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 1969 Season. Click on the first image to open the gallery.
1969 Seminole Lunker Bass Tournament, Lake Seminole, GA, February 20-22. Missing Patch.
1969 Texas National Bass Tournament, Lake Sam Rayburn, TX – April 10-12. Photo Jeff Haines.
1969 Rebel Invitational Bass Tournament, Ross Barnett Reservoir, MS – May 22-24. Photo Jeff Haines.
1969 Eufaula Invitational Bass Tournament, Lake Eufaula, AL – July 10-12. Missing Patch.
1969 All-American Bass Tournament, Lake Ouachita, AR – September 25-27. Missing Patch.
1969 Eufaula Four-Man Team Tournament, Lake Eufaula, AL – November 13-15. Photo Jeff Haines.
In Scott’s second year of operation, 1969, the tournament field was starting to gel. Many of the same anglers were becoming household names within the Bassmaster family. Names like Bill Dance, Gerald Blanchard, Ray Murski, Blake Honeycutt, John Powell, and Don Butler were all at each event, and catching fish to boot.
The 1969 season looked an awfully similar to the 1968 season, with Eufaula on the schedule twice, Ross Barnett, Seminole and Rayburn filling out five of six evets. The only new stop on the Trail was Lake Ouachita in Arkansas.
But Scott had a twist in the Trail this year, a Four Man Team Tournament scheduled on Lake Eufaula, AL. This would be the first of what would later become a standard scene with Scott experimenting with tournament formats to keep anglers interested.
Here’s the schedule for the 1969 Trail season:
- Seminole Lunker Bass Tournament, Lake Seminole, GA – February 20-22
- Texas National Bass Tournament, Lake Sam Rayburn, TX – April 10-12
- Rebel Invitational Bass Tournament, Ross Barnett Reservoir, MS – May 22-24
- Eufaula Invitational Bass Tournament, Lake Eufaula, AL – July 10-12
- All-American Bass Tournament, Lake Ouachita, AR – September 25-27
- Eufaula Four-Man Team Tournament, Lake Eufaula, AL – November 13-15
1969 would prove to be the year of records. Record attendance at the events, anglers setting records that would stand for all time, and record catches overall. This was the year Blake Honeycutt set the all-time 3-day weight record for a 15-fish/day limit with 138-06. That same event, Rip Nunnery would bring in an astounding limit of bass on the first day that weighed 98-15. That record still stands and will never be broken.
Unfortunately for us, Jeff’s collection of patches for this year are pretty limited. He’s missing three out of the six. We thank him for sharing the three that he did have.
