Collegiate Fishing Team

[FHUAngler]

Hey all-

I am the founder of a collegiate fishing team at Freed-Hardeman University in Western TN. We have just started up this fall, but competed in the National Championship, which 83 boats from different schools around the nation competed in, and placed 13th. We also fished in the Auburn University Invitational and placed 7th out of 22 boats from different schools. Many people are not aware that collegiate fishing exists, as it has just recently started developing. My question is, does anyone know of any companies out there that are looking to support the collegiate fishing scene? We receive tons of National exposure on the internet and on TV, and could be useful to many companies in their marketing schemes. I will attach a copy of our team's resume, which you are free to look at and let me know if you know of any revisions we could make. We currently have some sponsors, but are looking for a few more. We are also looking for someone to sponsor us our tournament jerseys we want to have made by Animal paintball. I really appreciate your help. Our main concern at the moment is paying for gas to our tournaments this spring. We are fishing a circuit with 12 other schools in the southeast and need to supply fuel for 2 teams to travel to and from the tournament sites. I sure appreciate your help, and keep fishing!

Tyler Hughes

President, Freed-Hardeman University Bass Anglers

OVERVIEW: The Freed-Hardeman University Bass Anglers were established in the fall of 2007 as a registered student organization at Freed-Hardeman University. Our sole purpose is to further the sport of bass fishing. We aim to give the students at Freed-Hardeman University an opportunity to competitively as well as leisurely angle for black bass. We also give the students at Freed-Hardeman University an opportunity to learn more about the sport of bass fishing as well as how to become better anglers. We also strive to educate the community on the conservation and restoration of black bass in community waters. We hold many community events such as a region-wide tournament on Kentucky Lake in the spring as well as a fishing rodeo at a small local lake for the children of the community. We are an active club of 15 current founding members and love the sport we are a part of. We are a very active and growing club.

EXPERIENCE:

     The Freed-Hardeman University Bass Anglers hold some accomplished bass anglers. The co-founders, Tyler Hughes and Nathan Pirtle, participated in the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship in September of 2007 and placed 13th out of 83 boats overall. We currently have four anglers active and all four are very qualified. As a club, we have not competed in many tournaments because our club is so new. We plan on fishing in many upcoming tournaments. We are currently working on forming a conference circuit with 10 other schools in which we would fish 5 collegiate tournaments this spring. We also plan to fish in many other events hosted by the Collegiate Bass Anglers Association (CBAA) this spring.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

-13th Place Overall Finish at the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship

-4th Place Second Day Finish at the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship

-7th Place finish at the inaugural Iron Brawl tournament hosted by Auburn University

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU:

Sponsors logos on our Vehicles and boats

Sponsors logos on our bass club's website

Sponsors logos on our Tournament Shirts

Distribution of promotional materials at events

Appearances at Tournaments, sports shows, and other related events

Demonstration of products to potential customers

We feel that we can represent your company very well. We are very excited about any sponsorship opportunities you may be interested in pursuing with us, and thank you so much for your time and interest.

[bmadd]

Hey Tyler,

This is Braden the guy you spoke with from UT Martin. Glad to see you on here man. Also-If ya'll are interested, we talked more at our last meeting about combining tournaments and if ya'll would like to fish all our tournaments with us let me know and I'll send you our remaining schedule.

You'll learn a lot on here man...visit frequently.

[FHUAngler]

Thanks man. Im lookin forward to gettin to know yall in the Southeastern Circuit we are doin this year! I visit here alot, just pickin up tidbits of stuff. Anyway- ill let you know on the tournaments.

[paul.]

what y'all are doing is very cool. 8-)  i graduated from fhu in 1990, my wife in 1991.  small world, huh?  good luck to ya in your efforts.

[paul.]

wow, and not only that, braden is a h'town homeboy.  unbelievable!!!

[bmadd]

That is a small world. The lake in your pictures look familiar...Cedar Grove maybe?

[siubassin]

Hey guys. I just stumbled onto this site a few weeks back. Braden I talked to you and your partner in Arkansas about having a tournament on Kentucky Lake sometime this spring. Have you guys had any more discussion about getting several schools together (such as you guys, SIU, Murray, FHU, and possibly WIU, U of I and others) for a tournament?

The site is great. I'm looking forward to contributing some Illinois fishing knowledge in the future (when there isn't 5" of snow on the ground).

Ben

[Bass XL]

do you guys know of any Missouri schools that are doing the collegiate bass tournaments??

[siubassin]

Drury (I think it's in Springfield) and SEMO each had a team in Arkansas for the ESPN tournament.

[Bass XL]

thanks, I was actually planning on going to semo...can you guys tell me how it works? like do you have to bring your own boat down, etc. Thanks a lot.

[bmadd]

Here is a sort of general run-down. There are two different organizations that host collegiate national championship tournaments. Each school is required to host qualifying tournaments within their individual club to determine who will represent the school at each national tournament.

You also have schools that host invitational tournaments. These tournaments do not require qualified anglers to compete, just members of the school's team.

Each tournament, the schools have to provide their own transportation and boats. All but one of the tournaments require the schools to pay for lodging and most other expenses. The national tournaments have a scholarship payout to the winning team. Rules for the tournaments are a combination of BASS and FLW rules.

When you arrive at your college of choice, contact the person in charge of Student Organizations regarding contact information on who is in charge of your school's club or on how to start your on if one does not exist.

If you have any other questions feel free to pm me.

-Braden

[7magJake]

Anybody know of any schools in Louisiana ( other than NorthWestern) that have a bass fishing team. What does it take to get on the team just showing up or do you have to be invited?

[bmadd]

The University of Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana Tech are the only other schools I'm aware of. I can't say for the rest of the schools but at Martin all that is required is to pay I think it was 10 or 15$ at the beginning of the year to help with registrations and things, attending meetings, and participating in our club tournaments. It's a great experience and I really suggest anyone who has the opportunity to be a part of collegiate bass fishing to do so even if you aren't a fan of competitive bass fishing. You make great friends and memories that will last your lifetime as well as building on your education of our favorite past time.

Braden