Behind the Scenes at the Day 2 weigh-in

Before the Classic weigh-in began, High school anglers from around Oklahoma participated in a High School Classic tournament and weighed their fish in front of the crowd assembling for the main event.

Nearby, Gerald Swindle waited his turn to pump up the audience.

High schoolers got to do something not many people have- hold up a fish on the GEICO Bassmaster Classic stage.

Here are two people integral to B.A.S.S. Chris Bowes is the Opens tournament manager. Dannette Jackson does a little bit of everything behind the scenes of the tournament department. Right now she was checking in the anglers before they hit the stage.

We missed an opportunity not including this in the Classic show. Maybe next time we’re in town?

11 high school teams weighed in today.

Two more tournament wizards. In the foreground is Gretchen Sheppard, who works with Danette to coordinate nearly everything about our tournaments. In the back is Matt Dowd, who runs the tournament scoring system which feeds data to BASSTRakk, the leaderboard, and all the historical data on the site.

Erik Lopez coordinates events for us, including this one. I’m sure he has a fancy title. He deserves one.

Gary Tramontina is a freelance photographer who works with B.A.S.S. on lots of events throughout the year. You see his photos in Bassmaster Magazine.

Darren Jacobson is another freelancer. He photographed the weigh-in and expo for us at this event while James Overstreet stayed out at the lake in Grove.

Brandon McMillan makes his entrance and notices…

…his own head staring back at him from his family and friends. I could do a whole gallery of giant heads of anglers.

After a great day, Todd Faircloth has plenty of media wanting to hear from him.

Tyler Wade allows fans of B.A.S.S. to talk to Chad Pipkens via Periscope.

Outside, local television covers the event as the anglers’ boats enter the arena.

Kevin VanDam did not have the tournament he hoped.

Matt Herren fishes around for a bait before weighing in. He made the cut and will be fishing tomorrow.

I told Gene Bishop I was just taking candid shots. Gene Bishop does not take candid shots, apparently.

Aaron Martens, reclined and ready to weigh in.

He still has time to pose for a photo, though.

I appreciate someone else lighting Casey Ashley for my photo gallery. He had quite a crowd of media surrounding him.

Jason Christie is going to try to hold on to his lead and you probably shouldn’t bet against him.

I shot a ton of First Look videos with Davy Hite. Go check them out in the BassCam link above. Meantime, enjoy him sitting on a tiny cart.

Greg Vance, waiting on his turn.

My favorite moment of the night. Jacob Powroznik uses KVD’s boat to catch a ride back to the boat yard. As he went by he yelled to all that would listen, “I’m Kevin VanDam!”

Finally, here’s two more members of the B.A.S.S. team that work ridiculous hours to make the Classic happen. Emily Hand coordinates the Nation, HIgh School, and College tours. Helen White coordinates the hundreds of media members covering the GEICO Bassmaster Classic.