New Trier’s bass fishing team does not receive nearly the credit that it deserves. After walking the halls and talking to nearly 10 students of all ages, only about 3 people knew a few details regarding the team.

“I know we won state one year by catching just 1 fish,” stated junior Henry Sherman. “I’ve just heard about it,” said sophomore Celeste Donnelly.

Echoing Donnelly, juniors AJ Gregorian and Zach Kaplan had only heard about the fact that it’s an IHSA official sport, but nothing more.

Contrary to popular belief, bass fishing is much more complex. In fact, it takes an extreme amount of endurance, skill, and knowledge to know how to competitively fish.

Before making the team, one must take a written test showcasing a variety of casting techniques, knot tying formations, and the rules of the sport.

Like most sports, “The bass fishing try out is a week long process,” explained bass fishing coach and school social worker Steve Gagliano. He said that some students feel the test is harder than an average AP chemistry exam.

“If you’re a casual fisher, you’re going to struggle with the test.”

Unlike other established New Trier sports, bass fishing has no offseason. Therefore, tryouts commence at the beginning of spring, which is the first week in March, according to the IHSA.

However, during this time, the team is “usually casting into little bag toss platforms in the cafeteria because there’s still ice on the lakes,” said Gagliano.

The team runs into competition from high schools in southern Illinois, not only because they have a longer practice window than northern high schools, but they also have much denser bass fisheries.

Pantagraph High School Sports, a Central Illinois newspaper, reports that high school bass fishing is most competitive in the state of Illinois, despite the warm weather and ideal fishing conditions in the south.

“The movement to add fishing was spearheaded by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) about four years ago,” Pantagraph writes. “The decision has met with tremendous success and 232 state high schools now boast a team.”

As opposed to other sports, in a bass fishing tournament the set up is “every team versus every other team, so you really have to maximize the time on the water and out-compete everyone else,” said senior captain and four-year member of the team, Jonah Frueh.

“People ask me and are usually surprised to hear that we meet five days a week usually for two and a half to three hours a day,” Frueh explained, noting that peers don’t necessarily accept bass fishing as a legitimate sport.

However, the common leisurely activity takes a strict amount of patience and adeptness that only fishers can relate to.

Frueh and his recently graduated partner, Michael Gobeli, knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses and fished accordingly.

“If there was a style that he really liked or that he was really good at, hopefully there would be an opposite style that I’d be good at,” said Frueh.

There is a lot more to bass fishing than people think. Unlike common belief at the Winnetka campus, the Northfield campus is starting to show significant interest in competitive bass fishing.

Freshman Benjamin Michelon showed a lot of intent on trying out for the team.

“I’m probably not going to play lacrosse next year so I’m going to bass fish [in the spring],” Michelon stated. He would go on to explain how he and his friends once caught eight fish at Skokie Country Club.

We aren’t quite sure about the legality of this, and definitely do not condone fishing in private country clubs. But the future looks bright for bass fishing, especially as a competitive sport.