North Carolina angler off to good start

Noah Lamb, 19, has learned the value of catch and release with a twice-caught bass. Now, he's learning the value of camaraderie within the B.A.S.S. Nation.

SEAGROVE, N.C. — A recent posting on his Facebook page shows Noah Lamb’s commitment to following the B.A.S.S. Nation’s principles of sportsmanship and conservation.

The Facebook post features two photos of Lamb and his fishing buddy holding a bass with a caption that says, “Same fish, three months apart, same laydown. Please tell me again how catch and release doesn’t work.”

Lamb said he caught the fish that weighed about 10 pounds from his buddy’s pond in March and released it. Three months later, his buddy caught the same fish from the same laydown.

“It was probably 10 ounces or a pound heavier than when I caught it,” said Lamb. “When I caught it, the fish was spawned out.”

Lamb, 19, has been fishing since he was 3 years old and competed in his first tournament when he was 16. He joined the Archdale Bass Club this year after fishing a couple of the club’s tournaments as a visitor.

“I already knew a few people in the club and one of my old baseball coaches is in it,” he said. “I decided I liked it because it was a good group of guys who weren’t overly competitive. Everybody respected each other on the water and nobody cut each other off.”

Lamb’s early showings in the Archdale club events has impressed longtime club member Bill Frazier. “He has only fished one or two tournaments and he is spanking all the big boys,” said Frazier. Lamb won the first Archdale club tournament he fished May 3 at Randleman Lake and is on track to winning the club’s rookie of the year title, according to Frazier.

“I don’t really have any goals as far as winning points or anything like that,” Lamb said. “I just want to get to know the club members better and mainly get to know Bill better because I think he would help me learn. I am young and I still have a lot to learn and can take all the help I can get.”

The young angler hopes competing in B.A.S.S. Nation tournaments and other local circuits will give him the opportunity to turn pro someday. I’ve always wanted to establish myself first as one of the better local anglers before I try to do anything else,” Lamb said.

His Archdale Bass Club win, a victory in a 2012 Fishers of Men Legacy tournament and some second-place finishes in another regional circuit prove that Lamb can hold his own against the best local anglers.