Even though competitive bass fishing isn’t yet recognized as an official school sport in Ohio, it is catching on with young people here.
Through local clubs across the state, volunteers teach students — from third grade through college — about fishing and help host competitions at various lakes around Ohio. The clubs, such as Cincinnati Youth Bass Club and Northwest Ohio Junior Bassmasters, are affiliated with groups such as the Student Angler Federation and Ohio Bass Nation, which promote bass fishing among young people.
“I’ve had so many parents whose kids don’t play traditional sports tell me, ‘This is the only thing my kid loves,’” says Tasha Burgess of Hamilton, who serves as the volunteer youth director for Ohio Bass Nation. “Fishing grows their confidence in themselves, and they’re making lifelong friends.”
The University of Rio Grande’s bass fishing team competed in 10 events last year, traveling as far as Alabama.
Competitive bass fishing is strictly catch and release. Teams of two, using only artificial baits that look like worms or crawdads, drop their lines in a specified area. Each competitor catches a maximum of five fish, which must be kept alive in water-filled wells on the boats. As soon as the fish are quickly weighed and photographed, they are released back into the lake. The winning team is determined by the total weight of the fish caught.
For safety, every boat is operated by an adult so that the two young competitors can concentrate on their fishing.
“Kids get up at 4 o’clock in the morning and they’re out there for six to eight hours, working their tails off,” Burgess says. “It could be 95 degrees or 35 degrees, and they want to be fishing. They’re incredible kids.”
Ohio Bass Nation holds two tournaments for students in the fall and two in the spring. Winners advance to compete in the state championships. State winners qualify to compete in the national championships, to be held this year in Georgia. Two members of the Cincinnati club, Maddie Dawson and Colten Porter, won this year’s Ohio state championships and will compete in the national contest.
Burgess keeps track of entries and countless other details for OBN’s youth tournaments. That work is done when she’s not busy at her full-time job managing financial matters for the Department of Biology at Miami University in Oxford.
Burgess fished for catfish with her dad when she was young, and her husband, John, competes in numerous bass fishing tournaments, but, she says, “I’m not an avid bass fisher. For me, I’ve always loved being outdoors and it’s more about helping the kids.”
Her involvement with youth fishing began when their son, Cameron, had to quit playing ice hockey. The only other sport he liked was fishing, and getting involved with youth club fishing has allowed Cameron to compete in several states. Now he’s attending the University of Rio Grande in southeast Ohio on a fishing team scholarship.
During the winter months, most of the fishing clubs meet indoors. Burgess says that the kids work on knot-tying and other skills and also learn about conservation. All the while, they’re not only experiencing the fun of competition, they’re also making friends who share the same interest. There is another large benefit: the chance, at each competition, to earn scholarships.
Burgess says that the kids like being outside and with other kids. “They enjoy trying to read the water [temperature and clarity], the challenge of figuring out what bait the fish want.”
Burgess says that more volunteers are needed so that more kids can participate in fishing. “One fishing club in Ohio Bass Nation has a waiting list of over 100 kids,” she says.
Click here for more information on OBN youth fishing
Click here for more information about the Student Angler Federation
