Former Reynolds football players Ryan McLaughlin, left, and Justin St. Onge are representing Haywood Community College in for this week’s Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship.
REYNOLDS – Justin St. Onge and Ryan McLaughlin deal in a different kind of “tackle” these days.
But whether it’s fishing or football, the two former All-WNC defenders from Reynolds still make good teammates.
St. Onge and McLaughlin are in Campbellsville, Ky., for this week’s Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship. They are representing a first-year program at Haywood Community College in only their fourth tournament together.
“At first, we had to work the kinks out,” McLaughlin said.
“We’ve blown up a trolling motor, dropped poles in the lake, you name it. We’ve been at the bottom and at the top. Everything feels like it’s starting to click now for us.”
Thursday is the first round of competition in Kentucky. The HCC team checked into its hotel Sunday and will spend the next few days trying to find all the good spots around Green River Lake.
St. Onge (North Carolina) and McLaughlin (Western Carolina) both pursued Division I football after graduating high school three years ago.
They gave up the game for their own individual reasons. The two childhood friends from Fairview were then drawn to HCC by its Fish and Wildlife Management Technology offerings. One thing led to another and the buddies were soon casting lines out of a boat owned by St. Onge’s father, Chris.
“It’s not the same as football. I don’t know that anything could replace that,” said St. Onge, who was the 2012 Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year at linebacker.
“Football didn’t work out for either one of us, but one of the reasons we started (the team at HCC) was we were both looking for that competitive thing. We both enjoy that.”
St. Onge and McLaughlin, who is an ex-lineman, placed 12th out of more than 70 teams at May’s Carhartt Eastern Regional in Richmond, Va. Their catch weighed in at 34 pounds, 11 ounces.
Community donations have been used to subsidize HCC’s first year of competition. Otherwise, St. Onge and McLaughlin have to pay for everything (artificial bait, tackle, boat fuel, meals and hotels) out of their own pockets. St. Onge estimated that the trip to nationals will cost each fisherman about $1,500 to $2,000.
Lake Lure is a nearby body of water that the HCC team fishes a lot. St. Onge and McLaughlin also travel from time to time to the Charlotte area and South Carolina.
“I feel that same way that Justin does,” McLaughlin said.
“Neither of us play football anymore, but we’re having a lot of fun with this. You can’t beat it.”
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