Some Bassmaster Classics stand out in my mind

Last weekend’s Bassmaster Classic was a trip down Nostalgia Lane for me, as I watched ESPN2’s extensive coverage of the world championship bass tournament.

The winner, Alton Jones of Waco, Texas, milked three days of limit catches from a handful of spots on sprawling Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. He and numerous other anglers I admire fished their hearts out in the biggest event in bassdom.

While Jones won, none of the other Classic competitors was a loser. Just getting to the pinnacle event opens career doors for pro anglers. Jones and the 100 or so others who compete at what is akin to the Major Leagues of professional fishing have become heroes for many.

I’ve watched professional bass fishing from an inside perspective since 1984. That was the year I joined the corps of writers who covered the Bassmaster Classic. Most of us were outdoor columnists from newspapers scattered across America.

The venue in 1984 was the Arkansas River out of Pine Bluff, Ark. Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, and George H. Bush was Ronald Reagan’s vice president. They both showed up for the weigh-in on the final day of competition and shared the stage as Rick Clunn slam-dunked the field with a 25-pound victory margin.

That was my first time in the company of such fishing legends as Jimmy Houston, Roland Martin, Larry Nixon and Hank Parker. And having the opportunity to ride into competition with them and watch them battle for the Classic crown from the back deck of their boats was like being in the huddle at the Super Bowl with Tom Brady or Eli Manning.

I enjoyed opportunities to cover 20 Bassmaster Classics. I’ve been in the boat with dozens of the sports biggest names and seen an amazing variety of America’s fishing waters. Here are my five most vivid memories:

U1984: I rode with Charlie Ingram of Tennessee during my very first day of my very first Classic. One problem soon became apparent. I’d fueled up with lots of coffee prior to the launch and discovered soon enough that Ingram had no thoughts about pit stops during his 90-mile dash to his best spot down river.

U1989: George Liddle of Illinois was my pro during the final day of the second James River Classic near Richmond, Va. He’d struggled all day and in the final hour pulled into a little oxbow off the main channel. He landed two 4-pound largemouths on back-to-back casts. He didn’t win, but he salvaged his day and gave the crowd something to cheer about when he pulled the twins from his livewell in the Richmond Arena.

U2000: Woo Daves, long a sentimental favorite among diehard bass fans, entered the Chicago Classic as a long-shot. I rode with him on the first competition day and watched in awe as the Virginian put together a solid smallmouth pattern in the harbor near Navy Pier that eventually propelled him to victory following the final weigh-in inside Soldier Field.

U2001: I was assigned to ride the final day of the Classic with Harold Allen of Texas. He was in the top 5 and was catching his fish nearly 3 hours south of the blast-off marina in the Louisiana Delta near New Orleans. The six-hour round trip left Allen just shy of 2 hours to catch as much weight as he could.

U1991: A kid named Kevin VanDam greeted me in the boat lot next to Camden Yard in downtown Baltimore. We rode out across the choppy Chesapeake Bay to his fishing spot adjacent to an air base runway, and he plucked bass after bass from the cover and structure while U.S. Army Warthog pilots practiced touch-and-goes over our heads.

jwwollitz@aol.com