Bass Fishing an Official Competitive High School Sport? 2nd State Approves

[spizike231]

" If you're a high school student in Kentucky who enjoys fishing, you'll soon get an opportunity to put your skills to the test against some of the best young anglers, after the state announced bass fishing would become a sanctioned prep sport.

Kentucky will join Illinois as the second state to make bass fishing an official high school sport.

As Cincinnati.com and other national media outlets reported, Kentucky will join Illinois as the second state to sponsor a high school bass fishing state championship, starting next April.

"I think it's fantastic. The earlier the exposure to bass fishing the better," Matt Luken told Cincinnati.com. "I talk to people all the time that wished they had bass fishing in college. We can say the same thing that we wish we had it in high school."

Kentucky's High School Athletic Association announced back in February that bass fishing, bowling and competitive cheer would be added as sports in the coming year.

The current competitive format would have two student-anglers fish from a boat that's driven by an adult. The best five fish for each team member would be added up to determine a winner based on total weight. All fish will then be released after the weigh-in.

"It's one of those programs that initially people kind of laugh about and go, 'Oh, you're kidding me,'" Dave Gannaway, who helped Illinois high schools get a bass fishing championship, told Cincinnati.com.

But the sport is no joke. States like Kentucky and Illinois have been adding different sports to the usual rotation over the last couple of years. Arizona became the first state to make beach volleyball a sanctioned high school sport just last year.

Honestly, I think adding bass fishing is a great idea. So long as high schools are willing and able to field a team, I could definitely see this taking off. Illinois announced last year that they've gone from 99 high school bass fishing teams to 232 in the past four years.

If anything, the sport gives other students that don't want to play baseball or football as chance to compete in a sport on the high school level against their peers. And that's never a bad thing. "

Original Article-

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler [+]

Spoiler

http://sports.yahoo.com/b...gh-school-185906709.html

As a fellow angler, I think this is amazing.. just wish that it would have happened in California during my freshman year.

What do you think? Should bass fishing be recognized as a competitive High School sport? Should more states start approving this? Why or why not?

 

[jthagreat]

i was about to come in and say whats the problem?

sounds like good times. two (likely male) students, with a (likely male) teacher throwing back some brews and fishing...Good times man good times.

im kidding.

but im all for it, curious if theres any objections minus maybe safety issues in like a pond/drowning type situations...?

 

[651akathepaul]

That's awesome.

 

[spizike231]

Originally Posted by jthagreat



but im all for it, curious if theres any objections minus maybe safety issues in like a pond/drowning type situations...?

Nah I was thinking that maybe some people would think that it's just a simple hobby instead of a sport / it shouldn't be classified as a competitive high school type sport.

 

[bhergh]

i wish this was n more states as well , more of these sports usually means more students n school.. i know a few people who skipped school to go fishing...

 

[mangudai954]

This is actually pretty cool.

 

[quik1987]

Don't think it should be considered a sport, a lot of luck is involved.

Cool program though

 

[yeah]

Not a big fan of fishing, but if it's keeping kids in school then I'm all for it.

As long as my child doesn't come home talking about noodling then its all good.

 

[bjamez20]

anything to get more kids involved in extracurriculars instead of sitting on their @!$!# wasting away

 

[heatking]

wish they had this in my school. saltwater fishing is more common where im at but would of been tight.

 

[credo]

 

[spizike231]

Originally Posted by quik1987

Don't think it should be considered a sport, a lot of luck is involved.

Cool program though

With boat fishing for largemouths, it's more of a skill. The fishermen need to find where the fish are located on the river / lake, then use their lures skillfully in order to get them to strike.

It's not as easy as some people make it out to be, trust me. I was out at a pond by my house with my stuff yesterday for 6 hours and only got a few nibbles..