Bass Fishing a Growing Competitive Sport for Youth

Photos courtesy Humberto Gonzalez, ​ICASSTT® ICASSTT®, LLC Owner and Tournament Director, www.icasstt.org

In the first issue of Bassmaster in 1968, B.A.S.S. founder Ray Scott wrote: “It is my plan that we lift bass fishing up to public par with golf, bowling and pocket billiards. It’s high time the public found out we exist.”

Fifty-six years later, that goal has been met, and exceeded, with nearly 55 million Americans fishing annually, and more than 24 million of that number participating in bass fishing (American Sportfishing Association). According to the National Golf Foundation, approximately 26.6 million Americans played golf on a course in 2023.

Much of the surge in popularity has come over the last 20 years, with the rise of professional tournament trails such as Bassmaster Elite Series, Major League Fishing, Fishing League Worldwide and the National Professional Fishing League. The highest earning anglers can take home multi-millions in prize money and sponsorship deals, making what was once a recreational pastime, a highly lucrative full-time career. Many of the events are televised on prime-time networks, with even more that make it to platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Tik Tok. Needless to say, the popularity has reached the nation’s youth. In 2009, the Illinois High School Association included bass fishing as a competitive team sport. In 2024, 324 Illinois high schools participated in the spring season.

In addition to the school-sanctioned events, competitive tournament trails such as Illinois Coaches and Student State Tournament Trail (CASSTT) have been created to provide more serious youth anglers with opportunities to fish all year long, earning money in the process. Many of the anglers who fish at this level end up pursuing a collegiate bass fishing career, and sometimes professionally. Illinois has several colleges with official programs, including McKendree, Wabash Valley and Greenville. Several other colleges have club teams that also compete in collegiate trails, such as the College Bassmaster series and Major League Fishing (MLF) college series.

In Illinois, over the past seven years almost 15,000 documented tournaments have occurred on public waterbodies. Many popular bass lakes have tournaments every other day; sometimes multiple tournaments occur on any given day. Competition for ‘spots’ between competitive and recreational anglers is a common gripe, as well as congestion at public boat ramps between tournament anglers and pleasure boaters.

Nevertheless, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Fisheries continues to largely handle the pressure and produce quality opportunities for both tournament and recreational anglers. While we may not be able to grow bass like they can in Alabama or Florida, because we have a shorter growing season, we do have some fantastic public bass lakes. Regardless of the size, the competition is fair and substantial. From the northernmost part of the state all the way down to the southernmost part of the state, lakes like the Fox Chain or Cedar Lake remain popular bass fishing destinations. There are options for big boats and unrestricted motor size, as well as smaller electric only lakes that offer more solitude and a quiet paddle.

Whatever your preference, get out there and experience all that Illinois has to offer. For more information about places to fish or individual lake profiles visit I Fish Illinois.

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Tad Locher is an Illinois Department of Natural Resources District Fisheries Biologist for seven central Illinois counties.