Cottrell, Fehr find fishing success

Wayde Fehr, left, and Landon Cottrell shown helping at FFA Day last week at Dominy Library in Fairbury.

Two Prairie Central students with a passion for fishing are finding success competing on the PCHS Bass Fishing team.

Wayde Fehr and Landon Cottrell started competing as sophomores and qualified for state their first year.

“It is an incredible sport to get into,” said Fehr.

The pair fish in a youth series that puts on high school tournaments and they have the IHSA regional coming up in a couple of weeks. They hope to advance to the sectionals and beyond.

“Hopefully we can qualify for state,” notes Fehr.

A tournament can turn into a long day for competitors has they must think about conditions, water levels and the time of year. Both agree competing takes plenty of time, effort and preparation.

“We’ll go in the night before a tournament to get the rods ready and get our boats ready.”

PC’s bass fishing team just came off a big win last weekend as the regular season tournaments wind down. They won the regional at Lake Bloomington last year and will try for it again here in 2026.

“It’s just really enjoyable,” observes Cottrell. “No one has done it from Prairie Central so it’s pretty cool for us to start it and really do good and show people what we can do.”