1968 Bassmaster Tournament Patches

We’d like to thank Jeff Haines for sharing his Bassmaster Tournament Patch Collection with us here on the Bass Fishing Archives. Below you’ll find the Tournament Patches for the 1968 Season. Click on the first image to open the gallery.

In early 1968, Ray Scott, turned his fledgling bass tournament circuit into the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, or B.A.S.S. for short. Not long after that, Scott met with Harold Sharp in Chattanooga, TN, where Sharp was holding the first meeting of what would become the Chattanooga Bass Club. Scott and Sharp collectively wrote out the first set of tournament rules for the coming 1968 Bassmaster Trail.

That night, the Chattanooga club became a reality and also became the first club affiliated with B.A.S.S. Sharp became the second angler to join B.A.S.S., Don Butler of Tulsa, Oklahoma beat him.

Scott would hold five events in 1968, his first year operating B.A.S.S. Those events were:

• Seminole Lunker Bass Tournament, Lake Seminole, GA – February 22-24
• Rebel Invitational Bass Tournament, Ross Barnett, MS – April 18-20
• Eufaula National Bass Tournament, Lake Eufaula, AL – June 20-22
• All-American Bass Tournament, Lake Sam Rayburn, TX – October 3-5
• Dixie Invitational Bass Tournament, Lewis Smith Lake, AL – November 14-16

The following year Scott would hold six events and in 1970, seven tournaments would cover the season.

The patches presented in this gallery come to us courtesy of Jeff Haines. The first event, the Seminole Lunker Bass Tournament, Haines is missing that patch in his collection. If anyone knows where one might exist, please contact us in the comments below or email Terry Battisti at terry@bass-archives.com.