Tournament bass fishing season is upon us, and various schools and organizations locally are allowing many opportunities for students to get involved.
Mike Dillinger, a member of the board of directors at Ultimate High School Fishing, started the bass fishing team over at Queen City Independent School District about six years ago.
He said bass fishing's popularity and allure in the area is growing rapidly.
"It's growing fast," he said. "It's something kids can do and that parents can get involved in. You don't have to be 6-foot-4, 280 pounds and run a 4-4 in the forty (yard dash), you know. It's a sport that you can do the rest of your life. And kids are earning scholarships doing it."
Dillinger is heavily involved with bass fishing around the Ark-La-Tex area.
"We operate a fishing trail in East Texas, and I'm a sponsor. I'm also a sponsor on a bass fishing trail there out of Texarkana - the Ark-La-Tex BassMaster trail," he said. "I also own a business, and I make fishing lures. That's what I sponsor a lot of the kids with.
"I'm involved in a lot of it, and it's a passion of mine. I love it."
Queen City's bass fishing coach Barry Watkins said he's got 20 students on the team this year, as they plan to compete in six tournaments. One tournament is already complete, and the next is in early October.
He said they have students from fifth grade up to 12th grade who compete in the tournaments.
"The young ones, we're just trying to show them what the tournaments are like," he said. "We just love our kids. We try to teach them not only tournament fishing, but also ethics and hard work."
One of Queen City's finest out on the water is Dylan Benson, who along with Mike Dillinger's son Carson, competed at the state and national level last season.
Dillinger and Benson finished high enough in the regular season Ark-La-Tex Bassmaster trail tournament to qualify for the state tournament in one of three states - Louisiana, Texas or Arkansas - They ended up fishing in the Arkansas state tournament and won, which got them a bid for the national tournament.
The duo competed in the Bassmaster High School Fishing National Championship at Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee last year, competing against 309 boats from across the country. They finished in the top half of the tournament (141st).
"They placed not where they wanted to, but they brought fish to the scales every day, they competed hard and they're looking to build on that for next year and make a run at the national championship again," Dillinger said.
He said a plethora of schools in the region have students who participate in tournaments, including Hooks, Maud, New Boston, Genoa, Liberty-Eylau and many more.
Kassie Loe, a skeet shooting and fishing coach at Hooks ISD, said the Hooks team has 14 students on it this year and has been in place for around nine years.
She said the sport is gaining popularity among students, as they compete in tournaments set up through Ultimate High School Fishing. Their team is housed under the agriculture department.
Hooks will be hosting an open tournament at Wright Patman lake on Oct. 2.
Ultimate High School Fishing is a nonprofit that provides scholarships and prize money to students every year through its tournaments and sponsors. They also have 100-plus boats that go to every tournament, Dillinger says.
The angler team of the year for UHSF wins a $10,000 scholarship and gets a $40,000 skeeter bass boat
He said the support for bass fishing both monetarily and otherwise is only increasing throughout the community.
"To me and the statistics that I've seen, it's the No. 1 growing sport in the nation," Dillinger said. "There's kids from almost every state. And in Texas alone, there's probably 15 or 20 thousand student anglers. And just think, seven years ago, the sport was just getting started."