Pickett County has picked up right where it left off from a championship-caliber 2025 season.
The Bobcats have already recorded multiple top-10 finishes across their three teams in early divisional events, showing depth across both the high school and junior levels.
Individually, the numbers back it up. The Bobcats recorded a first-place finish at Dale Hollow Lake with a 5-fish limit totaling 17.03 pounds, anchored by a 5.03-pound largemouth last week. The Bobcats also saw a runner-up finish at Center Hill Lake earlier in March with 18.20 pounds, one of the stronger weights posted in early-season competition.
Those results reflect a consistent trend. Pickett County anglers are regularly bringing in full limits in the 17–18 pound range, placing them among the top-performing high school programs in Tennessee.
While results have followed, Pickett County head coach Anthony Scott said the program’s purpose extends beyond weigh-ins.
“We like to see them grow as young adults, being responsible,” Scott said. “This fishing, it don’t just teach them just going out and catching fish. They have to have a commitment of getting up early just like they would in the real world, having to get up early to go to work, then of course going to work and if you got a job, you got to get up early to go to work and you got to work at that job all day long. Fishing is the same way.”
Scott said the sport mirrors the discipline required in everyday life. Scott said that includes adapting to unfamiliar conditions as his teams travel across more than a dozen lakes statewide, from Pickwick to Douglas and Cherokee.
“Just because you can catch them on one body of water doesn’t mean you go on another body of water to catch them,” Scott said. “You have to put in that work and that homework to figure out how to catch them on a different body of water.”
Scott said that work traditionally begins early. Pickett County’s junior program includes anglers as young as second grade, building a foundation that carries through middle school and into the high school ranks. But with fewer young anglers entering the sport, that pipeline is beginning to thin.
Scott said if participation does not increase, the program could soon be limited to only high school teams, ending a long-standing junior division that has helped fuel the Bobcats’ success.
“We’re hoping that they grow and get in there and want to fish but it’s hard to get people to commit,” Scott said. “It’s a lot of commitment. We travel all over the state of Tennessee fishing.”
For now, the Bobcats remain one of the most consistent and competitive fishing programs in the region, combining high-level results, experienced leadership, and depth across multiple teams.
