This Friday, Lewsville Lake, a reservoir in North Texas popular for recreational fishing and watersports, will be host to the fourth BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship.

286 students, in 143 two-angler teams, representing 73 schools and 26 states will compete.

Each team that participates will be given $100 to shop at Cabela’s retail store in nearby Fort Worth, and fishing products worth about $1,000.

According to a press release, there will also be seminars provided by national fishing professionals, such as Clark Wendlandt and Kelly Jordon.

The tournament’s popularity has grown rapidly. Last year, 194 students participated. Wade Middleton, the director of the tournament, told the Dallas Morning News that they “had 40 teams in 2006 ... more than 200 schools have a bass fishing team now, and we get inquiries on a weekly basis from both students and schools.”

Middleton also told the Morning News that he receives both emails and phone calls “from high school kids ... asking where they should go to college if they are interested in pursuing bass fishing.”

And the serious interest in bass fishing amongst college students is not to be underestimated. When Oklahoma State finished second in the 2006 tournament, 40 new members joined the school’s bass fishing club.

Justin Rackley and Trevor Knight won the 2007 championship for Texas A&M University. Both have since graduated and now compete in pro-level fishing tournaments.

Rackley told the Morning News that since participating he “made a lot [of] fishing industry contacts through the tournaments.”

The American Sportfishing Association claims that there are almost 60 million anglers in the United States. They claim the industry generates more than $125 billion in economic output, and creates more than one million jobs.

But in spite of such news, the popularity of sportsfishing has been on the decline in recent years. In 2005, about 28 million fishing licenses were sold, compared with 29.5 million in 2001.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Middleton said that there are “student anglers who used the collegiate tournaments to become bass pros” while there are now “others...involved in other aspects of the fishing and outdoors industries. Who knows what it will men 10 years from now?”

Our Take

It is no surprise that fishing is less popular now than it used to be, due to revelations about the nature of climate change and the decline of fish stocks worldwide. However, that is not to say there is nothing wrong with having a fishing team at a university, or fishing tournaments.