Without a doubt, the early years of tournament fishing in the West belonged to Dee Thomas.
hottest tournament angler in the late 1970s with several national tournament wins and four wins in Western Bass). Over the years Gliebe won more than 40 tournaments nationwide in several circuits. The Western Bass tournament circuits continued into the 80s, incorporating an- other local tournament circuit in 1975 (California Lunker Club, with Dave Coolidge and Harvey Naslund) and contin- ued to stage bass tournaments at such locales as Shasta, the Delta, Oroville, Don Pedro and Clear Lake in Northern California, Lake Mead, Lake Havasu, Lake Powell and Lake Mohave on the Colorado River, Roosevelt and Pleasant lakes in Arizona and Elephant Butte, Conchas and Ute lakes in New Mexico. I became the Editor of the Western Bass publication and Naslund was named the Director of Western Bass, with a great weigh-in staff headed up by Hal Huggins and Darrell Reed. We had a great run for more than six years of tournaments throughout the West. In 1980, Western Bass again changed leadership when purchased from Western Outdoors by Rich Schultz and Don Doty, who moved the organization more into the
“big time” with the introduction of the 1981 U.S. Open, which was actually the first “big money” tournament ever staged — an unheard of $50,000 top prize. Ray Scott told us we would never get many anglers to pony up a $1,000 entry fee, but that first Open saw a field of 161 anglers and a $50,000 top prize going to another bud- ding superstar, Greg Hines. Rich Tauber followed up by besting 180 anglers for $50,000 in 1982. B.A.S.S. superstar Ricky Clunn of Texas took the top prize with 260 anglers turning out for the 1983 contest. Jeff Munson topped 280 anglers in 1984. Those last couple of years mentioned saw great numbers of anglers from the B.A.S.S. circuit in the south come to the west to compete on Lake Mead. The big attraction was not only the $50,000 top prize, but the “East vs. West” camaraderie which developed among the Western pros and those touring pros of the B.A.S.S circuit who came west for their annual go at Lake Mead. It was more than a bass tournament — it was a gala affair for the fishermen, their wives, family and friends among the glitter of Las Vegas. It was the “in” place to be.
20 SILVER EAGLES _ July 2011