COMPETITIVE BASSING: Club and team tournaments started equipment push
RODS
The same concept of specialized rods that exists today was not common in the begin- ning. In fact, as Gary Klein noted recently, “Things are the way they are today because they have been designed to answer all the questions we had back then.” The first such was the “Worm Rod,” likely 5 to 5 1/2 feet of stiff action fiber- glass with a short, (sometimes removable) pistol grip handle. Plastic worm fishing, as taught to us from the world of the Bassmas- ters, was construed as requiring a 5/0 Sproat hook that had to be driven through the popular plastic worms of the day and into the fish’s jaw. It’s seems almost comical today, but we may have actually begun to believe as we were told, “You need to cross their eyes” when you set the hook. My recollection is not perfect on the matter. Those of us who wrapped our own rods had several blanks to choose from, some of them thin-walled such as Fenwick offered, but others heavier as those from California Tackle, the guys who made the popular salt- water Sabre brand. Utilizing the technology of the day, which included the “Featherlight” pistol grip handles, the Sabre Bass Stroker was a cool, local commodity—but heavy. Of course, we adapted rods from other brands like Langley, Shakespeare, Garcia and Eagle Claw (Tom Mann fished this brand for spinning at the 1971 Bassmasters Classic on Lake Mead) but it would be pretty hard to deny, that when Fenwick unveiled its Lunker Stiks, the standard was set. Better components, more specific actions, including the Dee Thomas Flippin’ Stik of the mid 1970s, and then well beyond when graphite became available. What sticks out in my mind through was the huge reduction in weight from fiberglass to graphite. The first time I fished a 5-1/2 footer, it felt like the rod was only three feet long. Graphite changed everything.
C
lub tournaments were the birthplace of tournament bass fishing in the West. The early bass anglers may not have used a cane pole and a bobber 35-years ago when competitive tournament bass fishing was in its infant stages, but think tule dippin’ and you’ll know they weren’t far from it. After you read this article, you’ll see we’ve come a long way baby! “When San Diego bass tournaments first start- ed in the 70s, the anglers would rent boats from the marinas or use car toppers to compete. After the launch, many would pull the boats up on the bank and fish from the shore,” said Dave Nollar, a fixture in the California fishing scene. “I was the first bass angler in San Diego to use an electric trolling motor in a bass tournament. By using the electric trolling motor I could get a different angle on the bass and cover more water. There were a few challenges to this, I had to fish in reverse, because you could only attach the trolling motor to the back of the boat and I could control the motor in reverse. I also had to use a locomotive battery that weighed 200-pounds to get enough hours to fish the entire tournament and it was so heavy it would almost sink the boat. “In the beginning you only had club tourna- ments and I joined the Pisces Bass Club of San Diego,” said Nollar. “Then Western Bass Fishing As- sociation came along with the first tournament cir- cuit and they were only team tournaments. I fished their first tournament on Lake Camanche, finished in fourth place, and I felt terrible all the way home because they only paid for first and second place. “The California Lunker club came out with a
Grocery store scales were standard at early tournaments. How would you like to buy a new Ranger for the price in this ad?
San Diego area team tournaments have always attracted the best. These familiar faces took the top three spots at the Wally Augst Memorial.
tournament circuit and started giving recognition to anglers down the list,” said Nollar. “They came out with a newsletter and started keeping points for Angler of the Year. These tournaments were up and down the state and it really brought the an- glers together from different areas of the state.” When touring pro Gary Klein was a young an- gler still in high school, Mike Folkestad would pick up Klein at the airport on Friday nights so they could fish club and team tournaments together. Can you imagine those two anglers fishing as a team, they were almost unbeatable and they were called the “Green Machine” because they al- ways wore matching green fishing jackets.
Folkestad would put Klein back on the plane Sunday night so he could go back to school on Monday. There were many weekends Klein would fly down south just to fish with Folkestad because they were good friends and Klein would learn how to fish structure or read his locators. Even now most anglers start out tournament bass angling in clubs and teams, and then on to a co-angler or pro. Clubs are a great way to cut down the learning curve by getting plenty of fishing experience and input from advanced bass anglers. There are to this day still many famous clubs from the days of old in operation, like Northern California’s Auburn Bassmasters Club and Bay Area Bassmasters. Back in the early 80s the Auburn Bassmasters was one of the top clubs and when they would have the club championship tournament at the end of the year the Auburn Bassmasters would have 6 teams in the top 20 every year. The Sacra- mento Bass Team was another top club and won honors 1983 for winning West Coast Bass Top Club in both the draw and the Team Circuit. It wasn’t long ago we were still weighing in our fish at professional and team tournaments with produce scales. Now we have digital com- puter scales that break it down into hundredths of an ounce. The livewell aerators in our boats to- day don’t get an air lock, so we no longer have to back up in reverse to fix the air lock. Our hold- ing tanks in the weigh-in lines are now aerated and we can watch a live tournament by stream- ing it to a website. Our $70,000 bass boats are a far cry from the car topper aluminum boats. How many times in the past did the fog roll in and we circled for hours trying to find our way back to the launch ramp because we didn’t have GPS? The fish are bigger, the boats are bigger and faster, the elec- tronics are superior, and the prize money is good enough to make a living. It almost makes this writer want to start tournament fishing again, the only difference is it takes a lot more money to get into bass tournament fishing today. Cost is why many great anglers of the past and up to this day only fish the club tournament events, it’s an affordable way to enjoy competi- tive bass fishing. — BILL MAYS
LURES AND THINGS
While discussed elsewhere, it’s important to remember that while today many tackle ideas and methods have Western roots, that wasn’t the way it was in the beginning. Bombers, (the wooden variety) and the larger Waterdog, Arbogast Mudbugs in plastic, Rebel Deep Wee R’s, Suspend R’s, and Storm Thin Fins were some of the early choices.
36 SILVER EAGLES _ July 2011