It was a lousy day for a bass tournament.

A stiff northwest breeze kicked Lake Erie into its typical springtime fury. If anything, winds were forecasted to increase throughout the day. Temperatures hovered in the mid-40s. To make it all worse, it was raining.

So was the start of another day at the office for Steve Clapper. Just hours short of his 74th birthday, Clapper had been down this road before. The nervous whispers of competitors in the pre-dawn light, checking and rechecking the weather. Bungee cords strapping down trolling motors. Rain suits squeezed on top of rain suits.

Patiently, Clapper waited for the green light signaling the start of another tournament, as he had done hundreds of times before, watching as the windblown whitecaps began to crest the breakwall. In the end, he’d again be victorious, grinding out a 5-pound-plus average with partner Dave Stevens, carrying home a four-figure paycheck.

The stuff of legends.

It’s hard to tell how long Steve Clapper has been at it. I fished with him for a period, as did 10 or 12 other tournament partners throughout his tenure as King of Lake Erie.

It’s likely that no one in our sport carries the significance and identity associated with a given region as Clapper does with the Great Lakes. The namesake has lasted four decades, crossed International borders and influenced more anglers than any figure in bass fishing outside of television celebrities. Lures are named after him, as is a Canadian reef. I can say, without question, that Steve Clapper has been responsible for teaching more anglers the intricacies of smallmouth fishing than all other educators combined, myself included. And along the way, he contributed to the sale of more Ranger bass boats and Mercury outboards than possibly any angler in history.

Legend.

As I mentioned, I was fortunate enough to share the boat with Clapper on dozens of occasions, both in competition and not, and no one shares my passion for bass fishing as much as he. On any day, at any hour, Clapper hates to quit. He practices relentlessly, regardless of competitive payout. He learns incessantly, year after year. His tackle collection is enormous; nearly all of it finding a rotation on a regular basis.

Yet despite his overwhelming success, Clapper remains humble and a true student of the game. Like all of the greatest outdoorsmen I’ve met, Clapper invariably holds nature as the superior player in the match.

When I asked about his recent victory, and why in the world a man of his age and stature would want to venture across Lake Erie in such terrible conditions, his response was plain.

“Well, we just wanted to go fishing. You know.”

Of course I do. Because I would have wanted to go, too.

The game plan for the day was like that of many before. Start where you left ‘em. Expand on your range. Offer lots of options, because you just never know. Clapper’s arsenal is vast, his proficiency with a number of lures no coincidence. He never lets the weather bother him, and he runs a boat specifically built to take a beating.

But perhaps Clapper’s greatest attribute is his uncanny knack to follow smallmouth bass as they move. “Milling around” is the term he uses to re-find a winning school, time and time again. This week, Clapper’s motherlode had indeed moved, as they seem to always do, and had been replaced on his hot spot with chunky, 2-pound schoolers. Milling around, Clapper trailed the big girls to a nearby flat where he went old-school, putting down a modern swimbait and again turning to the tube.

“They were stroking that thing, man.”

Oh, how I wish I was there.

Steve Clapper can recall exact lures that caught exact fish in specific spots from a decade ago. He vividly remembers his first major bass tournament on Lake Erie in the early 1980s, when all the other competitors stayed within the security of Sandusky Bay, as he and a partner navigated to Pelee Island, before anyone else in a bass boat had even heard of the place.

With an old-school 10-fish limit, the 2nd-place team brought about 12 pounds to the scale. Team Clapper hauled 40.

When FLW brought the big money to town, Clapper won the largest prize ever on the Great Lakes, pocketing $200,000 again from Pelee Island. He’s won seven times on the BFL circuit, and likely over a hundred on others. While some anglers in the region have proven worthy advisories, none has outlasted Clapper. None ever will.

But even more awe-inspiring than Clapper’s contribution to bass fishing is his monumental inspiration as a human being. I know of no other man who has made a more positive influence on nearly everyone he meets. Clapper’s faith is unwavering, his dedication as a husband and father apparent at every turn. He regards no one as a stranger.

Again, speaking from experience, I can attest to Clapper’s unparalleled influence on how to become more than a great fisherman, but a great man. The world is a better place thanks to the lessons Steve Clapper has unknowingly taught to nearly everyone who crosses his path. Today, I publicly thank him for that.

There will never be another Clapper. In a sport now defined by YouTube followers and carpet decals, the old-school grinders have faded. But for many of us, Clapper still represents the greatest attributes of competitive bass fishing. The camaraderie. The passion. The honesty.

Humble as always, Clapper was surprised at the 300 or so social media responses he received on his birthday post. I was surprised it wasn’t 3,000.

Just how long has Clapper been at it? We’ll likely never know. Nor will we ever have a definitive answer on how many 1st-place trophies he’s collected, most later donated to the Boy Scouts or other youth groups to be recycled and offer that 1st-place feeling to others.

Still, I try from time to time to get it out of him: “Just how many tournaments do you think you’ve won on that big lake, Steve?” I asked.

The response was typical, and exactly what I needed.

“I can think of this one, and four more …”

Sure you can. Happy birthday, buddy.

(Joe Balog is the often-outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)