Taking The Bait: Katherine Wright Discovered A Love – And Skill – In Fishing

by Janice Penix

Katherine Wright would describe herself as anything but athletic.

But when it comes to competitive fishing, her coach says she is a force to be reckoned with.

“She is the most competitive youth that I ever fished with,” Chris Tinnell, who served as Wright’s boat captain in the Arkansas Youth Bass Hogs, said. “She just keeps going and going. She wants to win. It really amazes me.”

The 2025 Westside High School valedictorian is wrapping up her final year in the youth fishing league, where she said a mild interest developed into a passion for the sport.

Getting Hooked

“I started fishing with the Bass Hogs with my cousin, Isaac Patterson, when we were in eighth grade,” Wright said. “It was during COVID, so I was not leaving the house much. It was something outdoors, so it was a good way to socialize without putting myself at risk. We were trying to be extra careful, especially with my Type 1 diabetes, not to expose ourselves to anything.”

Wright said her mother suggested signing up with the Bass Hogs, so she and her cousin decided to give it a try.

“I tried it, and I just loved it,” she said. “I’ve fished in everything from 100-degree weather to hail and rainstorms, and even through all that, I found it to be very enjoyable.”

Before joining the competitive league, Wright said her experience with fishing was primarily limited to her grandparents’ pond.

“Me and Isaac would spend a lot of our free time at the pond at my grandparents’,” she said. “We had a casting net we would throw into the water and catch bass and small fish. I had always enjoyed cutting up plastic bottles at my grandma’s to make minnow traps. That’s where the love really started.

“Isaac and I would take water bottles and cut the bottoms off, and get some bacon in there and take them down to the pond. It was always exciting to see what we had caught.”

Although it wasn’t competitive, Wright said the time spent fishing with her cousin and other family members was special.

“I spend a lot of time with my grandparents,” she said. “We always had Sunday dinner with them, and we just live across the pond, so I could walk over there anytime. My grandparents didn’t really fish with us, they were more like the supervisors. My dad took us fishing some. We caught some perch and small bass with bobbers, but nothing too intense.

“Joining the Bass Hogs was definitely a step up from that. As I started taking fishing more seriously, I found I was more effective at my casting. I could get more control and get some distance to it.”

Captain, And Friend

When she joined the Bass Hogs, Wright was assigned Tinnell as her boat captain. She said the two developed a strong bond as the more experienced fisherman passed his knowledge and skills down to her and her partners.

“I am so grateful for my boat captain, Chris Tinnell,” she said. “I knew absolutely nothing before I started. I got a bait caster and practiced casting, but I basically knew nothing at all. He would get the rods rigged up for us and was very patient to teach us what to do…The full story appears in the July 30 edition of The Graphic, found online and in businesses throughout Johnson and Franklin counties.