A Gathering Of Eagles, Page 55

A Gathering Of Eagles, Page 55

A MERICAN B ASS “P LOTTED ” W AY to T ECHNO T OURNEYS

By Craig Sutherland

n 1983, a new Southern California based bass tournament organization began operations under the direction of David Plotnik and Tom Meredith. The name was California Fishing Association. This organization focused on team events. California Fishing Association fo- cused heavily of the promotion of local manufacturers and heavy local anglers. Dave Plotnik, known as Dr. Plot’s, found- ed DRP Electronics in 1971. With his work on Grayscale fishing electronics, Dave was well known in the fishing electron- ics world. Dave continued his successful electronics company and was working with the Lynch-Ford rep group promot- ing products and anglers. Dave was an avid tournament angler in the very earli- est days of the sport. His knowledge of both the sport and his contacts in the fishing industry made California Fishing Association an instant success.

Traveler’s, the concept that allows you to fish in two or more regions to earn points. In 1999 Dave Skelton retired from Ameri- can Bass. Dave Plotnik and Craig Sutherland have continued the operations. Another technological step was the in- troduction of the first full interactive elec- tronic bass magazine. This replaced the American Bass Fishing News print publi- cation that ran from 1994 through 2010. Prior to 1994, American Bass published American Bass Magazine, a glossy magazine that ran from 1888 through 1994. This pro- gression shows the changes in technology that drives American Bass. Today, American Bass conducts 250+ events annually through the west in approx- imately 40 regions. The future is bright.

July 2011 _ SILVER EAGLES 55

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American Bass started out as the California Fishing Association, but then took its team tournament format nationwide.

In 1986, Tom Meredith left the organiza- tion and Robert Young entered the scene. At that time it was clear that this organization was going to grow beyond the California borders. The name was changed to American Bass. Due to the time demands of Robert’s industry job, He was unable to continue in the management of American Bass. In 1988, Craig Sutherland and Dave Skelton joined Dr. Plot’s in American Bass. Dave Skelton had a long career in the glaz- ing industry. Craig Sutherland was an Aero- space Engineer and tournament angler. Dr. Plot’s and Craig immediately began innovating new ideas that had not been used in the fishing industry. The first goal, a computer program to run bass tourna- ments. Dave had already created a new op-

tion, called Dr. Plot’s, a few years prior. With Craig’s programming background this idea, along with several new options were programmed into the first bass tour- nament program of its kind. Bass fishing was now in the computer era. The use of the earliest laptop computers revolutionized the way tournaments would be conducted for the future. With portable com- puters, American Bass could now run events on a computer at the shoreline of any lake. American Bass programming innova- tions included options named Dr. Plot’s, Easy Money, Double Down and Double Up, recognition been given to Father’s & Sons, Father’s & Daughters, Mother’s & Sons, Mother’s & Daughters, Adult/Youth teams and other non-traditional teams, and