WEST CANAAN — Mascoma High School’s bass fishing team became the school’s newest championship squad when it captured its first state title late last month.

The Royals took first place at the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) state bass fishing championship on Lake Spofford in Chesterfield, N.H. on Sept. 30. The team was one of 12 to compete in the championship; 34 teams competed in the qualifying tournament earlier in September.

Lebanon, Newport, Sunapee and Kearsarge also fielded teams in the qualifying tournament, according to results from the NHIAA. Of those, only Sunapee and Kearsarge joined Mascoma in the top 12 for the state championship.

“It feels pretty amazing. After coming in third for a while, it feels good to come out on top,” said junior Peyton Sargent, who was joined by junior Tanner Moulton and freshman Maliky Bates on the now-champion team.

Mascoma has had a bass fishing team for four years. The Royals placed third the last two years in the state championship.

To win on Sept. 30, the trio caught eight bass for a total of 22.24 pounds, according to a news release from the school district. That was nearly 10 pounds more than Milford, which finished in second with 13.55 pounds.

Additionally, during the qualifying tournament on Sept. 21 on Lake Winnipesaukee in Meredith, N.H., Mascoma caught a record eight fish totaling 25.53 pounds.

The team is coached by Moulton’s father, Eric Moulton. Sargent’s father, Greg Sargent, is the assistant coach.

“The small details … showed up this year,” Greg Sargent said.

Bass fishing is a varsity-level sport with a relatively short season: Teams can start practicing in early August, according to NHIAA guidelines. The season usually ends around the end of September, before the state lowers the water levels in the lakes, NHIAA Executive Director Jeff Collins said.

The NHIAA started offering bass fishing a decade ago, and it has remained popular. There is a single division for all schools, meaning schools of all student population sizes compete in the same state championship.

“It allows kids an opportunity to represent their high school, wear their colors, whereas in the past they wouldn’t have had that opportunity,” Collins said in a phone interview this week.

Both Mascoma juniors have been on the Royals’ team for three years, while Bates joined the squad this year. Bates likes to fish and joined after hearing about the team at school.

“I like … being out on the water and learning about it,” Bates said last week at Mascoma High’s athletic field during an interview with his teammates and coaches.

The three team members all learned to fish when they were young. In addition to bass fishing, they play other sports at Mascoma, including soccer and football. They like having a sport that doesn’t involve contact.

While they might be able to see fish that other teams reel in, they do not know the results until a weigh-in at the end of the competition.

“You really don’t know what’s going on out there with the rest of the teams,” Tanner Moulton said. “It’s you against the fish.”

Coaches, not student-athletes, drive the boats. Two anglers are allowed on the boat at each time. Once they catch a fish, the fish are put in a live well on each boat, Collins said. After the fish are weighed, the teams are responsible for releasing them back into the wild.

“It’s entirely up to the kids to choose the appropriate lure, the color, tying the knots, landing the fish. Fish care is up to everybody in the boats,” he said.

Eric Moulton emphasized that there is more to the sport than simply dropping a line in the water and hoping for the best. The teens spend hours practicing how to accurately cast their lines and tying knots, among other skills. They also study how water temperatures and depth can affect fish.

“The science involved is (something) that most folks don’t understand,” Eric Moulton said.

When the student-athletes are on the boat, they can use electronics — called forward-facing sonar — which enables anglers to locate and see the fish on a screen before casting their lines in the right area.

“It kind of feels like a video game,” Peyton Sargent said.

In addition to the NHIAA, the high school programs also are supported by Bass Nation, a nonprofit that promotes bass fishing and has members who serve as coaches, as well as the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Collins said.

“It’s really teaching them about the awareness of environment and being good stewards of the land and the waterways,” Collins said.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.