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THIS,WEEK THERE is some super-serious bass fishing going on at Ross Barnett Reservoir, near Brandon, Miss. This tiny, typically southern hamlet is playing host to some of the country’s best anglers in the $15,500 Rebel Invitational Bass Tournament.For three days, some 200 proclaimed and self-styled “experts” are going to be competing for a top prize of $3,000 cash, not to mention some hefty merchandise prizes, including a fully rigged Ranger bass boat for the tournament’s largestbass. Each of the entrants has forked over a $150 entry fee for the privilege of flinging his choice of hardware at the inhabitants of this 31,000 acre, pollution-free 7-year-old impoundment of the Pearl River.It was just a few years ago, 1969. that Kansan Dwight Keefer, Texan Curio Morris and I won the World Series of Bass Fishing Team Championship and Keefer won the singles championship at Long Lake in Wisconsin. For two days offishing we got the handshakes of some of our friends, a few lures and a trophy each. As of this week, by comparison, Bill Dance of Memphis, Tenn., the all-time BASS tournament money winner has won $21,340.00 in cash, not to mention the bass boats and other worthwhilemerchandise prizes he must have accumulated in the four years the “Pro-Tour” has been swinging.The Ross Barnett tournament is thefifth stop on this year’s tour of six qualifying tournaments and the pressure is on the contestants to hang in the top two dozen point scorers. Based on 35 points for a win, 34 for second, 33 for third, etc., the top 24 scoring pros for the year’s six tournaments will be invited to participate in an all expenses paid fishing contest at an unnamed “mystery lake” in late October for a winner-take-all $10,000 prize.At this writing, Tom Mann of Eufaula,Ala., is heading the list, with Roland Martin of Tulsa, Okla. second. Third, with 66 points is a Celina, Tenn., dock operator and guide on Dale Hollow Lake, Billy Westmorland. Bill Dance is currently fourth with 65 points. Glin Wells of Greenbrier, Tenn., is fifth. Sixth and seventh is close, between a 58-year-old mortician, Shorty Evans of Houston, Mo., and sheet metal contractor Carlos Mayo of Springdale, Ark.Others in the top ten are Forrest Wood, designer of the Ranger bass boat, ofFlippin, Ark.; Gerald Blanchard, of Memphis sewing machine distributor, and John Morris, a young Springfield,Mo. sporting goods dealer.Ray Scott, founder of BASS (Bass Anglers Sportsmans Society), and the “guiding light” behind the pro bass tour, guessed that Ross Barnett Reservoir is about perfect for the point chasers. “August fishing is great in Barnett,” he said. “And it offers a better than average chance of boating a seven-pound lar-gemouth. The plastic worm fishermanwho can locate a good school in the drop-offs and holes will clean up here.”Scott also requested that we point out the BASS project designed to keep the tournament bass alive to fight another day. The society’s “Don’t Kill Your Catch” program provides for almost instant scoring of bass so they can be released back into the lake. Scott’s figures show that 86.1 per cent of the fish are released alive.This new concept requires that all approved BASS tournament boats have a mechanical device to aerate and circulate water in the boat’s live well. Because of the high temperatures this week at Ross Barnett, fishermen will also be required to add ice to their wells to keep the fish comfortable.Tournament fishing is “a whole ‘nuther ball game” as compared to “old buddy”fishing. In the first place, the guy in the other end of the boat is not a pal, but a competitor. In a drawing the night beforethe first day’s competition, names are drawn to determine the pairings. Then the two get together to decide whose boat they’ll use. Each contestant gets to run the boat half the time.It is in this split-time use of the controls and the electric fishing motor that tournaments are often won or lost. The guy in control runs the boat toward a spot he wants to fish. He cuts the outboard engine and moves into position to operate the fishing motor. Both anglers are watching the fish locator dial so they’ll know when to cast. The guy in the back of the boat is feeling pretty good, perhaps, because the boat is moving broadside along a dropoff.But just as the 10-foot break is coming into range, the guy running the motor will turn the boat to give himself the first shot at the break, leaving the “partner” in the rear of the boat with no chance to get in the first cast.Some fishermen solve that problem by simply shooting a fast hard one right bythe front guy’s ear two or three times. This will generally convince him to bring the boat around. But even if it doesn’t, when the other half of the day starts, theangler who has been a second-class citizen all morning will do exactly the samething to the other guy. When you’re fishing for big money, there’s no such thing as “buddies.” ^Although there are no Illinois or Wisconsin fishermen, indeed no midwestern fishermen, among the top point scorers in BASS at the current time (A1 Lindner of Brainerd, Minn., is just out of the top 25) that may change in a year or two. Scott recently announced the formation of an Illinois Federation of BASS chapters.Edward A. Smith, a sales representative from Bartonville was elected president of the Illinois Federation. Secretary is William Bates, an officer of a heating and air conditioning firm from Springfield. Other members of the Illinois board of directors are Rene LaCroix, Jr., a truck driver from Berwyn; Gary Murphy, a Galesburg butcher, and John L.Thomas, an operating engineer from Belleville.There are presently 11 BASS chapters in Illinois eligible to affiliate with the state federation and 3,850 Illinoisans are members of the 88,000 man national organization.The new organization will organize and conduct an annual state BASS Chapter Championship Tournament, in which thesix best anglers from each of the affiliated Chapters will compete for the state championship and for the right to represent the state in a National Team Championship Tournament similar to the World’s BASS Masters Classic for the professionals.The first state championship is tentatively planned for the early spring of 1973.For information, write this newspaper, or BASS Headquarters, P. 0. Box 3044,Montgomery, Ala., 36109.
Newspaper Details
Hoffman Estates Herald
Hoffman Estates, Illinois, US
Wed, Aug 23, 1972
Page 38
Full Page
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USA 22 Feb 2023
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