Bass Fishing as an IHSA Sport at the Du Quoin High School

The Illinois High School Association tested new waters in 2009 when it became the first high school association to host a state bass fishing tournament.

Tonight, the Du Quoin Board of Education has a chance to do the same thing.

After gauging considerable interest from member schools, the IHSA board of directors voted in 2008 to inaugurate a bass fishing state tournament.

The Elverado High School has an IHSA bass team and saw success in the state tournament in May at Carlyle Lake.

Elverado High School took the second-place trophy in May, the first state trophy in school history.

The Falcons caught more fish than anyone in the tournament, but were haunted by two dead fish for which the team was docked.

The Falcons' official weight after the first round was 14 pounds, 1 ounce. They added on another 12 pounds, 14 ounces on the second day. That weight temporarily put them into first place.

Had the two fish been alive, Elverado would have won the state title by two ounces.

Other schools have formed shooting clubs.

The formation of organized bass fishing at DHS will be broached by instructor Nathan Crain and is on tonight's 6:30 p.m. agenda.

The fishing issue will share space with: the approval of a declaration of surplus equipment and items no longer in use from the old DHS in order to conduct a public sale of the items; a construction project update, review of the 2012 school district audit; review of state school report cards and state test scores for each school; the retirement of Cynthia Norris as K-8 school cook effective Jan. 4, 2013; and the employment of an elementary school supervisor aide, a custodian and an assistant high school boys basketball coach.

IHSA sectionals are held in April and state finals in May.

How do teams win? How do they advance to state? The teams weigh in their five best fish at the end of competition, and the three teams with the heaviest totals from each sectional advance to the state finals. Awards also will be given to the team with the single largest fish of the day. Weight deductions are made for arriving to the weigh-in site after 3 p.m. (a pound for every minute) and for submitting a dead fish for weigh-in (half-pound per dead fish).

Here are some of the most-asked questions:

Q. How many student(s) can a school enter?

A. A school may enter one or two boats for the State Bass Fishing Tournament. One boat will consist of at least one student and no more than four students listed on that boat roster. Only two students in a boat at any one time. The boat may go back to the dock and exchange a student for another anytime during the tournament fishing hours.

Q. Does the school have to provide the boat?

A. Each school will be responsible to provide the boat and one adult driver (coach) for that boat. No student will be allowed to operate the outboard motor on the boat. Either a student or the coach/adult may operate the trolling motor.

Q. How does a school get a boat?

A. Many bass clubs across the state of Illinois have offered their services to the schools. There is a complete list of the bass clubs and the contact person listed on the IHSA web site.

Q. Can a coach net a fish for a participant during competition?

A. The captain/coach of the boat may make suggestions but may not fish in any respect, including tying lures, netting fish, and handling fish or gear.

Q. Can a coach undo a snagged line for one of his/her participants?

A. If a participant gets his/her line snagged, the participant needs to remedy the situation.

Q. When does the season start?

A. There is not a designated season for bass fishing. A school could meet year round with their students if they wanted and could schedule a contest with another school at anytime.

Q. What resources are available to the member schools?

A. The IHSA has started a new website called "TheFutureFishesHere.org". There will be many links on that site that will provided many resources for the school and sponsor/coach to utilize during the year with the student participants.

Q. Who provides the equipment?

A. The students will provide all the equipment necessary to fish in the tournament, like the rods, reel artificial bait, nets, etc. The school will be responsible to secure the boat for the participants.

Q. What about insurance?

A. The IHSA will have catastrophic coverage for both the sectional and state final tournament. The schools will be responsible for any equipment just like in any other sport or activity the IHSA conducts.