Youth
Welcome to the New York BASS Nation Youth Division Home Page. Youth fishing incorporates Junior Programs age 7 to 14, High School Programs for grades 8 to 12, and College Programs for students attending college. We are proud to serve young people as they learn and grow in the fishing world. An essential part of our program is the adults which work with the individual clubs to help teach students about the essentials of fishing, safety, and conservation.
We have clubs in all area of the state but continue to grow as new clubs are formed. BASS has determined that by 2020, there will be more registered High School anglers participating in BASS events than adult anglers. This all starts with getting a good foundation from Junior Programs to learn the basics then with high school clubs formed at individual high schools. The college program is a transition program formed in cooperation with the colleges to offer competitive angling to young men and women as a stepping stone into adult programs.
A separate listing of existing clubs as of 2018 will be on the website, Youth drop down. To form a club is easy. Just go to Bassmaster.com and go to the Nation drop down tab and select the type of club you want to form. All the information and links will be on that drop down. BASS offers a special discounted membership for high school and college of $10.00. This is where you get your BASS number and must be renewed each year. Then you must register with BASS Nation which is where clubs are formed and rosters maintained. For Juniors and High School this is $10.00. (Juniors get their BASS number registering here). College is $20.00.
We depend on the clubs to schedule local activities and to seek support from adult anglers. Programs and projects help young anglers to learn and develop skills while having fun and learning team skills and making new friendships. New York state BASS Nation provides championship tournaments for Juniors and High School in late May or early June. Starting in 2018, we also provide a national qualifier event for College in conjunction with the first of the year adult points tournament. Rules and entry forms are available on the separate drop downs on our website. These championships all lead to scholarship opportunities and in the case of college one college angler gets to attend the Bassmaster Classic each year. For 2018, there is over a quarter million dollars in scholarships available to high school anglers. In 2017, Junior angler Rein Golubjatnikov won a $1000 scholarship by placing second in the Junior National Tournament.
As the youth programs grow, so have the opportunities for scholarships directly from many colleges, mainly in the mid-south and south. There are student athletes fishing for their college while receiving cash support for tuition and other expenses. This is all co-ed so both young men and women are receiving a benefit. In 2018, both high school and college anglers are also receiving an opportunity to apply for independent scholarships sponsored in one case by the Ike Foundation and another by Shimano and BASS.
We also encourage local clubs to seek support from your community. There are many businesses and organization which will exchange sponsor support for involvement in their business or group. Volunteer efforts can pay off handsomely.
So if you have questions, please contact me by email and I will help where I can.
Thank you,
Fred Blom
NY BASS Nation Youth Director