Tennessee Bass Nation High School Team Guide
Membership and Cost
Bassmaster Membership $10 (obtained by the angler at https://www.bassmaster.com/high-school-resources/
Bass Nation Dues $30 – Payable by the team treasurer or coach at https://www.bassmaster.com/high-school-resources/
TBN Dues $20 – Payable by the team treasurer or coach to Tennessee Bass Nation High School (Regional Trails do not have dues) Fill out form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdnwsFzCAToNCEssuLyqKf9itBJTlDeo45ct_MdvMdcN6cASQ/viewform?c=0&w=1
***ALL Memberships and Dues are required to be paid in full No later than 1 October 2023** Teams that are not in good standing will not be allowed to compete.
Tournament entry fees – High School $50/Junior $25 (All State Opens and Regional Trails, except Bass Pro Shops Sevierville Trail no entry fee)
Trails utilize Websites and Facebook for communication.
Tennessee BASS Nation (Adult/College/Kayak/High School youth www.tennesseebassnation.com
Tennessee bass nation high school/youth www.tnhsbasstrail.com https://www.facebook.com/tbnyouth
Central Tennessee region Bass nation high school www.sctnbassnation.com https://www.facebook.com/CTNHSBASSNation
North Central Tennessee region bass nation high school https://www.facebook.com/nctnbassnationhsjr
West Tennessee region bass nation high school https://www.facebook.com/westtnhighschoolfishing
Southeast Tennessee bass nation high school https://www.facebook.com/TBNSoutheast
Bass pro shops Tn high school tournaments https://www.facebook.com/bpshighschoolt
Trail Directors Contact Information
Tennessee Bass Nation high school/youth David Lowrie dlowrie@benlomand.net or Jake Davis sctnbassnation@gmail.com 615-613-2382
Central Tennessee Jake Davis sctnbassnation@gmail.com 615-613-2382
North Central Tennessee Anthony Scott ascott3310@gmail.com 931-397-3072
West Tennessee Jeremy Finley westtnhsbass@gmail.com or 931-698-5598
Southeast Tennessee Christina Goins 423-664-2339, setnbassnation@yahoo.com
Bass Pro Shops Sevierville Brad Burkhart brad.killerbassbaits@gmail.com
Pairing of student anglers:
1a. Tennessee Bass Nation High School/Youth tournaments are open only to current members of official Bassmaster high school Teams/Clubs, recognized by said high school or Bassmaster as an official community club. Students must belong to the same official high school club or official community club within the county of residence to compete as a team in this tournament. Multiple clubs are not allowed from the same institution (one club per School) and/or community clubs within the same county (one community club per county). Community clubs can incorporate multiple institutions to include home school students. Students from those institutions must all be members of the same community club. High School students must fish for the school which they would normally attend. If the school does not allow Home School Students to participate in sports, then they will fish for the next nearest school or community club who does, but only after receiving written acknowledgement from their school system declining homeschool students access to sports programs. School based clubs must maintain 2 members and one advisor. Community based clubs must maintain 6 members and an advisor.
1b. Student partner(s) must be members of the same official high school club or community club. In the event a student angler cannot be paired with a partner from the official high school or community club, the student angler maybe paired with a partner from the next closest club/team or adjoining county/parish with the written approval of the school/club coaches and state youth director or assistant state youth director. Any/All pairings of anglers outside the above stated rule or pairing across State Lines must have written recommendation/acknowledgement of both Official High School or Community Club Coaches and both State Youth Directors approval from B.A.S.S. TN Bass Nation HS and B.A.S.S. High School reserves the right to accept or deny such a request.
(Example/clarification) While Sumner County has multiple High Schools. Only one High
School has a team (Gallatin HS Fishing). Therefore, Gallatin HS takes precedence. If an
angler goes to Gallatin High School, he/she must fish for Gallatin unless the angler is
released by Gallatin with documentation from the Coach of the Gallatin team. With such a
release from the Gallatin team coach, the angle may fish with the Community Club in the
county (Sumner County Fishing). Anglers living in Sumner County will only be allowed to fish
for a team from outside of Sumner County if/when they present documented proof that
there is no partner available within Sumner County. Such proof must be presented to the
State Director or the Assistant State Director. The State Director or the Assistant State
Director shall determine if the documentation is sufficient and will determine if the angler
will be granted permission to fish for a team outside Sumner County. Finally, no angler will
receive approval to fish for a team outside Sumner County unless that county is an adjacent
county.
1c. Grandfather Clause: If your county or school does not have an established team you may partner with the next closest team and then your county establishes a team you will be grandfathered to remain. (Example: Grundy County had anglers from Franklin County, those anglers were allowed to remain with Grundy as long as they wanted…but if the angler ever changed to Franklin County they stayed, no moving back. And once Franklin County formed a team Grundy County COULD NOT accept any new members from Franklin County.)
Conservation/Volunteer/Soft Plastics Competitions
All Anglers are required to complete 8 hours of Volunteer Conservation/Community Service per Bassmaster rules.
This volunteer time counts for TN Promise and TN Achieve credit.
Every year TBN HS/Youth conducts Lake/River Clean up challenges and habitat improvement enhancement programs.
Assist TWRA, TWF, TWRF or School Teams with fishing events for youth or communities.
Soft Plastics – each year school/community teams collect used soft plastics, the school/community team with the most weight wins $1000 in Academy Sports + Outdoors Gift Cards.
Academy Receipts Competition- the top 2 school/community teams with the most ($ value) in receipts wins a $500 gift card each. At each statewide open tournament the team with the most in Academy receipts wins a $100 Academy gift card.
Tennessee BASS Nation High School Hunter Northcutt Scholarship Program
This scholarship is only for senior students who are ACTIVE MEMBERS OF TN Bass Nation and have participated in tournaments this year. We hope to give away 5 scholarships again this year. It does not matter if you’re going to a major 4-year school, a community college or a trade school. This scholarship is based on MORE THAN YOUR FISHING.
Tournament/Yearly Awards
Commissioner’s Cup – (State Open Trail only) awarded to the top School/Program Team by the combined overall points from the entire season, including the State Championship Tournament of the top 3 Boat teams of each school.
Regional Trail School of the year– awarded to the top School/Program Team by the combined overall points from the entire season, including the Championship Tournament of the top 3 Boat teams of each school.
Boat Team of the Year – Solely based upon points from the trail which awards
Place of Finish Scholarships – (High School only) Scholarship checks are awarded at each tournament in varying amounts based solely upon participation and entry fees of the tournament.
Top School for Non-Championship Tournaments – awarded to the top School/Program Team by the combined overall weight of the top 3 Boat teams of each school.
Path to the National Championship
Bassmaser Open National Events: When registration opens for these events be ready to register that day for every event you wish to fish. The Bassmaster High School Opens fill up fast. All information is based on Bassmaster history: Fish a Bassmaster open event. Events are announced around the first of the calendar year. Top 10 Percent of each tournament earn seats to National Championship. Example: 250 boats top 25 in tournament transfer. National events are capped at 250 HS Boats and 50 Junior Division Boats top 10 boats advance to the Junior National Championship.
National Seats formula as of 20 Oct 2024: (Boats are 2 anglers) (Max any Trail is 7 slots)(Rosters validated by Bassmaster. Qualified Boats/Anglers must be BASS Members, Bass Nation Dues “National level” Paid and have paid TBN HS/Youth Dues in order to participate and at the time of Validation. So, if your BASS Membership runs out in March, they MUST renew their CURRENT Number which they originally registered under…. If your Bass number has expired at the time of validation, you DO NOT Count!
Numbers of Qualified Boats / Slots
25 Boats / 1 slot
50 Boats / 2 Slots
150 Boats / 3 Slots
250 Boats / 4 Slots
350 Boats / 5 Slots
450 Boats / 6 Slots
550 Boats / 7 Slots
***Background information: Historically for the past 9 years, we loss 10 to 20% on validation from Bassmaster. Primary reason Teams not paying dues and anglers not being “current” Bassmaster Members.
State Event: All information is based on trail history and is not guaranteed. The winner of each state tournament MAY earn a spot in the National Championship. The championship winner earns a spot. The points champion earns a spot. All other spots will redirect back to points order. National event qualifier will supersede a state qualifier. Example: Team Davis and Lowrie use the national ticket and the state will retain the other spots.
Regional Trail Events: All information is based on trail history and is not guaranteed. All National Championship spots are earned by points. If the trail earns 5 transfer spots the top 5 in points get spots. If a team qualifies through the state or national events the regional trail gets to give that spot to next team in points
Junior Championship Nationals Qualification: Compete Bass Master Open national event, National events are 50 Junior Division Boats top 10 boats advance to the Junior National Championship. TBN has 3 seats to award to the National Championship. Win the TN junior statewide championship tournament. Win the TN statewide junior points race or place second in the points…
Qualifying for TBN State HS Championship:
The TBN High School State Championship will be limited and have established qualification cut lines for Regions and State Open Trail
A: Each region to have 30 seats (5 regions 30 seats total seats 150)
B: State Open Trail to receive 50 Seats
C: State Championship to be capped at 200 boat teams
D: State Open Trail seats take precedence over region seats (Jeremy/Anthony qualifies both State Open Trail and Central Trail the seat counted is from the State Trail)
- Region on Region…. The seat would come from the highest qualifying (David/Andy fishes Central and finishes 3 and also fishes BPS Trail Finishes 7th the seat comes from the Central)
2024 TBN Junior State Championship
- Limit the field to 200
- A Boat Team must have fished at least 2 Regional or 2 State Open tournaments to qualify to fish the Junior State Championship
2024 Trail Championships
- Fields are not limited (except BPS Sevierville HS Trail which is Limited to top 25 Teams)
- West/CTN/NCTN/Southeast trails boat teams must fish in 3 Trail events
Points Formula
- Points start at 200 for first place
- After 150 places or the first “0” fish every team that participates gets 50 points
- In the event of a tie: (two teams ties for 5th place, both teams receive equal points (196/196) and next place receives 194 points….
- All Regional Trails are Best 3 of 4/5 plus Championship
- State Trail is Best 4 of 5/6 plus Double points championship (Two Day Event – points start at 400 and drop 2 points per position of finish…
*** Bass Pro Shop HS Trail points is based your total tournament weight… if you weigh in 12.45 pounds you get 12.45 points