THE UPS and DOWNS and LIGHTER SIDE of WESTERN BASS
FISHING
By Rich Holland
O
ne of the funniest things about putting together the history of Western bass fishing is that many of those still around can’t remember a damn thing about what happened.
If you could put all the characters in bass fishing into a barrel and shake it up the result would be a cable TV series that was a cross between Deadwood and Big Love. I can only start by sharing my piece of the story. I stepped into the mix in the early 80s and with the help of mentor George Kramer went on to establish a long career as an editor at Western Outdoors Publications. I still haven’t forgiven him. Dave Myers hired me for my first real gig in the bass fishing sports at Western Bass. Myers was one of the many great folks who got pulled into the vortex around Rich Schultz and he was working for Schultz and Don Doty as the marketing director at Western Bass when he hired me as assistant editor/pr guy for the publica- tions and tournament circuit. Everyone from Tom Stiles to Hal Huggins, George Kramer to Bill Rice, etc. who had been a part of Western Bass under the first reign of Harvey Naslund really didn’t have much choice but to move with the organiza- tion and it was a time of much change and turmoil that included the big changeover to the name U.S. Bass and a national circuit. Even in those days we were running to the bank to cash our paychecks. One of the early tournaments I covered that really sticks out in my mind was at Roosevelt because at one point I was pretty sure it was going to be my last. It’s great
40 SILVER EAGLES _ July 2011
Harvey and “the gals” were a familiar sight at bass fishing tournaments in the West.
having boats to give away at a tournament, but since the winner already has a boat, you end up pulling the prize boat home half the time. Well Don Doty had this monster 4WD Sportvan that he used every morning to pull trucks out of the mud at the crappy Roosevelt dirt ramp. He would run that thing like his bass boat — 80 mph and talking the whole time. We came up on a blind curve behind another vehicle and Doty swung across the double lines and passed without blinking. This was also the time when he handed Angler’s Marine over to Rick Grover, which produced a funny story in itself. “Bill Pace the national sales manager for Champion walked right into the 1983 Ranger Dealer meeting during lunch and asked where I was and that he was there to take me on a plant tour,” recalled Grover. “By the time I got to the Champion factory we were canceled as a Ranger dealer. They regret- ted that call big time as I used Champion to kick ass in the West Coast for the next 20 years. Now I am a top Ranger dealer. The circle of life is crazy.” At the same Roosevelt event, a female out- door writer kept bragging she got to look inside a prominent pro’s tackle box. The pro’s wife had just left him for another fisherman.
Years later in the WON BASS era, some of the biggest names in the West were back at Roosevelt. A reliable source said that many of them gathered in a room at the Roosevelt Resort and put their ears to the paper thin walls as another prominent bachelor had an encounter with the tour’s buxom secretary in the next room over. In the day, Western Bass had a large RV for its mobile fishing schools run by Mike Gardner. Gardner gave a great seminar when he wasn’t out on his Ranger giving on-the-water instruction to the latest interested lady angler. A Clear Lake event was amazing as the lake was on its first big fish bloom after getting a Florida bass stock. I recall it best for Dee Thomas flipping a 13-4 out of the tules‚ a day too soon. I remember one pro had two 10 pounders in his limit. Folkestad’s record went down in flames. It might have been the event Bob Cagle won. Later he would be impli- cated in the matter of big bass held in a cage before an important team tournament on Clear Lake. A lady living on the lake saw the fish get put in the cage and called the authorities wondering if that was okay. So the law staked it out during the tournament. Cheating has always been the black shadow trailing money fishing of any sort,