 The Texas B.A.S.S.
Federation Chapter is comprised of six regions.
Tournaments are held for each region to determine the
winning anglers. These top anglers fish in the Texas state
championship. The winners are part of a western division
team which then competes with the other divisions (Eastern,
Southern, Northern, and Mid-West.) The Winners are then on
the road to the classic. This format gives the weekend
fisherman an opportunity to compete with the top bass
fishing pros in the world at the Bassmaster Classic©.
Federation history
The BASS Chapter program began in 1968 with the
affiliation of the first BASS chapter, Chattanooga
Bass Club. Since then the program has grown to more
than 2,800 clubs with approximately 50,000 members.
BASS chapter members are our
grass-roots fishermen dedicated to the future of bass
fishing. They furnish manpower, money and equipment
for lake clean-ups, promote catch-and-release,
encourage community involvement, lobby for and against
proposed legislation, introduce youth to fishing and
even conduct tournament creel census reports.
Realizing that a collection of chapters could
accomplish more and have a stronger voice on issues
that affect the future and preservation of bass
fishing we decided to unite them. In 1972 we installed
19 state federations and so began our BASS National
Federation program. We currently have 51 federations
in the United States, Japan, South Africa, Italy,
Ontario and Zimbabwe. We will shortly add one or more
provinces in Canada to that ever expanding list of
federations.
The BASS Federation program is designed so BASS
clubs within a state are able to communicate and
cooperate with other BASS chapters and federations.
The result is a group of bass-fishing "Minute Men"
which can be assembled in times of need; be it an
environmental problem, a youth oriented program or a
community service project.
Children's love and enjoyment of fishing launched
our Junior Bassmaster Chapter program in 1983. Today
we have 45 junior chapters with approximately 1,000
members. Many of our junior chapters are tied-in with
other great youth organizations such as Boy Scouts of
America, Girl Scouts of America and 4-H Clubs.
In 1991 we designed the Bassmaster CastingKids
program to introduce kids to the fun of fishing. This
program is a flip, pitch and cast competition
conducted by our federation members which gives away
over $20,000 in scholarships each year. To date we
have reached over 1,000,000 children with the numbers
increasing each year.
Our federation members also have another common
interest, tournament fishing. These weekend anglers
enjoy the BASS National Federation Tournament Trail
because it is the only amateur circuit that leads to
the prestigious Bassmasters Classic where they compete
against the top 40 professional fishermen each year.
On this circuit, chapter members qualify through
their state federation for a slot on their state team.
The state team then competes against other state teams
at one of the BASS Divisional Championships; Central,
Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western. At these
tournaments the contenders compete as a team for the
prize money, but the top individual from each state
team advances to the BASS Federation National
Championship. At this National Championship tournament
the contenders compete against all others and against
the other contenders in their division. The top
individual from each division advances to the
Bassmasters Classic.
Today our federation members are actively pushing
for better conservation practices, introducing kids to
fishing, conducting community service projects and
promoting fishing throughout their communities.
Because of the hard work and dedication of our
federation members the future of fishing looks bright!
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