Editor’s Note: Registration is now open for College and High School.
Birmingham, Ala. — Collegiate and prep anglers can start signing up for the 2018 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series and the Bassmaster High School Opens on Monday, Dec. 4.
College and High School Series Senior Manager Hank Weldon announced online registration at www.bassmaster.com will begin at 10 a.m. Dec. 4 for both the college and high school circuits. Registration deadlines for all of the Bassmaster college and high school events were also set.
Registration deadlines for the four 2018 Carhartt College Tour events presented by Bass Pro Shops are:
The four 2018 Bassmaster High School Opens presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods have the following deadlines:
Registration numbers for both the Bassmaster College and High School events continue to grow every year, according to Weldon. “The numbers are through the roof,” he said. “We will eclipse 10,000 (college and high school anglers) this year.”
The growing numbers has prompted B.A.S.S. to place a cap on field sizes for the high school and college tournaments. “There will be a cap of 350 boats for the regular season events,” Weldon said.
Schools will be allowed to register an unlimited amount of two-person teams on a first-come, first-serve basis. “A school can send 30 teams as long as we are still inside 350 boats,” Weldon said. “Once we hit 350 we will not shut off the registration, but we will close the field and start a waiting list at that point.”
The College Series format has been altered to allow anglers to fish any or all of the four conference regionals. A new Team of the Year Award has also been added to the 2018 Carhartt College Series. The $1,000 award will be presented to the top finishing two-man team in the College Series point standings.
“Each event is going to be worth 500 points to the winner and the points will depreciate according to the field size,” Weldon said. “We are going to have to prorate the points because, unlike an Elite Series where there is a locked field, the number of entries is going to vary and we want each tournament to be equally important. For example, if there is a 150-boat field, we would divide 500 by 150 which equals 3.3. So second place would be worth 497.7 points.”
The Bassmaster High School series will award more than $130,000 in scholarship money to prep anglers this year. Weldon said college anglers will also fish for an increased payout at each regional event.
