The Association of Collegiate Anglers surveyed close to 700 anglers to get a better understanding of using forward facing sonar, purchasing habits, hobbies, thoughts on the landscape of competitive angling and more
SAN ANTONIO, TX – The Association of Collegiate Anglers just completed its historic 21st season of the Bass Pro Shops Collegiate Bass Fishing Series. Each of its three major events, as well as the National Championship, boasted record numbers. At each of the two spring tournaments in 2026, the ACA conducted an angler survey. The data acquired from those close to 700 individual responses provides insight into angler trends, purchasing behavior, personal interests, and more. For more details, data, copies of the survey or questions pertaining to this survey…please email college@carecotv.com.
"We've been doing this survey for several years now and the trends, as well as the direct from the consumer data acquired directly from the college anglers who are fishing in these events and many others, show some important trends. One of them is the desire to use and have the best technology possible. There is no doubt these scholastic level anglers are the next generations of anglers who will be fishing for decades to come and this data on boats, motors, gear, technology, how much time they spend on the water, when they started to compete and more provides a great glimpse into what college anglers feel is not only important now, but also what will be important to them in the future," said Wade Middleton, President of Careco and Director of Association of Collegiate Anglers.
One of the categories we've been following the past few years includes addressing forward facing sonar. The full group of college anglers surveyed unanimously supports the implementation and use of this technology. In the 2025 survey it was around 83% in support of using forward facing sonar. Now in our largest survey ever, the support to use forward facing survey is at 91% of the surveyed anglers who said they do not feel forward-facing sonar should be banned or limited. In addition, 92% feel forward-facing sonar will continue to become more prevalent as more high school and college anglers acquire the technology and learn to use it. Finally, 85% of those surveyed also said they do not feel forward-facing sonar is hurting the growth of bass fishing and that bass fishing at the high school and college level has never been more popular.
The growth of college fishing is evident in the participation across ACA events, as well as series partner discount and contingency programs, over the last several years. During the 2025-26 season on the Bass Pro Shops Collegiate Bass Fishing Series, each event boasted record participation. Here is a breakdown of that participation across each tournament:
Bass Pro Shops Big Bass Bash presented by Berkley
630+ anglers competed
AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open
280+ teams competed for a total of 560 anglers on the water
CrushCity Hartwell Slam presented by Sufix
280+ teams competed for a total of 564 anglers on the water
Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops (Limited Field to Qualified Teams)
210+ teams of the 220 teams that qualified competed
From year-to-year, since 2021, the ACA has seen an average increase of participation between 5% and 10% each year.
Along with this increased event participation, a total of more than 130 college fishing clubs/schools competed in, or earned points at, tournaments sanctioned for points to count towards the 2025-26 Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia.
With the many thousands of anglers participating in college fishing events annually, the vast majority are demanding top of the line gear to chase their dreams and compete on a national scale. From fully outrigged boats to rods, reels, baits, rain gear and more…these student anglers are competing, purchasing, learning, and engaging with products and content at the highest levels the ACA has ever recorded.