What advice do you have for high school bass fisherman? Things like how to get sponsors, tournament strategies, practicing for tournaments, how many rods & reels you recommend having, etc. Please leave any helpful tips that will help a high school bass fisherman. Thank you and I look forward to reading the responses. 

Not any different than any other bass club, you're just younger. You have to sell yourself and your club to get sponsors. You'll probably be able to get more local support (smaller shops and not necessarily fishing related). 

Tournament techniques and everything remains the same. Do what you're good at during tournament time, that's not when you should be trying to learn something new. Bring what you need but don't go crazy with gear, it's easier to focus on the basics that way.

Mainly, be thankful high school fishing is a thing now. I tried to start a team but was told by my high school admin that fishing wasn't a high school sport. 

8 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Not any different than any other bass club, you're just younger. You have to sell yourself and your club to get sponsors. You'll probably be able to get more local support (smaller shops and not necessarily fishing related). 

Tournament techniques and everything remains the same. Do what you're good at during tournament time, that's not when you should be trying to learn something new. Bring what you need but don't go crazy with gear, it's easier to focus on the basics that way.

Mainly, be thankful high school fishing is a thing now. I tried to start a team but was told by my high school admin that fishing wasn't a high school sport. 

Thanks for the tips! If you happen to still be in high school you can still start a B.A.S.S. club you just need your principle or athletic director to sign something saying that you asked but they said no. KickinTheirBASSTV has a good video on how to start a high school club 

 

I wish I was still in high school when fishing teams were a thing. I'm about 15 years too late on that deal.

lol

You live on a lake with pretty good fishing, although not quite what it used to be but it seems to be coming back. That helps a lot to be able to be that close to a body of water you can practice techniques and learn on. Lots of business people live there too. I'd be doing some networking and seeing if anyone would be willing to sponsor your team. 

would you recommend trying to get sponsors from local non fishing related businesses or tackle shops or bigger fishing companies? also should we go about asking for sponsorships? email, phone, personal meeting, e.t.c..

At your level, I see nothing wrong with trying to get sponsorship from whoever you can get it from. 

If it were me, I'd want to do it face-to-face. As a small business owner, I get lots of emails asking for sponsorship, which just seems lazy to me. Even I can copy/paste a well written letter into an email and send it out to 100 different businesses in a matter of minutes. Meeting in person, or at the very least getting a phone call, would mean a lot more to me if someone was trying to get sponsorship out of me. 

thanks for the advice