TEC Airman competes in Air National Guard fishing tournament

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jerry Harlan
  • I.G. Brown Training and Education Center
MCGHEE TYSON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Tenn. --  A senior NCO from the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center here competed April 15-16 in the 20th annual Air National Guard bass tournament held in Lake Martin, Ala.

Master Sgt. Brian Shaner, TEC's cyber systems manager, and Chief Master Sgt. Herb Ward, a flight chief from the 110th Airlift Wing in Michigan, teamed up to place in the top 20, out of 52 teams, after two days of constantly changing weather and fishing conditions.

"We executed our game plan perfectly on day one, finishing the day in fourth place," said Shaner. "On day two we kind of panicked and didn't stick to our plan. We should have stayed in our main area looking for that big bite."

Shaner and Ward have been fishing together for 10 years, both recreationally and in tournaments.

"We competed in eight ANG tournaments as a team," said Shaner.  "We are constantly learning and improving. Overall this was our best performance in the ANG tournaments."

Competitive bass fishing is exciting and stressful, but in a good way.  It is a high pressure situation whether you are competing for big money or just bragging rights."

The winners were Army Capt. Curtis Persinger and 1st Sgt. Scott Carrier, both from the Kentucky National Guard.  Persinger and Carrier won every year since Soldiers joined the tournament in 2013.