Steve Price - The Fish That Changed America: True Stories about the People Who Made Largemouth Bass Fishing an All-American Sport

All photos are courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted.

Copyright 2014 by Steve Price

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by: Brian Peterson

Cover photo credit: Steve Price

Print ISBN: 978-1-62914-558-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62914-950-9

Printed in China

For Ann,

who kept me on course

even when the fish were biting

Co nte nts

Chapter 2 Ray Scott: The One Thing I Am Most Proud Of

Chapter 26 Scott Suggs: I Dreamed Id Hold Up Two Big Bass

Chapter 35 Jimmy Houston: I Just Wanted to Build a Golf Driving Range

Foreword

By Slaton L. White

Americas fish? No question, its the largemouth bass. Found from multi-armed impoundments to farm ponds small enough to spit across, the bass is as American as, well, apple pie. The ready availability of this democratic fish is one reason it has become the countrys number-one gamefish, but that in itself doesnt fully explain the cult of bass fishing.

Theres something else. Its the nature of the largemouth bass. A friend of mine once wrote, The fish is a brawler, a potbellied thug with no respect for decency or refinement. Aint that great? You bet.

When Field & Stream was coming to terms with professional bass fishingslowly, belatedly, reluctantlyI hitched a ride with Steve Price on a bass boat following competitors at the 1999 B.A.S.S. Masters Classic in the Louisiana Delta. On the morning of the second day, we crept behind eventual winner Davey Hite as he worked a series of long weed-beds. For hours, he cast tight against the beds, and I watched in wonder as cast after cast landed exactly where Hite wanted. The show reminded me of legendary pitcher Bob Gibson, who was famous for a ferocious competitive fire as well as murderous control.

Thats when I realized those at the top of this game were athletes of the first order. And when you talked to these select few, you realized they were playing a far different game than you were, but if you paid attention, you would come away a better angler.

As an editor at Field & Stream I commissioned many bass fishing articles from Steve. He rose above the rest because of his erudition, clarity of expression, and an obvious command of the subject at hand. But most of all, he became a go-to guy because of his great fishing sense. I always felt that if a reader took his tips and techniques to the lake over the weekend he would end up catching more fish. And unlike many self-professed experts of that time, who relied on themselves for their expertise, Steve was willing to talk to a wide range of participants, including tournament pros, lure and line manufacturers, and guides to supplement that knowledge.

As a writer, Steve was at the top of his game, but he wanted more, as I found out over a long meal at, of all places, the Las Vegas Hilton, after a trade show. We were talking about bass fishing articles when he said, Ive done plenty of how-to, and I know its the bread-and-butter of this business, but I want to do something more.

What? I asked.

The why, he said.

Steve wanted to explore the last frontier of bass fishingwhy the fish did what it did, why it hit certain lures at certain times, and why it sometimes swam imperiously away when offered what seemed to be an irresistible morsel.

I wish I could remember more of the conversation; it was one of the most fascinating evenings of my professional life. During our talk he revealed himself to be a true student of the fish and the people who pursued it for a living.

Steve is that rarity in our business; hes an observer. He wants to know what that fish is thinking. When he looks at a watershed he wants to break through that divine divide between water and air to make a connection with the creature that swims beneath the surface.

He looks at the people who populate the special world of bass fishing in the same way. What makes them tick? Why do they cast the way they do, why do they select the lures that they do?

Again, the why. For why we do something is, in the end, infinitely more interesting than the how or where. This inveterate curiosity has led him to this book, an appraisal of the fish that truly changed America. Steve looks at the tackle, the lakes, the boats, and the business of bass fishing. But most of all, he looks at the people, and the fish, that are the heart of this world. And what a world it is.

Slaton L. White

Deputy Editor, Field & Stream

Preface

Readers of this book will quickly notice one characteristic common to the majority of personalities described here: catching their first largemouth bass, at whatever age it happened, became a defining moment in their lives. Its something we can all be thankful for today, for, collectively, they turned their defining moments into creating the sport and business of bass fishing we enjoy today.

I understand the passion that drove them, because I caught my first bass at around the age of three, and now, more than forty years later, the fish continues to be the focus of my career. Bass, both largemouth and smallmouth, do that to people. Maybe its the way they hit a lure, or the way they jump and fight after being hooked. To be sure, there are larger fish in many of our nations lakes, and they will strike the same artificial lures bass do; often, they live in the very same waters. But none of them act quite the way a bass does.

I can also understand the influences the sports pioneers have had on following generations, because one of the biggest influences in my fishing career was Virgil Ward, among those profiled here. My very first spinnerbait was Virgils Bass Buster Lures Beetle Spin, and his television show, Championship Fishing , taught me how to use them; today, thanks to those early experiences, spinnerbaits are a major part of my professional bass tournament fishing arsenal.

When I was seven years old, my father took me along on his annual Memorial Day weekend fishing trip to Lake Leelanau in northern Michigan. I caught my first smallmouth on that trip, a 10 -inch fish that hit my live nightcrawler. We were just drifting our baits along the bottom because we didnt have a trolling motor to control our boat, nor did we have any type of electronic depth finder, items commonly found on all bass boats today. For us, a trolling motor didnt come until several years later. Then we added a flasher-type depth finder, and still later we finally bought our first real bass boat, a 16 -foot Pro Craft.

I fished my first bass tournament with my older brother Randy when I was fourteen. Now, as I write this, Im preparing for my twenty-fourth season as a full-time bass tournament pro, and even on my days off between events I still want to go bass fishing. Bass do that to people.