The B.A.S.S. Legacy

Earl Golding’s Texas State Bass Tournament kicked off in 1955, and the World Series of Sport Fishing — which included other species in addition to black bass — had a run in the 1960s.

Scott’s mark on the sport came from his creation of the first professional tournament circuit, and from the organization of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) in 1968. The magazine and B.A.S.S.’s publicity machine made heroes out of the emerging bass fishing “professionals.” Bill Dance, Roland Martin, Tom Mann and John Powell began winning often enough to attract sponsor contracts that enabled them to fish for a living.

Bassmaster also taught America’s anglers how to catch bass throughout the year, and it introduced them to new lures, tackle, electronic fishfinders and fast, sleek bass boats. Always looking for a competitive advantage, the touring pros demanded the best and most effective rods, reels and other gear, and their fans snapped up anger endorsed products as fast as they could be packaged and labeled.

The list of improvements and inventions attributable to tournament competition is long. It includes fluorocarbon and braided superline, aerated livewells, digital sonar and GPS, graphite rods, performance bass boats, high-speed and low-profile casting reels, automatically inflatable life preservers, remote-control anchors, foot-operated trolling motors guided by GPS positioning systems and many, many more.

Beginning in 1968 and continuing rapidly over the next few decades, bass fishing evolved from a lazy pastime to a multibillion-dollar industry employing thousands of people.

The black bass became the No. 1 gamefish in the United States, and its popularity spread rapidly to every continent except Antarctica.

B.A.S.S. and its membership publication, Bassmaster Magazine, marked their 50th anniversaries in 2018. They were watershed events.

With that milestone now passed, B.A.S.S. is planning its celebration of the 50th Bassmaster Classic, which will be held March 6-8, 2020, on Lake Guntersville, Alabama, with weigh-ins in Birmingham.

Since its humble debut in 1971 at Lake Mead, Nevada, the Classic has become widely known as the “Super Bowl of Bass Fishing,” and the single most important event of the year in the world of bass fishing.

The B.A.S.S. Legacy / 2020 B.A.S.S. Media Guide / Bassmastermedia.com