When Ray Scott founded the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society in 1968, he laid out the following “B.A.S.S. Purposes”:
1. To organize the bass anglers of America.
2. To stimulate public awareness of bass fishing as a major participation sport and elevate it to a place of prominence.
3. To improve our skills as bass anglers through the exchange of expert bass catching techniques and ideas.
4. To offer our state conservation departments our organized moral and political support and encouragement. To promote full adherence to all conservation codes.
5. To demand adequate water standards and legal enforcement of existing regulatory standards. To detect and report any polluter and call public and political attention to the crime.
6. To encourage private and governmental study necessary to maintain quality fishing and fish habitat and to ensure quality fisheries for ourselves and future generations.
7. To promote and encourage youth fishing. Kids don’t just go fishing — they are taken fishing. We must instill in our youth an interest in and love for this great sport.
8. To present national championship bass fishing tournaments. These tournaments will bring together the nation’s most dedicated bass fishermen, and the publicity derived from them will stimulate public interest in bass angling.
