Anyone have any suggestions if I should fish for Alabama, UGA or Clemson? I'm going to boarding school in Virginia so I won't be fishing competitively in my last 2 years of high school.

I would chose your school based on what you want to study, and find out which has the program that best applies to your career goals. That's going to direct a lot more in your life, and you'll likely be fishing the same tournaments. That being said, if they all have a program that works for you I'd get in touch with each of the teams and ask questions that are important to you. You have plenty of time and options, just evaluate each to see what will fit you best. Best of luck with your education and fishing!

Yes, thank you for your input. I would defiantly need to put education first.

Great advice above! The most important thing imo is to get to know the people involved at each school. Talk to the President/Vice President of the club and make sure you know exactly what you're getting into. Then chose the best situation for you. I agree that those schools will most likely fish the same tournaments other than their regional qualifiers.

I'm going to the Univeristy of Arkansas next year to fish as well. Maybe I'll be competing against you sometime in the future. Good luck to you

Good luck man. I have some friends here in Dallas going to Arkansas. Great fishing community there I heard. I'm fishing this week for a $20,000 scholarship for the university of Arkansas this weekend. It's the high school state championship. If I win, I'll put Arkansas on my list lol.

Did you fish competitively in high school?

Alabama has a very established and well organized team, its also a better bass fishing state than GA or SC. That being said, I fished collegiately and I would not factor that too much into your college decision. All three of those schools are about on par academically.

Nope, and I regret it. Just didn't seem like I could get enough interest from other people. Where are they having state? How many boats? Can't beat earning $20,00 for fishing!

Lol don't choose your school based on fishing that's absurd

It's not completely absurd. It's quality of life, which should factor into any decision. I wouldn't let it be the sole factor, but I understand it weighing into someone's decision. In many cases (mine definitely), who you meet and network with is just as important as what you get your degree in or from where. If he wants to work in the fishing industry, going to a school with a very well organized team with a large network can definitely play a big factor.

What boarding school are you going to? I went to Trinity.

Agree with everyone else. Studies are paramount and fishing is second.

It's on lake Tyler and you had to qualify for state. The total divisions of boats were like 350 and there are 150 that qualified for state. I'm pretty sure it's a $10,000-$20,000 scholarship and I know it's for sure a scholarship towards Arkansas.

I'm going to Christ church it's right on the Chesapeake.

WHY? if all things are equal in your mind... and you want to try to fish competitively then yes you need to look at it. As long as they all have good programs for what you want then yes this is a VERY valid point for some guys.

Yall also blow the college work load out of proportion. I got my degree, pre-vet track(so the real chemistries not Cowbody chem) in 3 years, took 18 hours a semester and still fished 3 afternoons a week EASY with a GPA of 3.48. If you don't miss a class, and don't sleep in class, a B is CAKE... you will be out of class WAY more than you were in high school, if you just TRY in class and set SOME time out to study it is not hard man lol.

my advice is take early classes- 8,9,10,11... I wanted nothing after noon if I could help it... I'd try to do any homework before 3 so I could be "out of school" about when I would have in high school. College was fun, I had a COUPLE really hard classes(biochem and organic chem... grrrr organic is NOT my thing) but on the whole not hard. You just have to realize that they aren't giving you busy work... you are accountable for teaching yourself PART of that... Oh and ps curves are a thing of the past, only curve I had was a REVERSE curve, you had to make a 94 to get an A.

If you have had anything to do with college fishing then you know almost EVERY school handles the team differently. Look at techs, unless it has changed it is just a BASS club not even a official association of the school (this may have changed since I was in school 4 years ago.)

I have seen everything from school just gives a couple guys permission to use the name to at Angelo we had a travel allowance.

Things I would look at
Do the college teams have a SET PUBLISHED way to "make the team" you'd be surprised how crooked some of these things get as far as new people coming in.

Make sure there is a real organization behind it, not just a couple guys. In general the more well organized the better...

What lakes are around and what circuits do they fish?
How does the club get there travel money? Dues? School? individual?


I am STRONGLY of the opinion that there should be much more observation of these teams. I know for a FACT several schools had people fish as not full time students, what about masters students? what's eligibility?
There is no enforcement... NCAA can't touch it cause it is money changing hands... but there should be somthing

Honestly I do not want to offend anyone, but college fishing is a good opportunity to qualify and make a name. In years past it was easier to do so threw college fishing. Now it is higher competition without the major money. The resources you would exhaust traveling to fish a college even, you're better off spending on a rayovac or Open. Just my 2 cents. Also. Certain schools support students better than others. Personally I know of some school credit cards being used to pay for guide trips.

I completely disagree on the rayovac thing just look at the WEIGHTS on the same lakes it takes to win a college tour event vs a Rayovac... but again a lot of it depends on how your team/school structures... I got to fish more stuff I NEVER would have because my school's set up. also as a team we did well. Angelo wasn't a slouch by any means so we used winnings to travel which helped.
Also at least in FLW, the amount of money to when has gone down from what it was..