As most of you probably know, Greenville, South Carolina recently hosted the Bassmaster Classic and the Women's Bassmaster Tour Championship. This is the grand finale for the Elite guys as well as the women. It is where the best come together to fish for what is said to be the top honor of bass fishing. It is where the debate goes on about if it is better to be Angler of the Year or the Classic Champion. Thousands flock to the Classic to cheer for their favorite angler, to have a chance to meet them, and to check out the newest lures and technology in the sport. I must say it was quite an exciting time as the city of Greenville produced a record crowd at the weigh-ins and at the Outdoor Expo.
It was in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2004 that I attended my first Bassmaster Classic. I was just learning to fish and was already devouring the information from their magazine. My hiking partner who is a Life Member of BASS invited us to go with him so we could see the top anglers in the world weigh-in. I'll admit that I wasn't sure what to expect. I had watched some weigh-ins on television, but it always seemed so far out of reach. I felt there was no way I had any business seeing it any other way. But we made the trip to Charlotte and I had my first experience celebrating the final showdown of bass fishing.
We started our trip there by checking out the kid's activities. Our son was with us and we were prepared for a fun time of fishing in the park pond but the storms came and the fishing had to be cancelled. From there we stood in line for the "meet and greet" with all the anglers. This was my first real contact with these guys and I was curious to see exactly how fan friendly they were. I am happy to report that they were some of the friendliest and most professional people I have ever met. The notebook that held my notes from the magazines now also held their autographs. It soon became my fishing treasure - pages and pages of notes along with the autographs to inspire me to learn and work to be better at a sport that I was slowly learning to love.
We spent all day Saturday at the Expo. Our first stop was the Life Member Lounge where we hoped to run into Ray Scott for a picture and an autograph. And we did. Then we headed to the showroom where you could find all the fishing gear you could ever hope to have. I spent quite a bit of time here closely inspecting all types of lures and gear, and the guys were closely inspecting the boats and motors. Then it happened. I found out that women fished against each other. I had always thought that if I ever decided to try competing it would be against men, and I knew it would be a long time before I would be ready for that. I was too intimidated by even the thought of it. So finding out that there were women's clubs as well as a professional tour was pretty encouraging. At that time, it was known as the Women's Bass Fishing Association (WBFA). The highlight of this trip was getting to speak to one of those ladies about fishing and then seeing my first final day weigh-in on Sunday.
I missed the 2005 Classic for two reasons, one being distance and the other being that I was taking care of dad. Then after the 2006 season it took on a whole new meaning in Birmingham, Alabama. I was not going as a fan. I was going to work. I "almost" got to fish in what would be the first Women's Bassmaster Tour Championship. I entered the last tournament on Bull Shoals in 10th place but had a terrible tournament and dropped to 18th place, missing the top twelve cut. I was devastated but being new to the sport and still not known by many, I agreed to help one of my WBT friends sell merchandise for one of the Elite guys as well as Reel Grip. I took the opportunity to meet people and share with them the joy that fishing brings me and promote the WBT. My son worked with us, and the highlight of his weekend was getting to transport this Elite guy's raffle jersey from his room to the Expo. But not everything is easy about these trips.
Saturday night my son and I finally made it back to the motel hoping for a nice quiet evening. We opted for a quick meal from Burger King to take back to the room so we could unwind and get a good night's sleep. Everything was calm and quiet right up until we were ready to turn out the lights. He asked me if I was hearing a noise in the walls. I listened and could indeed hear something through the bathroom wall. Just as I walked out of the bathroom panic set in. It was the fire alarm and it finally reached us on the third floor. The noise we had been hearing was now in our room, and it was loud. So we grabbed purse and wallet, ran down the hall with all the other guests, down the stairs, and out the door. By the way, did I happen to mention we were also under a tornado warning and the storms were right on top of us as well? What had been a peaceful evening had turned into total chaos. We were exhausted and just wanted to rest.
We finally got the okay to go back to our room only to find the alarm still sounding. It was louder in the room than it was in the hall so all of us on the third floor decided to wait outside our rooms until they got it shut off. All of this started around 11 o'clock. At midnight we decided to grab a pillow and blanket from our rooms and camp out on the floor in front of our doors. Why couldn't they get the alarm shut off? So we nestled into our blankets and waited. We chose not to leave because it was late, raining, and we were just too tired to pack up and move. I woke up at 2 a.m., opened the door to the room, and heard nothing. We finally were able to go to bed knowing our own alarm would be sounding in just a few hours.
Why did the alarm not go off? See page 2 for that and the 2008 Classic.
