Move over, flag football.
“Need Help Paying For College? Try Bass Fishing,” according to The New York Times.
The sport’s sanctioning body, BASS Nation, short for Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, has about 12,000 anglers in 1,100 high school and youth clubs in 35 states, up from 600 clubs and about 6,000 anglers in a dozen states a decade ago. Bass fishing is sanctioned as a high school sport in at least eight states, with clubs in many other schools.
And you thought ice hockey was expensive!
New bass boats can cost $100K; parents often have to move, captain boats
Digital fish finders are $2K or more; fishingrods cost several hundreds
Parents also incur other typical youth sports expenses — travel, lodging, equipment, entry fees, etc.
Most schools do not want to insure anglers, boats for liability reasons
The top youth levels are basically “travel league fishing,” according to one of the officials interviewed in the report.
About 600 colleges currently have some sort of fishing program — a total that has double in the last decade, according to the report. Some offer scholarships and there is even a bass fishing showcase for recruiting purposes.
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