Both Vermont and New Hampshire have looked outside the box to arrest the trend of declining interest in high school sports participation. Bass fishing is one of the options that has gained some traction.
The NHIAA has sponsored a varsity state championship since 2013, recognizing smallmouth and largemouth team champions as well as an overall winner. No Upper Valley school has come out victorious, although Sunapee finished runner-up to Kearsarge in last year’s smallmouth division.
Lebanon will be the only Upper Valley school competing this winter, having hired John Carey as the program’s first paid coach. The NHIAA, which boasts 37 schools in a single division, will hold two tournaments, a state qualifier on Lake Winnipesaukee in Center Harbor on Sept. 19 and the state championship on Sept. 28 on Spofford Lake in Chesterfield.
The VPA continues to take a patient approach to bass fishing, which will run as a 16-school exhibition sport again this fall. Hartford, Windsor and White River Valley are expected to field squads; the departure of its past coach will likely leave Woodstock on the sidelines this fall.
The VPA’s bass fishing tournaments are a Sept. 18 qualifier and the Oct. 5 state championship, both of which will be staged on Lake Champlain from the John Guilmette Access Area in South Hero.
— Greg Fennell
Coach: Aaron Tomlinson
League: VPA Division I
Coach: John Carey
League: NHIAA Division I
Coach: Paul Feeney
League: VPA Division I
Coach: Michael Tillman
League: VPA Division I