MECHANIC FALLS – The speed of the boat, the fight of the fish, the challenge of competition. Any bass angler will tell you that it’s a different kind of fishing.

Scott Bradford of Mechanic Falls has been hooked since he was 13 years old. In 1976, he joined the Pine Tree Bass Club as the state’s first teenager.

Now, as president of the Maine Bass Anglers Sportsmen Society Federation, Bradford is spending every spare minute on the computer and telephone making arrangements for this year’s Eastern Division tournament, to be held in September. It will be the first time Maine has hosted the tournament since 1992, when it was held on Sebago Lake.

“Scott is one of the most committed individuals I’ve ever seen,” said Harold Jones of Monmouth, secretary for the Maine federation. “He’s done a lot with the clubs and members when it comes to safety and conservation.”

Teams of 12 anglers from 14 states and Ontario, Canada, will make the trek to Lake Cobbosseecontee in the Winthrop area to determine who will go the nationals and ultimately to the Bass Master’s Classic.

The six-day tournament is months away, but it will take every bit of that time to organize it, Jones said.

“It will be a continuous process up until the tournament,” he said. “Plus, individual team members will be busy getting maps, studying depth charts and doing their homework. And people will plan their vacations around this.”

Last year’s divisional tournament was in New Hampshire. Maine’s officers proposed Lake Cobbosseecontee to the national organization, which is owned by sports network ESPN, Jones said.

The network had to approve the site, Bradford said.

“The facilities are key. It’s not just the body of water. There can be potentially 400 to 700 people each day,” he said. “There has to be eating facilities, gas stations. The lake has to be able to handle the docking and the weigh-ins.”

Jones pointed out that the Civic Center in Augusta, only 10 minutes away, was an asset. With the lake situated between Augusta and Lewiston, Jones said he believed there would be ample lodging and restaurants.

Lot of fun’

Bradford said he is gladly giving up sleep to spend hours arranging for lodging, food vendors, banquet and events facilities, and working with charitable organizations, which often benefit from bass tournaments.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Bradford. “It’s all about the thrill of the chase. I love that element of competition.”

A self-employed contractor, Bradford can tell endless fish stories and reverts to that excited boy who remembers catching his personal record 8-pound, 8-ounce largemouth.

Bradford’s wife, Shirley, says he could open his own store with the equipment and accessories that he has amassed over the years. And of course, there’s the boat, equipped with the latest global positioning system and high-horse-power motor.

“I remember the first boat we got and thinking that it was so big,” said Shirley. “But it’s a lot of fun. We wives joke about giving up so much time, but it’s a good cause.”

Bradford pointed out that Brenda Sweat of Auburn is one of the state’s top competitors and several women belong to the Maine Federation.

Jones, a traffic manager for White Rock Distilleries, said he converted from a die-hard trout angler to bass after his first battle with a largemouth.

He added that his partner’s wife once brought in mock custody papers to see who would get him for the summer. He also has spent every Father’s Day for the past 15 years with his daughter as his partner in the Androscoggin Lake tournament.