Go With the Flow: Local high school anglers compete at championship level

Competition is where you find it and for the past several months, Tri-City area high school students have found it on the water.
No, not swimming, diving, or playing water polo. These kids compete in the Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Trail, where, the competition and challenge can be as tough as any sport and perhaps in some ways more difficult.
The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society program began five years ago with Patterson High School being the first school locally to field a team to participate during its second year of competition. Patterson High School’s fishing coach, Hal Pinho, says the program continues to grow across Louisiana.
Pinho said, “The first year Patterson was in, there was probably 80 boats entered in a tournament, then there was 100, then 200, and now there’s more than 300 statewide. It’s grown so much they had to split it up into east-west divisions, because they had so many kids.”
In 2018 Pinho’s sons Hayden and Hunter qualified for the 2018 B.A.S.S. National High School Championship when they finished seventh out 252 teams in last year’s state tournament. Older brother Hayden now fishes for the University of Louisiana-Lafayette’s Ragin Cajun Bass Fishing Team.
High school anglers have six tournaments that they can compete in, in the east and west regions in trying to qualify for the state tournament. And, though the number of qualifying tournaments doubled in 2018 from the previous year, it’s still not an easy task.
Morgan City High School’s fishing coach Dean Grizzaffi said, “To qualify for a state championship you have to finish in the top 10 percent of at least one tournament. We average between 150 and 180 boats per tournament, so that means they have to finish in the top 15 or top 18 to qualify.”
Depending on whether it’s being held in the east or west region, tournaments take place in locations like the Atchafalaya Basin, Henderson Lake, Lake Ponchartrain, the Calcasieu River, Henderson Lake, Bayou Segnette and Toledo Bend. Because of such diversity, tournaments include a Friday practice day for the competitors before the Saturday event.
Grizzaffi said, “The enjoyment is just seeing these kids compete. Their day starts out between 4:30 and 5 o’clock in the morning. It takes a special kid to sit out in a boat from 6:30 a.m. till 3 p.m. weigh-in while battling the weather. No matter if it’s 100 degrees or 30-something, 50-something, battling the rain – these kids don’t have dugouts. They don’t have locker rooms. You’re out on the water, where you might get a 10-minute break. And, these kids will probably cast over 2000 times a day.”
The sport itself isn’t cheap. Besides the $40 entry fee per team, quite often, depending on the location of the tournament, there are hotels involved, as well as, boat fuel expense, vehicle fuel, food, drinks, and even boat repairs if a mishap occurs – something Grazzaffi says occurred during an event.
Currently, high school tournament fishing isn’t sanctioned by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA). To help offset some of the cost, Grazzaffi says the Morgan City High School team sold sponsorships with advertisements on the team’s jerseys.
Central Catholic’s coach Beau Theriot says coaches can captain a boat for the students, give pointers, and talk to them, but they can’t tie a knot, tie a bait, cast a line or net a fish. Coaches are only allowed to operate the boat.
“One thing about fishing is, you don’t have to be a certain size, color, weight, girl, boy – it doesn’t matter,” Theriot said. “You can compete on any level with this kind of sport if you want to. The thing I like about it is, it gets these kids outdoors and teaches them responsibility safety-wise while operating a boat and making decisions on their own.”
Tournament bass fishing is one of the fastest growing sports in the nation today. One of the goals of B.A.S.S. is to create and develop the next generation of anglers.
Currently all qualifying tournaments are over for the year. Four teams from Morgan City, one from Patterson, and two teams from Central Catholic qualified for this year’s state tournament, which will be held out of the Berwick Boat Landing May 3-4.
Top finishers from the state tournament will get an opportunity to compete against the nation’s best high school anglers from across the nation on Kentucky Lake this summer.