While Parkland High School has been noted for its outstanding athletes in many sports, there’s one sport that gets very little publicity. But two future Parkland graduates hope to change that.

Zachary Tamandl and James Soldridge, both of Schnecksville, are two avid bass fishing anglers. This pair of 17-year olds partnered recently to win a regional bass fishing tournament in the Chesapeake Bay area as members of the Junior Lehigh Valley Bassmasters.

Tamandl won this tournament with a total of 17.4 pounds of catch-and-release bass, and did it in a bass boat he bought with money he earned working after school at Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays and from winnings he earned from smaller tournaments. He’s the envy of many anglers as his boat is a 1998, 19-foot Nitro with a 150-hp Johnson outboard motor.

Both Parkland Class of 2018 teens fish as part of the Student Angler Federation of high school fishing clubs, the organization that sanctions a series of fishing tournaments. SAF’s purpose is to relate subject matter and basic principles of education to how anglers use them out on the water. The program is aimed at getting students off the couch and back into the great outdoors by promoting the formation of fishing clubs and outdoor activities within the school.

“Our local program was initially started and promoted by Lynn Post, a retired school teacher from Nazareth.” said Tamandl. Unfortunately, Tamandl approached Parkland about this program but the district wasn’t interested in becoming involved.

SAF is an offshoot of the Bass Federation, which is the nation’s oldest and largest organized grassroots fishing organization that led the way with the development of SAF.

“There are 12 districts within this SAF area with 27 teen anglers participating,” said Tamandl. “Of this group, six are from Parkland School District.”

And this is where both boys started their fishing careers, with Tamandl also being a member of Hawg Hunters of Allentown.

As for their recent win, Tamandl and Soldridge were one of 45 boats entered in what is referred to as a quad tournament where youths from New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania competed.

As teens, both junior anglers have garnered support from Ardent Outdoors, Cabela’s, Dicks’ Sporting Goods, Gary Dobyns Fishing Rods, Rosen Cosmetic Surgery and other sponsors whose logo’s are displayed on their fishing shirts.

For this recent tournament win, Tamandl took home $125 cash, fishing tackle and a trophy. His next endeavor is to make the 10 percent of teen anglers who qualify for next year’s 2018 High School Fishing World Finals in Florence, Alabama’s Pickwick Lake. The 2016 World Finals was just held there in June and after four days of fishing, two teens from Lawrence County High School in Tennessee won the event that brought them their choice of scholarship prizes of which two $24,000 scholarships were awarded by Bethel University, two, $20,000 scholarships to Bacone College plus FLW awarded $10,000 scholarships while TBF awarded $18,000 in scholarships. All this and every day of the four-day event at least $5,000 worth of prizes were awarded and every senior was given a graduation gift of a free rod from Favorite Fishing and numerous gift cards from Cabela’s, Saint Croix Rods, big screen TV’s, laptop computers, GoPro cameras, kayaks and more.

Tamandl is looking forward to attending one of the local colleges like Penn State, Kutztown or Slippery Rock who have bass fishing teams. “Upon graduation I’d like to pursue a career in conservation, perhaps as a Wildlife Conservation Officer or fisheries biologist,” he said.

Now that Tamandl and Soldridge have shown their angling prowess, expect to see more from this Parkland area fishing duo, hopefully within the pro ranks.