MUSKEGON, Mich. — See what the pros are catching this week in real time — from your phone.
B.A.S.S. is debuting a new feature during Toyota All-Star Week and the Evan Williams Bourbon Championship in which BASSTrakk will automatically update a Twitter feed with each catch a pro’s Marshal reports.
“Now you can simply follow along on Twitter to see how all the pros are doing, all day long,” said Matt Dowd, senior manager of tournament technology for B.A.S.S. and creator of the Twitter feature.
“It makes the days of competition more exciting,” said Dowd, “because it’s so accessible. You can watch the day unfold from anywhere.”
To use the new feature, simply follow @BASSTrakk on Twitter. On non-competition days, followers won’t see any tweets. But if the competition is going and it’s a slugfest, expect to see multiple updates during the day.
A test feed during a Bassmaster Elite Series event produced 400 tweets during one day of 50 pros competing.
“Followers of this Twitter account will be hardcore fans,” said Tyler Reed, B.A.S.S. social media editor. “We’re excited to be able to offer this feature to people who want fast and furious updates from the water. Fans who only want periodic updates can continue to follow our main @BASS_nation account.”
This Twitter feed is currently in test mode, but it offers numerous possibilities.
“Soon, we’ll tag the anglers who have Twitter accounts,” said Dowd, “as a way to spread the love to our pros who tweet.”
This update marks the second major change to BASSTrakk viewing for fans of bass fishing. Earlier this year, B.A.S.S. debuted the ability to see in real time where anglers are on a map of the lake and to check on a specific angler.
BASSTrakk is managed by an app downloaded on 50 smartphones that are distributed to Bassmaster Marshals at Bassmaster Elite Series events. The Marshals input an estimate of the weight of the angler’s catch as well as whether he kept or culled it, and the BASSTrakk database keeps a record of the number of fish, the total weight and the total livewell weight. BASSTrakk creates an unofficial scoreboard on Bassmaster.com so fans can see who’s doing well and who needs to catch more — and bigger — bass.
“B.A.S.S. changes with the times,” said Dowd. “We saw an opportunity to be innovative and offer more accessibility to our fans, so we took it.”
To follow the new BASSTrakk Twitter feature, follow @BASSTrakk on Twitter. To view the BASSTrakk map and scoreboard, click on BASSTrakk on Bassmaster.com during competition days.