Bass Anglers Sportsman Society

The current Bass Anglers Sportsman Society logo

The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) is a fishing membership organization with more than a half a million members. It is geared toward bass fishermen, mainly in the United States 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 society's logo is a blue shield with a leaping largemouth bass and the society's acronym, as seen in the image at right.

History

In 1967, Ray Scott of Montgomery, Alabama launched the concept of competitive bass fishing by forming the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society. In late 2010, Alabama businessmen Don Logan and Jim Copeland plus veteran broadcaster Jerry McKinnis formed an ownership group to purchase the organization from ESPN. In 2011, the new owners relocated B.A.S.S. headquarters from Celebration, Florida, to Birmingham, Alabama.[1]

All-time record book

Most B.A.S.S. tournaments won:

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:[2]

Tournaments

Kim Stricker, Lake St. Clair, MI, 2014
Kyle Walling, Bassmaster Southern Opens, Santee Cooper, SC, 2008

The first ever B.A.S.S. Federation tournament was held in June 1967 on Beaver Lake, Arkansas. 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. The winner of this first tournament was Stan Sloan.

Scott staged the first Bassmaster Classic in 1971 at Lake Mead, Nevada — 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.

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.

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 competitive lucrative 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.[3] Also, an automatic entry to the next years Bassmaster Classic 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.

Women's Bassmaster Tour

This tour is presented by Triton Boats. The winner of each WBT takes home a fully rigged Triton boat valued at $50,000. The total payout for the whole season is totaled at more than $640,000.

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

  1. ↑ Rainer, David (August 10, 2011). "Bass Anglers Sportsman’s Society is headed back to Alabama". The Courier Journal. Florence, AL. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Bassmaster AOY Winner List". Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "2012 Bassmaster Elite Series Qualifications" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.


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