World’s Richest Bass Fishing Championship Event Ever Held? Prize Purse Tops $2.7 Million For 10th Annual High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship in 2019
Category: article
Jun 13th, 2019 by Keith Worrall
Modified Jun 13th, 2019 at 2:26 PM
The Student Angler Federation, (SAF) announced today that Student anglers will compete for a share of the record $2.7 million prize purse offered at the 10th Annual High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship dual event June 19-22 on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., registration for this premier event closes Friday June 14th.
Comprised of lucrative college scholarships, cash scholarships and an array of other prizes, the purse is the richest in High School Fishing history by far and possibly the largest ever posted in all levels of competitive bass fishing.
The payout was quickly pushed to over $1.1 million to celebrate this 10th anniversary event. Bethel University who has supported the World Finals from its start in 2010, once again started the ball rolling with their annual scholarship offers totaling $96,000, then Kentucky Christian University (KCU) in eastern Kentucky stepped up in a big way and is offering 12 scholarships totaling $1 million dollars, including a top scholarship of $100,000. Then earlier this week, Simpson University in Redding, California, added $1.5 million in multiple scholarship offers to the pot, targeting mainly top student angler teams from the western half of the US including a $60,000 offer to the top California finishers, and more than 40 other Simpson University scholarship offers as well, pushing the total to nearly 2.6 million. All 3 of these colleges have or are building out top level college fishing teams and are working to recruit for their fishing teams.
Educational incentives don’t end there, not everyone can travel to one of these top schools for their degree and maybe some don’t want to go to college. America certainly needs well trained, well paid, technical and trades craftsmen and women as well. So, The Bass Federation (TBF) and FLW both annually offer cash scholarships. FLW offers the winning team of the National Championship portion of the dual event a $10,000 cash scholarship and advance opportunities to the BFL All-American. (If they meet age requirements) and TBF annually provides $10,000 scholarships in the World Finals portion. These scholarships ensure that no winning team goes home empty handed. Additional smaller scholarships, daily sponsor prizes for all teams, a gift for every graduating senior attending on senior night, tens of thousands in gift cards and a plethora of other daily prizes from all the event sponsors push the total purse past the $2.7 million mark.
While the payout is epic, TBF President and CEO Robert Cartlidge believes the educational opportunities trump the record dollar signs.
“This may well be the richest prize pool ever for a bass fishing championship event of any kind, anywhere in the history of the sport, but that is not what makes it a valuable event,” he said. “In our minds, as far as TBF and our partners in fishing at FLW are concerned, what makes this the richest payback anywhere has nothing to do with the dollar amount; it is because of the dozens of top-notch educational scholarships with which students will have a chance to earn post-secondary degrees. Those educations are worth more than any dollar amount anyone can put on an event.”
Produced by SAF under the TBF umbrella with support from FLW Outdoors, the popular four-day High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship dual-event format allows all anglers to compete for three full days, with a second-chance round designed to keep everyone in the game until the fourth and final day cut much like any other high school double elimination event.
The High School Fishing World Finals portion of this dual event is open to ALL SAF members world-wide so that all SAF members have a chance to earn a life changing scholarship and is expected to draw nearly 400 two-person teams from about every U.S. state, plus competitors from foreign destinations ranging from Canada to Zimbabwe. The National Championship portion of the event you must qualify for through SAF State Championships, FLW Open events and SAF sanctioned trails across the nation. This format allows friends, siblings and club team members to travel and compete together in one or two premier events with separate prize pools, in a one week long family friendly vacation all at once, with only one travel cost for the families. There is still time for any high school team to get registered and attend as registration for the World Finals event closes Friday June 14th.
For complete details, visit HighSchoolFishing.org. You can also follow the daily action, including Facebook Live morning takeoffs and live streaming weigh-ins, at www.HighSchoolFishing.org and enjoy additional daily coverage and photos at FLWFishing.com.
About The Bass Federation
The Bass Federation Inc., (TBF) is a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. TBF is owned by those we serve and dedicated to the sport of fishing. The Federation is the largest and oldest, organized grassroots fishing, youth and conservation organization there is. TBF, our affiliated state federations and their member clubs conduct more than 20,000 events each year and have provided a foundation for the entire bass fishing industry for nearly 50 years. TBF founded the Student Angler Federation and the National High School Fishing program in 2007 to promote clean family fun and education through fishing. Visit bassfederation.com or highschoolfishing.org and “LIKE US” on Facebook. For more information about The Bass Federation, visit bassfederation.com or call 580-765-9031.
For full details and more information about the Student Angler Federation and this year’s High School World Finals, visit highschoolfishing.org or call 580-765-9031.