WEST COAST BASS…
By Larry Viviano
THE EARLY YEARS
Country music star Merle Haggard held an annual bass tournament based out of his Lake Shasta resort. John Bedwell, right, was yet another Delta fishermen who had a successful career in fishing.
T
he story of West Coast Bass, to put it simply, is a story of evolution not only of sport, but of economy and biology too. Like all stories of evolution this one begins with a creation.
At the time, the goal of entering the national arena was challenging, largely due to the geographic isolation of the west and the improbability of travel from and to the East and South. Schultz and Doty countered with an epic event that endures to this day: the U.S. Open at Lake Mead. Their flair for glitz and glamour succeeded in attracting many of the West’s top anglers as well as a number of international pros. The popularity of tournament fishing rapidly increased in the Western United States. Inevitably, com- peting organizations would arise. The Colorado River Chain was the dom- inant grounds of tournament bass fishing un- der Western Bass and U.S. Bass. But Northern California boasts some of the best bodies of water in the entire country. Home to the likes of The Sacramento Delta and Clear Lake, the
region was prime territory for serious com- petition in the early stages of Western fishing. In the late 70s, the brothers Calvin and Selby Bearry, along with a good friend Jack Godsey, started The West Coast Bass Fishing Associa- tion, a membership team tournament circuit. In a short period of time the organization be- came very popular and was the proving ground for a core group of tough anglers, some of which still compete today. After a few years the trio decided to pass the baton to a classic outdoor sportsman, Rich Bryant, whose gregarious nature and unmistakable talent won the hearts of the fishermen. An accomplished angler and great structure fisherman himself, he was off and running with a monster project that was growing monthly by the end of 1982, and found himself a director with a vision. It was
We are the offspring of Ray Scott. The founding father of B.A.S.S. held the first bass fishing competition at Beaver Lake, Arkansas in June of 1967. That event started the sport of Tournament Bass Fishing—thank you big daddy Ray! Headlines introducing bass fish- ing as a legitimate sport spread through the South and East, eventually heading out West where, through the efforts of Wayne Cummings and Jerry Abney, Western Bass was born. In the 80s, Rich Schultz and Don Doty came along changing the name to U.S. Bass and bringing the sport to a higher level. Striving for national recognition, they intro- duced showmanship to the sport, holding spectacular events with incredible winnings, gaining the popularity that would allow their organization to gain a foothold in the hearts and minds of competitors and fans alike.
28 SILVER EAGLES _ July 2011