Hooked

Reader Contribution by Lois Hoffman
Published on August 15, 2018
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Fishing has always held a special place in my heart. My Dad worked second shift in the factory as well as farmed. He had five weeks of vacation time per year, two of which he took in the spring to get the crops out, two in the fall for harvest and one week he saved for July to take us kids fishing. We had our certain spots on the St. Joe River by Colon, MI, that we went angling for blue gills. I am not sure if they were more fun to catch or to eat. I lived for that week.

That was, and still is, fishing at its finest for me but, for some, it’s a whole different ball game. For many, bass sport fishing or tournament fishing is the big lure, pardon the pun. Tournament fishing requires long hours of practice, little sleep sometimes, days of travel, fuel money and lots of equipment. So, why do they do it? Mike Adkins, who belongs to the Whitewater Valley Bass Masters club of Richmond, IN, sums it up best, “It’s the thrill of catching that big one and reeling him in after a big fight. It’s the fight, not the fish.”

Fishing tournaments have become the fourth most popular sport in the country with large and small mouth bass being the anglers’ most sought-after catch. All fishing offers anglers the chance to get outside and spend time away from electronics and with friends. Fishing tournaments add a little more thrill by offering prize money and the chance to have caught the most or largest fish.

Actually, the first televised fishing competition, the Bassmaster Classic, was dreamed up in a hotel room in 1967 by an enterprising fisherman who saw no reason why fishing tournaments couldn’t be televised just like basketball and other sporting events. He started drafting the rules that would promote the ideals of ethical angling, conservation and safety. The first tournament was held at Beaver Lake in Arkansas.

It doesn’t happen in my neck of the woods, but in some areas of the country competitive bass fishing is sanctioned as a high school sport. Illinois was the first state to recognize it in 2009 and in its first year more than 800 students competed to represent 217 high schools at statewide competitions.

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