First Ever New Hampshire High School Bass Fishing Tournament to be Held May 9
OutdoorHub 03.25.13
An exciting new high school sports competition is being launched this year in New Hampshire – a student bass fishing tournament. The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) will conduct the first NHIAA-sanctioned event in the sport of bass fishing on May 9, 2013, at Lee’s Mills in Moultonborough, NH on Lake Winnipesaukee from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm. This year’s event will be a trial tournament (therefore limited in scope), as the NHIAA and schools prepare for full implementation during the 2013-2014 academic year.
Registered NHIAA member schools interested in entering the tournament should notify NHIAA by April 1. For schools that are not able to provide a boat, the NHIAA will provide a boat for a single team. If participating schools can provide one approved boat and captain, it can field a single two-angler team. If a school can provide two boats and captains, they may enter two teams in the tournament. No school may enter more than two teams in the tournament.
Individual medals will be awarded to the largest total catch (four fish maximum) and for the largest largemouth and largest smallmouth bass caught.
The event will have a strong educational component. Teams will have mentors who will guide them through the process of learning about New Hampshire’s aquatic resources and the responsibility that goes along with being anglers.
“We are excited that scholastic sports and the angling community are coming together to create this opportunity for students to set the foundation for a lifelong outdoor activity,” said Karina Walsh, who coordinates the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Let’s Go Fishing Program. Walsh and N.H. Fish and Game Fisheries Biologist Gabe Gries serve on the NHIAA Bass Fishing Committee and are providing logistical and volunteer support for this event.
Additional information about the tournament can be found on the NHIAA website at http://www.nhiaa.org.
The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association is a private not for profit organization that has served as the leader of high school athletics for its member schools in New Hampshire since 1947. The student bass fishing tournament is in keeping with the NHIAA goals of adding sports that will have lifelong appeal to student athletes and providing more sports that are coed and inclusive to all populations within our schools.
