Collegiate angling has provided thousands of young, ambitious student anglers with an opportunity to fish tournaments and meet other student athletes from around the country. Partaking in this fresh new sport is relatively simple and inexpensive. The boom in the industry brought to life new organizations whose main idea is to cater collegiate anglers, among those are FLW Outdoors, Collegiate Bass Anglers Association, CollegeBass, Association of Collegiate Anglers, and others.  

 Although tournament fishing is full of excitement there is truly something greater happening within its realm. Anglers experience great pleasure from comrodery and competition. Bass fishing is a life time sport whereas the full benefits of new anglers and advantages to the industry are not prevalent until numerous years down the road.

May of 2009, the Association of Collegiate Anglers held their fourth collegiate national championship. Anglers in the predawn morning air experienced the feel of competition and desire to win. Many of the new faces having never seen the affects of an early spring cold front or fished in harsh conditions that aged tournament anglers have; however, the idea of competition among fellow collegiate anglers drives them to peruse their unseen opponent.

In the past several years, bass fishing has allured new faces to its industry. Young people are more attracted to fishing now, which brings totally new feel to sport. Their excitement and spirit is different from traditional angling. The increased attention and boosted product sales are a good exchange for trendy outspoken young adults in the fishing industry.  The bass fishing industry is becoming much more diverse thus; the market has grown from the spread of collegiate angling. Many collegiate anglers are growing the fishing industry by entering these markets for the first time. The National Collegiate Bass Championship has now been held for four years, which gave the opportunity to the first groups of anglers to enter the work force. Thus, many of these people are able to afford boats, motors, equipment, and support collegiate sponsors.
 
College fishing has spread astronomically over the last four years. Collegiate anglers now have opportunities that have never been available for previous student anglers in the fishing industry and this has shown no signs of slowing down. Hundreds of collegiate teams have popped up all over the country.  Be sure to check into your local colleges to see if you can be of assistance, there is always a need for getting new anglers on the water.

Avid angler, Drew Sanford has had an outstanding fishing career for his 22 years. He finished top 10 in multiple collegiate events including the ESPN National Championship and other National events.  Sanford transferred from Drury University in the middle of his collegiate career to embrace his passion for fishing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  The Springfield, Missouri native will graduate in May 2011.  Sanford will have a degree in accounting from University of Alabama. He believes the University of Alabama will give him real world experience; in addition to an opportunity to use fishing skills that he had gained tournament fishing more than 16 years. Sanford’s future objective is to become a professional angler and get involved with outdoor marketing.