St. Croix and Texas Fish & Game want to take this to the youth and incentivize conservation activism among Texas high school bass fishing competitors.
“We believe this tech-savvy generation can do great things for fisheries and conservation. We have partnered with Texas Fish & Game to create the Texas High School Bass Conservation Challenge, which will be a fun way for students to promote conservation as well as win some great prizes,” said Jesse Simpkins, Vice President of Marketing at St. Croix.
Beginning Jan. 17, TF&G and St. Croix will send challenges to high school bass team sponsors throughout the state. New challenges will go out every two weeks, with a total of seven before the end of the spring 2021 semester.
Individual challenge winners get their choice of a Bass X rod from St. Croix and a special package of books and other items from Texas Fish & Game.
A special panel will evaluate all entries at the end of the semester, and select a grand prize winner. That student will win a $1,000 scholarship courtesy of St. Croix and get special recognition at the 2022 Bassmaster Open at Lake Sam Rayburn on Oct. 22.
The challenges kick off with a #hashtag challenge.
#Hashtag Challenge: Students are challenged to come up with a creative hashtag that promotes the high school bass conservation challenge and then use it in a post on their Instagram account. TF&G and St. Croix will judge this category and then this will be the official hashtag for the run of the program.
The other challenges are as follows:
Zebra Mussel Meme: Students will create a meme to share on Instagram regarding the zebra mussel problem in Texas.
Pollution Solution: Students will post a simple solution to Instagram and/or Facebook on pollution issues plaguing freshwater fisheries. Ideas would be proper line disposal, cleaning up litter around boat docks, and reporting the dumping of oil, gas, and other pollutants.
Guadalupe Bass Awareness: Students will post a reel on Instagram or video on Facebook talking about the Guadalupe bass of the Texas Hill Country and promoting catch-and-release of this unique Texas Fish.
Going Coastal: Students will have an opportunity to create a post on Instagram or Facebook on one of three coastal issues, promoting proper fisheries conservation. The topics would include 1. Awareness of bycatch of redfish and tarpon in the menhaden fishery 2. Release of 20-inch or better flounder 3. Release of speckled trout through the year 2022 to help fisheries recover from the freeze.
Handle With Care: This challenge involves showing proper handling of largemouth bass for photos via Instagram or Facebook.
Salvinia Stinks!: Common and giant salvinia are a huge problem in many Texas waterways. Students will use the theme “Salvinia Stinks!” in creative ways on Facebook or Instagram to raise awareness of ways to keep from spreading it to other fisheries.
“It all involves social media and raising awareness to conservation through this important means of communication,” said said TF&G Editor-In-Chief Chester Moore.
“We believe students will learn a lot from these challenges and that going forward in their lives as fishermen, they will be inspired to consistently use social platforms for the good of the fishery as well as wildlife in general.”
“We at St. Croix are excited to see what students come up with and to see their creativity unleashed for the sake of conservation,” Simpkins said.
“It’s inspiring to see how students are connecting with fishing through high school competition. And it will be equally inspiring to see how they make a stand for healthy fisheries with these challenges.”
To get updates for each challenge email cmoore@fishgame.com. Put ‘High School” in the subject line.
