Grab your poles and don’t forget the bait. The Georgia High School Association announced that bass fishing is an official sponsored sport and activity starting in the 2020-2021 school year.
Dozens of schools added fishing teams over the last couple of years and with the announcement, those teams join the football, basketball, baseball and softball teams at each school as officially sanctioned teams.
As for the fishing team, both boys and girls can participate and will compete head-to-head at the state championship meet.
The GHSA did not designate an official season for the sport. Rather, it will host four state qualifying tournaments in different parts of Georgia beginning in January each year. Qualifiers from those events will advance to the open state championship tournament, scheduled for March or April each year.
The GHSA allows each school to enter up to six boats in each regional competition. Schools are permitted to participate in multiple regional meets. The top 15 boats from each regional will advance to the state tournament. For every 10 boats over the first 100 boats in a regional, an additional spot in the state championship will be up for grabs.
The rules permit each boat to include four student contestants but only two can be on the boat at a time.