Mount Rushmore of Bass fishing.

[scaleface]

What would your mount Rushmore look like? The anglers who influenced you most. Friends , family, pros...

 

My Mount Rushmore would be  

Virgil Ward

Roland Martin. 

Rick Clunn

Larry Nixon

 

[Jar11591]

Bill Dance 

Shaw Grigsby

Kevin Van Dam 

My dad 

[DaubsNU1]

@scaleface, good topic!

 

My list...

 

Virgil Ward for SURE!  (From the lakes of northern Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico...)

Roland Martin (got to meet him at boat and sports show a few years back...very nice guy!)

Al Lindner

Doug Hannon, The Bass Professor

[Mobasser]

Virgil Ward, Harold Hensley, Guido Hibdon,Larry Nixon, Tommy Martin.

[Swamp Girl]

My dad, who let me tag along with my brothers

 

@AlabamaSpothunter, for his wisdom and encouragement

 

@PhishLI, for the same

 

@Glenn, for his videos, which have taught me so much about lmbing. As you all know, I fished brown bass for nearly 50 years. Green bass live in green weeds and getting them to bite and then getting them out of the weeds has been such a steep learning curve, but Glenn's videos sure help.

[Pat Brown]

Jeeze probably some of you all more than anyone.  I learn bits and pieces of wisdom that lead to more fish in the boat nearly every week and it's hard to say who did what anymore.

 

My dad put a rod and reel in my hands when I was able to walk and showed me how to clean and cook a fish when I was old enough to hold a knife and use the stove.  He showed me a lot of things that are still part of the angler I basically am on a philosophical level at least.  

 

 

Since there's tons of guys out there educating the masses on bass fishing nuance - perhaps I'll pull my other two (okay 4!  2 wasn't enough  😂) from the side of bass fishing I find more important - fish behavior.

 

I've learned a ton of very sneaky juice - mostly about fish behavior and seasonal movements etc from:

 

The Nature of Fishing - Paul Roberts (thanks I can only remember so many names correctly!  😂)

 

Bass after Dark Podcast - Ken Duke/BTC and many other anglers.

 

Big Bass Dreams Podcast - Oliver Ngy and crew are always going way deep into the stuff that bait people don't discuss and it's very good.

 

Tyler Berger - his new channel that is more about bass behavior and less about baits and such (although BassFishingHQ is/has been helpful also)

 

These folks seem to really want to get at the meat of how we catch fish and why we catch fish and are more generous with the truth of it all than the usual 'why you should throw a frog in the spring time 😎' videos - which basically teach people nothing about anything for the most part - except that it's cool to have 5-6 frogs instead of one frog (which is what they're expected to teach by their sponsors)

[TnRiver46]

Keith Eastridge (my grandfather)
Albert LaFoy (my buddies grandfather)

Phillip LaFoy (my buddies dad)

VY LaFoy (my buddies great uncle)

 

 

[LrgmouthShad]

- A couple of family friends. One of them got me started into fishing

- Greg Hackney as an idol

- Jimmy Houston as an idol

[gim]

I didn't really have anyone to specifically teach me or help me learn how to bass fish.  I pretty much did that on my own.

 

I'll go with a few pros/TV faces that have influenced me though, in no particular order.

 

KVD - the GOAT

James Lindner

Bill Dance

Roland Martin

 

@WRB lived the golden age of largemouth fishing and has offered his wisdom, experience, and knowledge regularly here.  @Dwight Hottle and @A-Jay are the smallmouth masters that have helped me up my brown bass game, especially on big water.

 

[Junk Fisherman]

KVD

Ray Scott

Bill Dance- the show I watched the most when I was younger.  

Mark Zona- He's probably had the most influence on me the last 10 years with all his videos many of which specializing on northern water tactics.  

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I didn't really have anyone to specifically teach me or help me learn how to bass fish.  I pretty much did that on my own.

 

I'll go with a few pros/TV faces that have influenced me though, in no particular order.

 

KVD - the GOAT

James Lindner

Bill Dance

Roland Martin

 

 

Roland Martin and Linder came to mind for me as well.  

[A-Jay]

My Dad

Buck Perry

Bill Murphy

Jerry Mckinnis

Al Linder

Mr Kevin Van Dam

Mark Zona

and Honorable mention goes to 

Big Fish Jeff.

A-Jay 

(I may need a bigger mountain) 

[scaleface]

6 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

(I may need a bigger mountain)

Maybe a totem pole.

[gim]

13 minutes ago, Junk Fisherman said:

Roland Martin and Linder came to mind for me as well.  

 

I think most think of Al when they think of Lindner, but his younger brother James is more influential to me.  Its a generational thing.  They still have a show on Saturday mornings called In-Fisherman Angling Edge and since they are based in Brainerd, MN, they do a lot of multi-species fishing around here, which I can relate to.

[Skunkmaster-k]

Aaron Martens

Glenn May

Richard Gene 

Bill Dance 

 

[Team9nine]

This is what the late Ron Lindner posted several years back.

 

 

I’d change a couple of those faces. So many you could make an argument for, but I’d lean toward’s Ron’s original list of influential persons:

 

Buck Perry

Carl Lowrance

Bill Binkelman - though he might have to be taken off if this is strictly a “bass” mountain - lol

Al Lindner

 

…and I’d have to debate with myself long and hard about not substituting Rick Clunn in there for one of those other names - perhaps Bill’s?

 

I can also see the argument for Ray Scott, though my personal thoughts are that he caused as much long term damage to the sport that offsets the fact that he largely created/defined an entire industry (professional/competitive bass angling) and organization (B.A.S.S.) we still belong to,  follow and uphold largely unchanged to this day.

[Jar11591]

@Pat Brown if I can make a slight correction, The Nature of Fishing isn’t Paul Rogers, but rather BR user @Paul Roberts. And that reminds me, he’d probably be on my Mt. Rushmore as well. His YouTube channel is second to none when it comes to the biology of micropterus. 

[casts_by_fly]

Clunn, Nixon, KVD, and Doug Hannon.  Honorable mention to Ned Kedhe.  

 

I wouldn't include Scott because I'm thinking in terms of the fishermen and not the industry.  Its also a who influenced my fishing, so while I think think Ned Kedhe should be in everyone's top ten, he doesn't hit my top 4 because I don't fish that style (enough).  

 

As a scientist, I can relate to Doug hannon.  Bass fishing was all mystique and luck.  And then he put biology behind it which totally hits my science heart.  I was also pre-teen to teen when we were watching him on TV so right in that formative era.

 

KVD might be the GOAT, but if he is, Clunn was the GOAT before him.  Patterning, seasonality, etc.  And Nixon's run in the late 80's and early 90's was unstopable.  Megabucks was one of my favorite tournaments of the year and he was dominant there.

[Born 2 fish]

There’s only one for me my grandfather. He didn’t even fish he would sit there for hours and hours while I fished. I miss that Man so much everyday.

[Steveo-1969]

The only family member I fished with growing up was my uncle, and he only fished walleyes. My interest in (and learning about) bass fishing came from TV and that continues today.

 

- Bill Dance

- Hank Parker

- Denny Brauer

- Mark Zona

[gim]

15 minutes ago, Steveo-1969 said:

The only family member I fished with growing up was my uncle, and he only fished walleyes.

 

Similar in my family too.  I had family and relatives that fished and took me out, but never specifically to target bass.  It was mostly walleyes and a little muskie fishing.

[WRB]

Can’t think of 4 major influencers who helped me regarding bass fishing.

Jason Lucas was my mentor via Sports Afield magazine and he became my pen pal suggesting rod and reel to use.

Jerry “Red” Cowan Pleasure Point boat landing manager took the time to teach me how to cast, tie knots and bass fish using a Hawaiian Wiggler #3 weedless spoon.

Didn’t have any other adults that had the time to mentor me as a pre teen. Observing other anglers bass fish and trial & error was how I learned, too shy to ask questions. 
70 years later still learning, love this sport!

Tom

 

 

[FryDog62]

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

 

I think most think of Al when they think of Lindner, but his younger brother James is more influential to me. 

The entire "new" concept of Strolling came a lot from the "Moping" that James and his brother used to do to win the Rainy Lake tournaments decades ago. Their technique influenced many from that area including Gussy winning the Classic in 2023. FFS brought strolling to the forefront and it has many variations now, but James and Gang used to do this blindly without sonar.  And with a lot of success.. 

[T-Billy]

Bill, Rowland, Al, and my Grandpa Sweasey, who got me hooked on fishing at the age of four. It's been an ever evolving lifelong addiction since that first outing on his dock. A big part of who I am is because of that man. I owe him a lot, and still miss him terribly, even though he's been gone for 36 years.

[WRB]

4 Rushmore bass pro goats;

Rick Clunn

KVD

Roland Martin

Larry Nixon

None of the above had a direct influence on my bass fishing.

Jig anglers would be Hackney and Bauer.

Tom

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

If @A-Jay gets to carve 7.5 faces, I'm adding a fifth: @WRB!