Vassallo Interviews: Braswell Hooked on Ole Miss Fishing

Christian Braswell is a senior business management major at Ole Miss and has been on the Ole Miss fishing team since his freshman year. Christian hails from Gulfport and grew up on the coast perfecting his saltwater fishing skills. This is a competitive sport we don’t hear a great deal about because of the extreme limitation for spectators. However, these young fishermen have the Hotty Toddy spirit engaged each time they cast.
HottyToddy.com: Christian, tell us about the Ole Miss fishing team.
Christian Braswell: The team is a group of guys who compete in bass fishing tournaments at lakes all over the South against other college teams.
HottyToddy.com: Are there regular tournaments?
Christian Braswell: Yes and no. There are many tournaments scheduled regularly but the ones we are able to attend depend on how close they are and when the tournament is. Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts that get in the way.
HottyToddy.com: How do students get involved?
Christian Braswell: Students can contact us through Facebook, email, phone or any other way they can. We love to answer any questions people have about the team.
HottyToddy.com: Where are some of the lakes and rivers you compete?
Christian Braswell: We fish Ross Barnett, Pickwick, Kentucky Lake, and Guntersville pretty regularly (once or more per year for each lake). Every now and then we like to make a trip to a different lake. We’ve been to Lake Seminole a couple times, Lake Lanier in Georgia, and as far as Santee Cooper in South Carolina.
HottyToddy.com: What have been some of the recent successes?
Christian Braswell: A year before I got here, we won the B.A.S.S. Southeastern Championship (kinda like the SEC Championship of fishing). My freshmen year, we had a team place third in the Collegiate Bass Fishing National Championship out of about 200 boats. Since then, we’ve had a lot of top ten and top five finishes but those have been our biggest finishes in a while.
HottyToddy.com: How long has there been an Ole Miss fishing team?
Christian Braswell: I think it was just a couple years before I got here when the team was started. So probably no more that six or seven years.
HottyToddy.com: Is this typical for most universities?
Christian Braswell: Yes. I’d say every major university and college in the South at least, has a fishing team.
HottyToddy.com: How are tournaments formatted?
Christian Braswell: Two people per boat from the same school make up a team. Every team draws a number that says what order you can launch. Launch is at daylight and you go out and catch five fish(small ones can be culled if you catch bigger ones throughout the day but you can only have five in a boat at once). At the end of the day, everyone weighs their fish, and the heaviest five fish win.
HottyToddy.com: Are students expected to supply their own boats?
Christian Braswell: Yes, we have to bring our own boats to the tournaments.
HottyToddy.com: Is the competition over a 12 month timeframe or is it seasonal?
Christian Braswell: There are tournaments all year round. We fish more in the spring however because a lot of the fall tournaments conflict with football weekends.
Steve Vassallo is a HottyToddy.com contributor. Steve writes on Ole Miss athletics, Oxford business, politics and other subjects. He is an Ole Miss grad and former radio announcer for the basketball team. In addition, he is a certified economic and community developer and currently, a highly successful leader in the real estate business with Premier Properties of Oxford.You can contact Steve at sovassallo@gmail.com or call him at 985-852-7745.