Well, it has finally happened. For the first time in its 38-year history, a woman has qualified for the prestigious Bassmaster Classic bass tournament; the world championship of bass fishing.

For several years, starting with its inception, I was the publicity person for the Women’s Bass Fishing Association (WBFA), and my wife and I still have many friends among the women pros who fished that trail. I was hoping one of my friends among the ladies would make the men’s Classic, but the runaway winner was Kim Bain-Moore, a 28-year-old Australian born pro.

The selection came by inviting the winner of the relatively new Women’s Bassmaster Tour (WBT) Angler of the Year award to fish the traditionally men’s Classic. Bain-Moore was leading in the points required to attain Angler of the Year even before she won the WBT Classic on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas last week.

           

Earlier Times

 

All this championship competition brought back many fine memories for me of days on the water and at the weigh-ins and banquets with some of the world’s finest bass anglers. And I recall with a chuckle the long Saturday nights faxing my stories to seemingly all the major newspapers across the nation and the papers in the hometowns of the top finishers. E-mail had not yet caught on and the faxes went out one by one way into the nights.

There were special headaches. One sports editor at a large Atlanta paper wanted my press release on Monday mornings, not faxed on Saturday nights! Go figure.

But most of the memories are fond. I accompanied Sheri Glasgow on the water at Gadsden, Alabama when she probably finished second in the money. That gal finished second more than any sports entity in history. I read today that she finished in the top 10 ten times in her career. I know from my tenure that most of these were second place finishes. However the Oklahoman finally won Angler of the Year last year and I was very proud of her

My mind goes back to that day when I was in the boat with Lucy Mize, the previous year’s Classic winner, and she missed a fish while sight fishing just minutes and yards from weigh-in. She didn’t have another lure rigged to throw in the six-inch water so she just sat on the spot the last couple minutes to keep other nearby competitors from getting a shot at the fish. These ladies loved each other, but when the tournament began, it was every girl for herself.

Of course there is the indelible memory of Sue Crochett blasting her boat through the raft of coots at record breaking speed when one of the late rising birds smashed into my life jacket and shot between my arm and my breast as I held onto the Holy ________ bar on the side of the overpowered Ranger. She never admitted it, but the giant boat was more than she could handle that early in her career. We are corresponding friends to this day. I think she is trying to make up for nearly killing me.

           

Heartwarming Day

 

Then there was the time when WBFA invited disabled children to fish with the pros before one tournament. I have never been more touched. Kids came from everywhere it seemed. Most had visible deformities. Some had to be carried because they couldn’t move any part of their bodies. Most caught a fish, practically all of them for their first time. And they rode in a huge, colorful bass boat with a pro sporting shiny patches and shirts and they fished with the finest tackle anywhere. What a memory; and not only for the kids.

Perhaps not unexpected, one of the men qualifiers for the upcoming Bassmasters Classic is quoted as saying, “There are some talented women anglers out there, but I don’t think they can compete with men. I don’t think they belong in our arena.” I guess he never heard of Lynn Rhodes who entered a “men’s” tournament as a non-boater and won the South Carolina event fishing from the back of the boat. I have fished many of the major waters from Maryland to Texas and caught a carload of bass. But I have never beaten a lady pro that fished with me.

Oh how I am pulling for Bain-Moore in the men’s Classic February 20-22 on the Red River in Louisiana.  I was there on the Red River when Donna Newberry, a long deserving lady pro from Arkansas, won her first WBFA tournament. That is the kind of memory that stays fresh in my mind. And a high finish by Kim Bain-Moore would turn some heads and change some minds as well.