It is catching on in North Dakota, slowly but surely.

High school fishing has grown remarkably across much of the United States. Teenage bass fishermen annually compete in state tournaments for a chance to advance to represent their towns in the national high school event.

While warm weather states, many of which have open water year round, produce the greatest number of young bass anglers, the northern tier of states has proven they can produce top young bass anglers too. Even North Dakota has a high school bass fishing program.

This year’s North Dakota State Championship for high school anglers is scheduled for May 9 at Nelson Lake. It is a team format with the winning duo advancing to the National High School Championship June 23 at LaCrosse, Wis.

“Whoever shows up at Nelson Lake fishes,” said Paul Reinbold, Dickinson, founder of the Badlands Bass Bandits fishing club and avid supporter of high school fishing. “This is our third year doing this. The winner will be the national qualifier from North Dakota.”

At the national tourney fishermen will be competing for college scholarships and opportunities to become members of college and university bass fishing teams. Reinbold stresses that high school anglers who don’t have access to a boat are helped out by others who do, thereby helping insure the growth of the program.

“I’ve offered my boat to teams,” said Reinbold. “I show up as a driver. We go out and fish. They can run the trolling motor. I only net fish and don’t make any decisions.”

Others volunteer their boats too. This May, said Reinbold, will be the last time a single tournament will be held to determine a national qualifier. The plan is to hold tournaments in the central and eastern portions of the state with place winners advancing to a state final this fall.

“North Dakota ice doesn’t melt off until May or so and the national championship is in June. That leaves only about six weeks to plan for nationals,” explained Reinbold. “You can’t plan for something that big in just six weeks. By holding qualifying events this summer, for next year, anglers will have ample time to prepare.”

Scott and Heather Bullinger of Bismarck are co-directors of the state’s high school fishing program. According to Heather Bullinger, one of the goals of the program is to obtain sponsors that would help with the cost incurred by anglers who qualify for the national event. Also, said Bullinger, is just to get more kids fishing.

“A lot of North Dakota kids grew up fishing,” remarked Bullinger. “We would just like to grow this so we have more and more teams participating. At the national final there’s tens of thousands of dollars of scholarships for college and lot and lots of sponsorship prizes too.”

Coronavirus concerns have understandably caused some anglers to pull back from committing to fishing in the May 9th national qualifier at Nelson Lake. However, said Bullinger, adjustments are being made so that social distancing guidelines will be observed.

“We’ve had several people ask how it is going to work. They are concerned about safety. It will be different. The rules meeting prior to the event will be on computer,” explained Bullinger. “We’ll have a weigh-in but still practice social distancing. There won’t be an awards ceremony but we are still going to hold the tournament.”

Final details have yet to be worked out for a pair of qualifying events to be held later this year and a state final that will determine the team of anglers that will advance to the 2021 nationals. Bullinger said the qualifying events for the 2021 nationals are tentatively set for in July and August of this year with details to be released in the coming weeks. The championship is scheduled for Lake Audubon on Sept. 12.

There is no entry fee for competitors in North Dakota high school fishing. However, they are required to pay a $25 membership fee to the National Student Angler Federation, the sponsorship organization for high school fishing and a division of The Bass Federation.

“We want to make this affordable. I think companies will get behind it and get it growing,” explained Reinbold. “Bass fishing in North Dakota the last 10 years has exploded.”

Registrations for the upcoming May 9 national qualifier will be accepted until noon on May 8. While the tournament is billed as being open to North Dakota students in grades 9-12, there’s also openings for seventh and eighth graders, if they team up with an upper-classman.

More information on high school bass fishing can be found on Facebook at North Dakota Student Angler Federation or on the web at highschoolfishing.org.