Sure, the half million bucks doesn't hurt, but for the legion of anglers who really love the sport and dream of competing in the world's greatest championship, it's all about the hardware -- this hardware, the Bassmaster Classic trophy. You can win money in the lottery, but the only way to get one of these is to earn it by besting the most talented and driven anglers in the world. These are the men who have done it.
In 1971, Bobby Murray won the inaugural Bassmaster Classic on Lake Mead, Nev. The tournament's location was a secret until all 24 competitors were airborne and flying to Las Vegas. The $10,000 in prize money was winner take all!
Don Butler was not only B.A.S.S.' first member, he was also the second Bassmaster Classic champion. Percy Priest Reservoir in Tennessee was the venue, and Butler used a spinnerbait made by his own lure company (Okiebug) for the win.
An Arkansas farmer, Rayo Breckenridge (right), won the third Classic on Clarks Hill Reservoir. Bill Dance (left) finished second. Once again, the payout was winner take all, but prize money had increased to $15,000.
Alabama's Wheeler Lake was the site of the fourth Classic, and B.A.S.S. rookie Tommy Martin was the champion. The Toledo Bend fishing guide was part of the "Hemphill Gang" that dominated the early years of professional fishing.
Currituck Sound in North Carolina was the site of the 1975 Classic, and Jack Hains had to overcome Paul Chamblee's seemingly insurmountable lead to take home the trophy. It was the second of three consecutive years that a Fleck Weed Wader spinnerbait factored in the win.
It's hard to imagine a time when Rick Clunn was not a star in this sport, but when he won his first Classic in 1976 he was a relative unknown. Fans were wondering why none of the "big names" ever won the championship. Clunn would soon display the power of the Classic for creating stars of its own.
In 1977, Clunn became the first angler to win back-to-back Bassmaster Classics, first on Lake Guntersville in 1976 (the last of the mystery lake Classics) and then on Florida's Kissimmee Chain in 1977. His dominance of the championship had just begun.
In 1978 on Ross Barnett Reservoir in Mississippi, Bobby Murray became the second angler to win two Classic championships, tying him with Rick Clunn. What few remember is that Clunn finished second in '78, nearly taking his third title in a row. Murray used a specially designed spoon/spinner combo for most of his bass, but those socks had to help, too.
Hank Parker flipped his way to victory in 1979 on Lake Texoma, which is pretty impressive considering he didn't bring a flippin' rod to the Classic that year. When he got on the pattern, he had to borrow one from fellow competitor Gary Klein. Back then, that's all Klein carried.
In 1980, the Bassmaster Classic traveled north -- all the way to New York's St. Lawrence River, where Bo Dowden struck gold. He used a jig for most of his catch and held off a charge by the legendary Roland Martin to put his name in the record books and on the sport's most cherished trophy.
Stanley Mitchell became the youngest Classic champ in history in 1981. He was just 21 when he won the title on the Alabama River, just outside of B.A.S.S. headquarters in Montgomery. It was also the first time the Classic had an indoor weigh-in.
The Bassmaster Classic made a star of Paul Elias in 1982, and Elias put "kneeling and reeling" on the map as he cranked his way to victory on the Alabama River. The Mississippi pro is still breaking stories about new techniques to the bass fishing world 30 years later, like the Alabama rig.
Larry Nixon won the toughest Classic to that time on the Ohio River in 1983. The Ohio has been in the mix as a Classic venue two times since then and each time has been tougher than the last. Nixon certainly remembers it fondly even if few others do.
Rick Clunn made it look easy in 1984 on the Arkansas River. He posted the heaviest catch of the day in all three rounds of competition and won by more than 25 pounds. His third Classic title moved him ahead of Bobby Murray and further established him as the championship's greatest competitor.
You don't normally win a championship by doing nothing, but Jack Chancellor's "Do Nothing" worm rig carried him to victory on the Arkansas River in 1985. It also helped to put Carolina rigging on the map. The technique had been around for decades, but surged in popularity with the Classic exposure.
Charlie Reed's come from behind win at the 1986 Classic on the Tennessee River surprised quite a few. He was a Classic rookie and never won another B.A.S.S. event. Despite the fame he gained as a Classic champ, his wife Vojai might be better known. Five years after his triumph she became the first woman to ever fish a B.A.S.S. tournament.
George Cochran won the second Ohio River Classic in 1987, edging out his competition over three brutally tough fishing days. The average angler brought less than two pounds of bass to the scales each day, and Cochran totalled 15-5 over three days for the win.
Guido Hibdon's B.A.S.S. career started off with a bang. He won the very first tournament he entered (1980) and had great success throughout his career. In 1988 he won the Classic on Virginia's James River, the first of three consecutive years that the James hosted the championship.
Ten years after his first Classic victory, Hank Parker was back for one more. But most fans remember this championship not as the one Parker won, but as the one Jim Bitter lost by dropping the winning fish overboard after measuring it. The gaffe was enough to give Parker the win ... by two ounces.
Rick Clunn took home his fourth Classic trophy after making the biggest comeback in championship history. After beginning the final round in 10th place -- almost 10 pounds behind the leader -- Clunn roared back with the heaviest catch of the tournament and won by almost seven pounds.
After trailing the first two days of the 1991 Classic on the Chesapeake Bay, Ken Cook proved that slow and steady can win the race. He gradually moved up the standings on each of the final two days to claim the world championship by throwing his trademark spinnerbait.
Robert Hamilton won only one event in his B.A.S.S. career, but it was a big one -- the 1992 Bassmaster Classic on Alabama's Lake Logan Martin. He grabbed the lead on Day Two and never looked back, winning by more than seven pounds.
David Fritts was the crankbait king of the 1990s, winning the 1994 Bassmaster Angler of the Year award and the 1993 Classic. He dissected the offshore structure on Lake Logan Martin to become the seventh Classic rookie to win the championship.
More than any other Bassmaster Classic champion, Bryan Kerchal's win created a legacy in the sport. As the only true amateur ever to win the sport's biggest prize, fellow B.A.S.S. Federation Nation anglers rallied around the young angler like never before, and his modesty captured the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of bass anglers around the world. Tragically, Kerchal was killed in plane crash just five months after his victory.
Mark Davis did what few dared even dream of in 1995. He won the Bassmaster Angler of the Year title and capped it off with a Classic championship in the same season. It would be 15 years before anyone could duplicate his feat.
George Cochran's Classic accomplishments are often overlooked, but the man was an absolute standout on fishing's biggest stage. On Alabama's Lay Lake in 1996 he took home his second championship in nine years and added his name to the short list of multiple winners.
Like father, like son. In 1997 at Lake Logan Martin, Dion Hibdon joined his father Guido as a Classic champion, becoming the first father/son Classic champs in history. And Dion did it in dramatic fashion, winning the closest championship ever. He edged Federation Nation angler Dalton Bobo by a single ounce.
Denny Brauer kicked off a flippin' tube craze when he won the 1998 Classic on North Carolina's High Rock Lake. It was Brauer's 16th Classic, and he finally broke through after several close calls. He'd back it up with a runner-up finish the following year.
Davy Hite set a record for heaviest Classic catch in the five-bass-limit era on his way to victory at the 1999 Classic on the Louisiana Delta. He flipped and pitched a creature bait to shallow vegetation and started an industry trend for the offbeat soft plastics.
Woo Daves became the oldest champion in Bassmaster Classic history when he won a hard-fought championship on Lake Michigan in 2000. After several close calls at the James River in 1988, 1989 and 1990, the affable Virginian used a tube jig to tempt enough of the Great Lake's smallmouths for the win.
With his recent Classic domination, it's hard to imagine a time when Kevin VanDam wasn't the man to beat in the championship. Nevertheless, KVD never came close to winning until 2001 at the Louisiana Delta. It was his first Classic title, but far from his last.
Jay Yelas set a record in winning the 2002 Classic on Lay Lake that may never be equalled. On each of the three competition days he caught the biggest bass weighed in. The lunkers paved the way to his victory.
"Never give up!" That's what Michael Iaconelli was screaming when he landed a hefty 11th hour bass to claim the 2003 Classic championship. The popular angler was on the brink of packing it in as a pro before the victory gave his career new life. He gave the tournament his all and came out on top.
Think bass fishing is not an international sport? Think again. As a boy, Japan's Takahiro Omori dreamed of coming to America and winning the Bassmaster Classic. In 2004, his dream came true, and Tak became the first foreign national to win fishing's greatest championship. His story serves as an inspiration to every angler who hopes to make it big in the sport.
It was the toughest Classic ever! The Three Rivers area of Pittsburgh had a reputation for manufacturing steel, not bass. And not much of that reputation changed in the summer of 2005 after Kevin VanDam won his second Classic title with just 12 pounds, 15 ounces of bass over three days.
The shift from Pittsburgh in 2005 to Orlando in 2006 was like night and day. On Day One of the '06 Classic, the lunkers came out to play, and Luke Clausen grabbed the lead with a five-fish limit weighing nearly 30 pounds. He proceeded to go wire-to-wire and set a Classic weight record that would stand until 2011.
It took a 46-year-old Classic rookie named Boyd Duckett to break the home-state jinx that had plagued the championship for 37 years. Alabama's Lay Lake was the venue and Demopolis' Duckett was the man for the job, becoming the first rookie to win the title in 14 years.
Alton Jones used a jig, a jigging spoon and side-imaging technology to find Lake Hartwell's bass and make them bite at the 2008 Classic. After the win, he was invited to visit President George W. Bush at the White House.
Skeet Reese claimed not to be "on" fish during practice for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic on Louisiana's Red River, but he certainly put himself where they were going to be once competition began. In 13th place after the first day, he surged into second on Day Two and sealed the deal in the finals.
How does the angler who draws the biggest crowd on the water stop that from being a distraction and a handicap? He lets them create a virtual wall around his best area, discouring the competition from coming in and splitting up his fish. At least that's how Kevin VanDam claimed his third Classic crown on Alabama's Lay Lake in 2010. In the process he became the first angler since Mark Davis in 1995 to win the Classic and Angler of the Year in the same season.
In 2011, Kevin VanDam became the second angler to win back-to-back Classics, the second to win four Classics and the first to win two championships on the same body of water -- the Louisiana Delta, where he won his first Classic in 2001. He also repeated the feat of winning the Classic and Angler of the Year in the same season. No one has ever been so dominant.
