It's the dream of every bass angler out there to fish in the Bassmaster Classic. The Classic is by far the largest fishing tournament in the world in terms of the number of fans who come to see it, and by far the most sought-after tournament title for those who compete in in it.
Unfortunately, my time to fish the Classic has not come yet. I have made the decision that I won’t fish my first year in the Bassmaster Opens until I graduate from the University of Central Florida.
But I did do the next best thing this year – I got to watch it up close.
The Classic is much more than the biggest tournament in fishing – it’s a who’s who of industry professionals. For me, the Classic is a great place to network and make new friends in the industry. It is also just plain exciting to be there.
This year I wanted to be able to see all sides of the tournament, from a spectator’s perspective to a working media perspective. So naturally, I talked to the guys at BassFan to see if I could score some media credentials and help them out during the event.
Long story short, I got the credentials, carpooled with my buddy Pat in his sister’s Toyota Corolla (for gas mileage) to Birmingham, and probably had the best 4 days I have had for a long time.
Day 1: Sonar the Media Man
On Thursday, after we checked into our hotel room, I headed down to the lobby to meet up with BassFan so we could go to the Media Day festivities. It was like a first date with an extremely attractive girl – I was nervous, excited and intimidated.
I was already all jacked up because the Sheraton was all decked out in Bassmaster Classic, ESPN and BASS decorations. Even the room keys were specially made with a picture of Skeet Reese holding up his 09’ Classic trophy.
We ended up talking in the lobby for awhile. What about? Heck if I know. Randy Howell ended up joining our conversation. Mark Zona walked through the lobby. Russ Lane was riding the escalator. And I was like an Attention Deficit Disorder-ridden Labrador in a squirrel farm – not really knowing what to do with myself, but having a good time to be sure.
After we convened our little lobby meeting, we headed for the Media Day site in the Arena Club at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center. When we finally got there, I was awestruck with the whole scene.
Basically there was just a bunch of round tables everywhere, and at each table were one or more of the Classic qualifiers, just waiting for a member of the media to come up and score an interview. There was also food – real food. It was a pretty impressive spread of barbecue and not a Cup-O-Noodles in sight. Can you say sah-weet?
After my heart stopped pounding I got up enough courage to sit down with some of the pros to interview them for content for future columns. Kevin Short was first, then Mark Tucker. Then on to Dean Rojas, Byron Velvick and Gary Klein. I was wheelin' and dealin’, man. I was over here, then over there, loving every bit of the conversations I was having with my heroes.
Let me tell you, it was so refreshing to talk to these guys. Ninety percent of the pros I talked with were so positive about the condition of the sport, which was pretty encouraging.
When everything was winding down, while I was sitting around waiting to score an interview with Mark Zona, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around, expecting it to be someone trying to get me out of the way for a clear shot of Zona. But it was none other than Jerry McKinnis, one of my TV fishing heroes and the guy who raised the tournament television coverage bar over the years.
“Hi, I don’t know if you know who I am, but my name is Jerry McKinnis. I read your column on BassFan and thought it was great.”
Oh, my gosh! I was amazed. “Of course I know who you are, Mr. McKinnis,” I managed to gush.
We ended up talking for awhile and he is one of the nicest gentlemen I have ever had the privilege to speak with. Just a plain stand-up guy.
After our conversation, Jerry invited me into the back of the arena to check out the work in progress that was the 2010 Classic stage, and then he introduced me to the whole JM Productions crew. Lets just say this – I respect what they do big-time. Producing something like the Classic is not an easy job.
After I said my temporary goodbyes to the JM guys, I managed to walk back to the hotel in a daze.
After a brief rest in the hotel room, Patrick and I headed down to the media reception presented by Mercury Marine, Evan Williams Bourbon, Humminbird, Minn-Kota and Pure Fishing.
It was pretty awesome. I got to talk with so many great people in a casual party atmosphere, which is what I love. I absolutely love talking with people, joking around, talking fishing, and I absolutely love complimentary finger foods, too (the crabcakes were money!). So it was fun.
After that I went to Moe’s BBQ with some friends from BASS. If you make it to Birmingham, it is more than worth it to hit up Moe’s to get some of the best barbecue around.
Day 2: The Expo
Day 2 was my first time in the convention. I nearly had a panic attack when I stepped through the doors and onto the showroom floor. A kid in a candy store, for sure.
I pretty much spent my day checking out every booth in that place, and took time to talk with each vendor.
What a stand-up group of businessmen and women! We are extremely lucky to have an industry with such great products and services, but we are even luckier to have the kind of people that we do to provide those to us.
There were some great new products, too. I was happy to see as many start-up companies as I did. There were a lot of companies that I felt had great ideas and products and expect them to go far. It was really encouraging to see so many new companies making the “leap of faith” in such a bad economy.
One of my favorite trends that I saw was new fishing fashion companies. One company that caused a pretty big buzz at the Classic was Topwater Clothing.
They literally debuted their line of clothing at the Classic, and I along with many other people at the Expo were very excited to see such a cool line of clothing come out geared toward anglers who want to be stylish while representing their passion.
I think that one thing the fishing industry was missing was style, and Topwater seems to have recognized this void in the market and made the right moves to fill it up.
I also realized another thing, too: I do not want to enter the rod-manufacturing business. That market is so saturated with awesome designs and concepts that I feel confident when I say it is the most competitive market in the industry right now.
Rod companies are getting really marketing-savvy nowadays, designing rods that look like light sabers, glowing in greens, oranges, yellows, whites, and everything in between. It seems like it would be so hard to make a rod that is more visible and marketable than the ones out there right now.
At about 3 p.m. I went to meet up with BassFan in the media room again to help interview the competitors as their boats arrived and entered the arena. I was nervous about that. I didn’t know what to expect. I’m a tournament angler, not an outdoor writer, and I didn’t want to get in the way of the real writers.
It worked out pretty well, though. I realized that I don't want to be a writer and I still want to be one of the people being interviewed, but it was a cool experience and I have a greater respect for our outdoor writers.
I didn’t finish typing up my interviews until about 10:30, after which I walked 5 blocks to meet up with some friends at an Early Times-sponsored party. I got to bed about 2:30 a.m. Saturday.
Day 3: On the Lake with Howell
Woke up at 3:45am Saturday morning.
Though I would love to tell you about my experiences riding with Randy Howell on day 2 of the Classic right now, I am actually going to devote a full column to it very soon.
Day 4: Wrapping it Up
The final day was great. I ended up being able to sleep in a bit, which was a huge plus, then I left for the convention to spend all the money that I had left in my wallet.
I also took a lot of time to allow vendors to pitch their new products. It was a good way to learn about some new stuff while keeping an open mind. I eventually went back to the media room at about 3:30 to once again help with the interviewing.
I helped out with a portion of the 25 anglers who fished that day, but I bailed on the media room when the “Super Six” arrived on stage. Along with some of the other media and production guys, I found a corridor between the stands from where I could watch all the action.
It seemed to be a perfect ending to the week, standing there watching my heroes weigh their fish, along with the likes of Mark Zona and many of the media folks that I had gotten to know very well over the last few days. We were all crammed into that corridor while the crowd’s electric energy sent chills down my spine.
When KVD ended up dropping a 19 1/2-pound bombshell on Jeff Kriet’s 3-day weight, I experienced the most indescribably intense goose bumps I've ever had. The full arena went completely wild, and KVD had raised the bar once again.
And all I kept thinking at that moment was: “I need to go fishing.”
Day 5: The End
Now I’m in the back seat of the Toyota Corolla on my way back to Orlando, trying not to be late for work at the Red Lobster. It's difficult for me to put into words what experiencing the Classic the way I did really meant.
With as tough an economic environment as we have, it was deeply touching to meet with everyone behind the scenes, along with the ones in front of the cameras, and indulge in their good vibrations. There is not one single event that I know of that is such a positive influence on this wonderful sport.
To me, the 2010 Classic was much, much, more than a championship event. It was a platform to bring together all the different faces in the sport and industry, all with a strong passion and love for fishing and a willingness to share that with the next generation. It was a great way for me to experience how fine a group of people that fishermen and women really are.
Instead of the Classic simply being an event where a single champion is crowned, it seems to me that it is an event that, year after year, crowns the fishing community as a whole as champions, not of just fishing, but of perseverance, moral strength and optimism.
And still, while I reminisce about my week, all I can think is: “I need to go fishing.”
Miles "Sonar" Burghoff is a student at the University of Central Florida and an aspiring professional angler. He writes a regular column for BassFan.
