What does this entail? School district I work for started a team and approached me to be a boat captain. Anyone else who does this please give me a little info. In would love to help and get any kid that wants to fish a chance to do that.

It is a good thing. I have done it on a fill-in basis for the past couple of years when my schedule allowed. Some of the tournaments allow the boat captain to fish, some do not. At no time do your fish count, however occasionally there is a captain's pot.

Double check the insurance requirements to make sure you have enough coverage.

Overall it has been a great experience, good to give back to the kids.

Good luck!

^^^^^^^ ditto, it's a lot of fun

I'm assuming the captain drives the boat but do you man the TM or do they? Do they compensate for gas, etc?

Captain drives boat, you or they can run trolling motor, you must have insurance, you must provide life jackets, district we are in gave out 50 gc for gas. Its a good thing, I have reached out to guys in this area and hope more will sign up. You don't have to do all of them. I look at it this way. I have been blessed both financially and with time. I have with ability and opportunity to help. I also believe in karma, if something ever happens to me I hope someone will take my son fishing. Oh, if you are even considering it go ahead and get background checked by school.

My dad has done it a few times and enjoys it. I'll probably do it in September for a tourney. I did a similar tourney a while back, (church, not high school affiliated), and I was dodging lures all day. Lol. Got hit in the head with a spinner bait and decided since it was a multi species event we would go catfishing instead.

All the captain info is on the thsba website. Some clubs/kids offer gas money, some dont.
Some of the kids can fish and some have never really fished but are gung-ho and want to learn. Expect to dodge some baits, help pick some backslashes and maybe share some equipment. You'll be frustrated, irritated and proud all in the same day.
Set some ground rules from the beginning with your anglers. They may not have ever been in a boat before and don't know what to do or not do.
I don't fish on tourney days. The thought of catching a fish that they might have caught bothers me too much.
My guys run the trolling motor most of the time. The exception being windy days where they still struggle with fishing and running the motor. On non-tourney days, I let them run the big motor some depending on what lake we are on. (I regard this as a safety issue in case something happens where I could not drive)
It's worth doing. You might have to work through a few things but it's definitely worth it.

I have captained a little for the Texas High School BASS Association. This was to assist students in the Mt. Pleasant high school. As Captian I used my boat and took a pair of students (team) to pre-fish and to participate in schedules tournaments. The Captian provides a platform to fish on advise on fishing a tournament and support for the two man team as well as the entire schools team. Typically they will have regularly scheduled meetings designed to educate and organize the group. The Captian maintains $300,000 in boat insurance as well as managing the rules associated with the torunement. This organization has a web site that better explains the club.

If you are considering it, I highly recommend it. Of course this is coming from someone who is deeply ingrained in high school fishing as I am entering my 4th year as the president of the THSBA, team advisor for Bullard HS, and boat captain 2 students at Bullard and have helped kids at Keller HS when they didn't have a boat captain for a Lake Lewisville event.
Here is a short take on being a boat captain:
- you must be able to pass a background check (if you have a CHL, you're good)
- you must carry $300,00 liability insurance on your boat and show proof if asked
- you can run the trolling motor or the students can
- in our open events, you can fish and enter the optional captain side pot (1 fish)
- you can net the fish for the students
- you are the only one to run the combustion motor on tournament day
- you can coach, give advice, demonstrate different techniques, etc on tournament day
- you must sign a boat captain waiver form
- you cannot catch fish and give to the students
- you cannot cast or set the hook for the students
- you cannot call any one for advice or fishing info 14 days prior to and including tournament day who IS NOT entered in the tournament
- you can accept reasonable reimbursement for your expenses

Hope this helps. I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of right now.

Above all, you can make a big impact on a students life by giving of your time. Without the boat captains, high school fishing does not exist.

Thank you for considering being a boat captain.

Tim Haugh

Tim, are the tourneys usually on weekends? If so, for those of us with a boat that want to help but work weekends is there anything we can help with during the week?

I have been a Captain for 3 years now and Highly recommend that you do. These kids are the future of bass fishing and the sooner they learn how to manage a boat while keeping others around you in mind the better. We all have had days on the lake where someone has crowded us, why not get involved and help the next generation know better early. Also, getting to work with these High School kids has been a wonderful blessing. I am learning as they are.

Exactly!

Jody, you old goodie 2 shoes... LOL..

Seriously------ You guys that participate in the program, are top notch in my book...

All of our tournaments are on Saturdays. I appreciate your willingness to help, but with this not being a UIL sport, all or most schools do not let their students miss school to fish except for the official practice day before the championship.

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