The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) is a

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

membership organization with more than a half a million members. It is geared toward bass

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...

, mainly in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

but with members located worldwide. The society publishes ''Bassmaster'' magazine and other related publications, and also produces ''The Bassmasters'' weekly television program. B.A.S.S. is best known for the sport fishing tournament trails it sponsors, and for the championship event of its primary series, the

Bassmaster Classic The Bassmaster Classic (known as the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic for sponsorship) is a tournament in the sport of professional bass fishing. It was first held in 1971 on Lake Mead, Nevada. Originally it was a fall event, (1971-1983 ...

. The society's logo is a blue shield with a leaping

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, bu ...

and the society's acronym, as seen in the image on the right.

History

In 1967, Ray Scott of

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

launched the concept of competitive bass fishing by forming the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society. In late 2010, Alabama businessmen

Don Logan Don Logan (born 1944) is an American media executive from Hartselle, Alabama who lives in Birmingham. A retired Time Warner media chairman, Logan also owns the Birmingham Barons minor-league baseball team. In May 2011, he was inducted into the Al ...

and Jim Copeland plus veteran broadcaster Jerry McKinnis formed an ownership group to purchase the organization from

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. In 2011, the new owners relocated B.A.S.S. headquarters from Celebration, Florida, to

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. In 2017 Anderson Media Corp., a 100-year-old family business founded in Ala., acquired a majority interest in B.A.S.S. The B.A.S.S. organization advances the sport through advocacy, outreach and an expansive tournament structure while connecting directly with the passionate community of bass anglers through its media vehicles. B.A.S.S. is a tournament and membership organization serving more than 515,000 members and their families.

All-time record book

Most B.A.S.S. tournaments won: * 26,

Kevin VanDam Kevin VanDam (born October 14, 1967), often called simply "KVD," is a professional bass fisherman from Otsego, Michigan. He is the all-time money winner in professional bass fishing, having earned $7,089,388 through August 2022 according to Major ...

* 19, Roland Martin * 17, Denny Brauer * 15,

Rick Clunn Rick Clunn (born July 24, 1946) is a professional bass fisherman. Biography Clunn has won the Bassmaster Classic tournament four times, in 1976, 1977, 1984, and 1990, tying him with Kevin Van Dam for the most Bassmaster Classic wins. Clunn is ...

* 13, Larry Nixon At the 2020 Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, winner and Bassmaster Elite Series angler Patrick Walters set a Bassmaster record for margin of victory by finishing 29 pounds, 10 ounces ahead of the second-place finisher.

Angler of the Year Award

The Angler of the Year (AOY) award is given to the angler who, at the end of the season, has accumulated the most points throughout the year's "Elite Series" tournaments. Winners of the award: * 1970 — Bill Dance * 1971 — Mark Hunter * 1972 — Roland Martin * 1973 — Roland Martin * 1974 — Bill Dance * 1975 — Roland Martin * 1976 — Jimmy Houston * 1977 — Bill Dance * 1978 — Roland Martin * 1979 — Roland Martin * 1980 — Larry Nixon * 1981 — Roland Martin * 1982 — Larry Nixon * 1983 — Hank Parker * 1984 — Roland Martin * 1985 — Roland Martin * 1986 — Jimmy Houston * 1987 — Denny Brauer * 1988 —

* 1989 — Gary Klein * 1990 — Guido Hibdon * 1991 — Guido Hibdon * 1992 —

* 1993 — Gary Klein * 1994 — David Fritts * 1995 —

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

* 1996 — Kevin VanDam * 1997 — Davy Hite * 1998 —

* 1999 — Kevin VanDam * 2000 — Tim Horton * 2001 —

* 2002 — Davy Hite * 2003 — Jay Yelas * 2004 — Gerald Swindle * 2005 — Aaron Martens * 2006 —

Michael Iaconelli Michael Iaconelli, also known as Mike and by his nickname "Ike", (born June 17, 1972 in Runnemede, New Jersey) is a professional bass fisherman, television personality, and podcast show host from Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey. Iaconelli compet ...

* 2007 —

Skeet Reese Skeet Reese is a professional sport fisherman of the B.A.S.S. (Bass Anglers Sportsmans Society) and Major League Fishing. He was born in Walnut Creek, California on June 30, 1969. He has a wife, Kim, and a two daughters, Leamarie and Courtney. Re ...

* 2008 —

* 2009 — Kevin VanDam * 2010 — Kevin VanDam * 2011 — Kevin VanDam * 2012 — Brent Chapman * 2013 — Aaron Martens * 2014 — Greg Hackney * 2015 — Aaron Martens * 2016 — Gerald Swindle * 2017 — Brandon Palaniuk * 2018 — Justin Lucas * 2019 — Scott Canterbury * 2020 — Clark Wendlandt * 2021 — Seth Feider * 2022 — Brandon Palaniuk

Tournaments

The first ever B.A.S.S. Federation tournament was held in June 1967 on Beaver Lake,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

. A total of 106 anglers from thirteen different states competed. In that All-American Bass Tournament, Scott charged a $100 entry fee with a chance to win $2,000 and a trip to

Acapulco, Mexico Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

. The winner of this first tournament was Stan Sloan. Scott staged the first

in 1971 at

Lake Mead Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. L ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

— though competitors didn't know the location until they were in an aircraft bound for Las Vegas. The "mystery lake" practice continued through 1976; the following year Scott announced the venue in advance so that fans could make plans to attend the event. Since then, the final weigh-in events, and fishing expositions held together with those events, have become huge spectator events filling large arenas and being broadcast live on ESPN. In 2021, all nine Bassmaster Elite events and the Bassmaster Classic were covered live on

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

platforms and

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...

. B.A.S.S Federations sponsor several tournaments and series:

Bassmaster Classic

The Bassmaster Classic is considered the "Super Bowl of Fishing". This world championship event is held once every year and has become a fan favorite. This tournament has a first place prize of $300,000

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

Bassmaster Elite Series

This series has a total of eight regular season events and two AOY fish offs with a total of $11 million to give away in prizes. This makes up bass fishing's most lucrative competitive league. This series schedule runs from coast to coast through all phases of the seasons of bass fishing.

Bassmaster Opens

This series sets a platform for amateur anglers to emerge as aspiring pros. Both boaters and non-boaters compete in the Bassmaster Opens, which provides advancement to the Bassmaster Elite Series. Also, an automatic entry to the next years

is awarded to the winner of each Bassmaster Open event however in addition they must fish all three Open events in their division to qualify.

Bassmaster College Series

The Bassmaster College Series gives college anglers a platform where they can compete with their peers and get a taste of what it feels like to compete on a national level. The series pits teams of college anglers against one another for cash, prizes, bragging rights and the ultimate prize in fishing: a chance to compete in the Bassmaster Classic.

Women's Bassmaster Tour

This tour opened October 20, 2005 at Lake Lewisville in Dallas Texas and was presented by Triton and Legend Boats. The winner of each WBT took home a boat valued at $50,000. Australian born Kim Bain-Moore was the WBT's 2008 Angler of the Year as well as the end of season Championship winner. The tour was closed after the 2009 season won by Pam Martin Wells.

B.A.S.S. Nation

Formerly the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation, the name was changed to B.A.S.S. Nation at the beginning of the 2013 season. B.A.S.S. Nation is composed of bass tournament clubs throughout the country. They provide the opportunity for anglers to compete in bass tournaments at a local level as well as different state and national tournaments culminating in the opportunity to fish the Bassmaster Classic.

References

External links

Official website
{{fishing tournaments Recreational fishing organizations Organizations based in Birmingham, Alabama Former subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company