Bassmaster May 2020

Historic, Indeed The 2020 installment of the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk was historic for near countless reasons. Most obviously, it was the 50th world championship of bass fishing. In other terms, it marked half a century of the best anglers on the planet competing for the biggest prize in our sport. The event was extra special because it was held in Alabama, the birthplace of B.A.S.S. The golden anniversary of the Classic was chock-full of nostalgia and celebration. Fans at the arena weigh-in were in for a surprise, as a video montage of every Classic was presented, and a Classic champion from each decade walked on stage. Bobby Murray, Rick Clunn, Hank Parker, Jay Yelas and Ott DeFoe stood before thousands symbolizing the pioneers of…

The Crying Type AS HANK CHERRY hoisted the Classic trophy over his head in Birmingham, Ala., each one of the thousands of fans in attendance on March 8, 2020, had they looked hard enough, could have counted the tears running from the edges of his eyes. There weren’t many — three, maybe four — as Cherry is not really the crying type. But these tears were earned, each drop representing a moment in his life where he could have quit, let bad luck win, accepted a destiny that simply was not his. See, there was a time not so long ago when Cherry almost quit fishing. “Man, we had a real rough patch there for a while,” Cherry explains. “I had a full-time job as a wine distributor and had…

Clark Wendlandt Cedar Park, Texas You started your career with B.A.S.S. in the early ’90s before going on to an all-time great FLW career. What factored into your decision to return to B.A.S.S. last season? There were a number of things, but to be honest with you, I’ve always had a heart for B.A.S.S. I’ve always liked what they were doing. The decision to leave years ago was more of a sponsor conflict than any other reason. Those just happen. But, coming back — to me — just felt more or less like a homecoming. In the sport right now there’s no doubt this is the place to be. You’ve been in the game for a while. You’re in your early 50s now, but you started fishing professionally when you…

ACTIVE ANGLER Todd Auten fished his first B.A.S.S. tournament in 1996. In nearly 25 years of professional angling, he’s seen the landscape of marine electronics shift from the earliest LCD screens, which painted a Game Boy-like image of the world below, to modern multifunction displays that feel more closely related to James Bond gadgets than consumer fishing electronics. Yet, here they are. And as Auten steams toward his 30th anniversary of professional tournament angling, he’s doing so with some of the most advanced marine electronics on the market today under his foot: Garmin’s Panoptix LiveScope. First things first, Garmin is not the only marine electronics brand currently offering live sonar technology. Lowrance unveiled its own version of the tech, dubbed LiveSight, just last year. However, Garmin’s tech, launched in 2018,…

7 National Tourism Day. How many states have you visited? Plan a trip to a new one and bring the boat along. 9 International Migratory Bird Day. Did you know that sharp-edged plastics can kill birds by punching holes in their internal organs? Show your appreciation for these stewards of the sky by keeping your boat clean of debris and making sure you’re leaving no trace on the water. 10 Mother’s Day. If mom likes to fish, take her out on the water. If she ain’t into fishing, she’ll probably still be down for a boat ride or a good old-fashioned fish fry hosted by her favorite son or daughter. 13 Frog Jumping Day. By now you should have plenty of cover for a day full of froggin’. Let’s be…

Volunteers from multiple organizations recently came together on Lake Guntersville for the Bassmaster Classic Cleanup. In all, 47 volunteers from the City of Guntersville, Keep Guntersville Beautiful, Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful, Marshall County, Tennessee Valley Authority and the Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation collected 93 AFTCO Bank Bags full of trash from the shoreline around Tom Jackson boat ramp at Civitan Park — the launch site for the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk. The bags contained plastic bottles, cans, paper and plastic trash, tires, Styrofoam, toys and, oddly, even a bowling ball. “We filled a dumpster,” says B.A.S.S. Conservation Director Gene Gilliland. “But there was a lot more that we could have gotten if we’d had boats to access shorelines that were not walkable.”…