meadville — Last year, Terry Moffett had an idea. An idea that had been stirring for quite some time.

“Coach Jordan and I were just talking about it one day because we like to fish and we just kicked the idea around and said hey, why don’t we do this?”

And just like that, the Franklin County high school bass fishing team was born. Now, Moffett’s baby is fully grown and the team has already made an impact in the fishing world just two years after being formed.

Last year, Conner Quin and Bryce White brought home the title for Franklin County in the Student Angler Federation ranks.

This year, the team decided to go even bigger, with Will Moffett and Kyle McCormick taking home third in the Costa Bassmaster High School Championship.

Moffett said he thought the move to the big stage would benefit the team.

“There were about 119 boats out there,” he said. “The top 12 qualify to go and fish in the national championship in late July.”

McCormick and Moffett will move on to that competition, which will take place in Tennessee.

“I just want them to enjoy it,” Moffett said. “Of course we want to catch fish and it would be nice to win it, but I’m just hoping we have a good time and catch some fish. I want to see them enjoy fishing.”

Although his program has seen immediate success, it isn’t necessarily the titles or trophies that motivate Moffett to do it all.

“We are trying to help some kids here that just like to fish or have an interest,” he said. “We are going to start a little thing locally with other schools and hopefully take people out and help them learn to fish, too.”

While fishing could be considered a past time in Mississippi, the sport is beginning to catch on in the high school ranks, Moffett said.

“It is really beginning to take off here,” he said. “It is really big over in places like east Texas as well. I talked to some of the parents when we were over in Texas and they’ve got anywhere from 15 to 20boats with captains invested per high school.”

Although the Franklin County program may not quite be on that level yet, Moffett said he saw plenty of enthusiasm when things got started.

“We had enquiries from a lot of students,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of them said ‘Hey, we’ve got an opportunity to fish on a team?’ and they say yes.”