2018 GEICO BASSMASTER CLASSIC

[nosdog2]

I wonder if he tied one on....

 

 

Big congrats to him, I am a big fan.

[snake95]

Took my 9 yo to the Bassmaster Classic.  It was our first time seeing the pros. 

 

Special thanks to @Sam for the incredibly helpful advice.

 

We went up on Friday as early as possible, saw the expo each day, went to Saturday's weigh in and then watched the guys come in on Championship Sunday.  

 

Biggest single takeaway: the pros are just awesome guys and absolutely make the sport what it is. 

 

My son filled up a signature book, but far more importantly, every single one of them took a moment to talk to him: Rick Clunn, David Fritts, Zell Rowland, Gary Yamamoto, Skeet Reece, Chris Lane, Fletcher Shryock, Ike, and many others at the expo; even at the ramp: G-man spotted him and called him over to sign his book even as he and Lulu were rushing to get buttoned up on the last day, Aaron Martins chatted casually about drop shotting with us as he waited at the dock (almost as if he was just out for a leisurely cruise), and Jordan Lee said hello before jumped in the truck to drive up and win it.  MDJ (Mark Daniels Jr) was all smiles and talked to us as he was pulled up from the ramp.  What an incredible bunch of men.

 

(We were a little torn up about Jason Christie, but that's fishing I guess).

 

It was almost funny at the Bass Pro Shops booth when we talked to a bunch of older pros that I didn't know: they asked where we fish and he replied "mostly ponds" and the guys lit up like they were a bunch of kids themselves: "man, we love fishing ponds too."  Topwater? "especially topwater!"  Their enthusiasm was completely genuine.

 

Oh yeah, we looked at a lot of cool gear too.

 

Broke a 10 lb XT line at over 19 lbs in the tester (line failed, not my knot).

Talked to rod builders and all kinds of gear reps.

Went looking to meet Big O and just missed him.

 

The Saturday weigh-in was great.

 

Thanks again to Sam and A-Jay and everyone else for stoking the excitement with this thread.  Had to be the best weekend ever for two fishin' dudes.  Can't wait for the AOY.

 

Correction: my son described it as "the best weekend of my life."

 

 

 

 

 

[scaleface]

41 minutes ago, snake95 said:

Broke a 10 lb XT line at over 19 lbs in the tester (line failed, not my knot)

WOW

[snake95]

7 minutes ago, scaleface said:

WOW

Thanks.  The Berkley rep running the tester even sort of stopped the show and called out to everyone about it.  I felt the need to brag about that one, just a quick palomar (as carefully tied as I could in a moving line).

 

I tied another one (double san diego jam) that only made it to 15.4.

[Glenn]

Man, I met so many members and BassResource fans!  It was incredible! 

 

Had a great time meeting and talking to everyone from all walks of life and corners of the country (met more than a few folks that made the trip all the way from California!).

 

And wow, what a Classic! I was pulling for Jason too.  But it is what it is.  It's a tough tournament, and Jordon earned the win.  Congrats!

[snake95]

1 hour ago, Glenn said:

Man, I met so many members and BassResource fans

Sorry we didn't find you, Glenn.  So many guys on the forum (or talked about like Big O) that I hoped to meet. 

It was overwhelming - in a good way.  

Next time.

[guitarkid]

10 hours ago, scaleface said:

WOW

Mine broke at 17.6, it was pretty neat to see that. 

 

Also it was nice meeting you Glenn