together as a school and do well in this tournament.”

This sharing of information particularly benefited Church and White, the tournament champions, as they struggled to catch fish in practice that were large enough to fit the 14 inch length requirement to enter into to be weighed, according to Church.

“We pretty much abandoned our whole practice strategy,” Church said. “We had to do something new.”

With some advice from teammates, Church and White found themselves in second place only behind a duo from Central Virginia Community College at the end of the first day of competition. Because of the weather, most teams found it difficult to catch the five-fish maximum to be weighed at the end of the day.

Though the first day was better for Church and White than practice, they still trailed by about five pounds heading into the second and final day of the tournament, Church said.

Things seemed hopeless for the duo when they filled their boat with bad gas which contained water, which in turn froze the fuel line to the motor. Once again, the duo needed help from teammates to even compete on the final day.

Teammates Chris Wood, a junior in middle grade education, and Malissa Braxton, a junior in middle grade education, who finished in a tie for last place, towed Church and White to the launch position, where officials could see they were still in competition. They later pointed the champions to a good spot to fish, Church said.

“Chris Wood came back there and made sure everything was straight. We saw him and he waved at us and said there was some huge fish,” Church said.

Using the trolling motor to get around, the duo caught three fish weighing a combined 10.2 pounds on the second day of competition and finished with a total tournament weight of 24.95 pounds, just enough to edge CVCC who caught only one fish on Sunday and finished at 24.8 pounds.

White said the first place winners were grateful for their teammates’ help.

“It was really the help of our teammates that we could pull it off. Without them they wouldn’t have been able to do anything,” White said.

For Livingston and BassPack, the victory has helped continue a tradition of excellence for BassPack, who produced a national championship duo in 2006 and has emerged as the premier bass fishing club in North Carolina.

“We’ve placed in the top-10 in every tournament we’ve been in but one,” Livingston said. “You can ask whoever you want to, as far as premier fishing schools in the nation, our name is going to come up.”