A question I get asked frequently about the GEICO Bassmaster Classic is if covering the Classic is any different than covering a regular season Bassmaster Elite Series event. The answer, without hesitation, is a resounding YES! Covering the Bassmaster Classic is like covering an entirely different fishing planet compared to covering a regular season Elite Series event. For numerous reasons, the Classic is a completely different animal altogether.
For starters, the days are extremely long and sleep is pretty much obsolete. From the production crew, to the anglers, to B.A.S.S. employees, to hundreds of media, to the volunteers and even the fans – everyone basically goes to bed at around midnight and gets up at about 3 a.m. After we all do this for three or four days in a row, we sort of start to wander around in a fog thinking, what are we doing here? It borders on surreal to see how each and every Classic takes on a life of its own, lifts off the ground and takes flight.
The biggest irony of the Classic for me is it’s the biggest bass tournament on the planet and yet I am more disconnected from the anglers, storylines and patterns at the Classic than any other tournament all year long.
This is no one’s fault, but rather just a function of the enormity of this amazing event. At regular Elite Series events, I can call leaders nearly anytime and get details. But at the Classic, we are all going so many directions at once, there simply is no time to have those full disclosure conversations with leading pros, which I rely on to work into the coverage as the week goes on. Classic weigh-ins are long, there are daily press conferences, the pros are continually mobbed by eager fans wanting pics and autographs, then there are a multitude of sponsor functions to attend each night. There simply is not enough time to have a 15-minute conversation with a pro about why a Colorado blade is getting more bites than a willow leaf blade.
Many times the only detailed tidbits I get at the Classic come from camera guys and photographers out on the water. In comparison to a regular Elite event, it’s a struggle to put together a lot of fishing information to report on during the Classic. I always feel like I’m behind the 8 ball because the Classic is such a hyper-dynamic beast that moves at a million miles an hour. The leader weighs in his fish and the next time I even think about getting some information from him is at 11:48 p.m. that night!
For years this caused me a tremendous amount of pre-Classic anxiety. I would have nightmares where the cameras are rolling and Tommy would say, “Zona, tell us a little bit about what our leader is doing out there today,” and I would be like, “Tommy, I really have no idea!”
I reveal all of this to you to say this new Bassmaster LIVE format has changed things. It brings a calm to my Classic anxiety because I know the top production team in fishing is out there streaming those incredible images into the studio, live. I no longer need to panic about talking to the leaders. I don’t have to lay awake paralyzed with fear about those questions that the inquisitive Sanders is going to ask me that I have no answers for!
So when it comes to the Classic and Bassmaster LIVE, I am watching it unfold before my very eyes just like you. Sort of like when we all watched O.J. Simpson roll down the highway surrounded by police cars on a live feed: no one – not even the national news anchors – knew where that whole thing was headed. It unfolded before our eyes, second by second.
That concept is a new, exciting frontier in professional fishing coverage here at B.A.S.S. It’s a little bit scary, but at the same time, it’s calming knowing the best in the tournament coverage business is out there bringing us truly live footage that every one can see for the first time at the same time.