1977 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 1977 Season. Click on the first image to open the gallery.

The 1977 season of the Bassmaster Trail would be some more of the same and some new. The part that remained the same was the venues. Out of 6 stops, only two were new to the schedule for this year, the Arkansas Invitational on Greer’s Ferry and the New York Invitational on the St. Lawrence River.. Other than that, each venue had been visited at least once, if not multiple times.

Another new concept Scott introduced was B.A.S.S. Champs – an event that pitted the top-10 from the 1976 Bass Masters Classic against the top anglers of the 1976 Federation Championship. The event was a mystery lake, held on Percy Priest Reservoir.

On the Bassmaster Trail, another big change happened and that was the announcement that the Bass Masters Classic would be pre-announced two days before the event. Ray Scott had grown wise and although many liked the mystery lake concept, Scott felt that by announcing it a couple days early, he’d drive more media to the event. As it turned out, he announced the whereabouts of the Classic a week prior to the event.

Here’s the 1977 schedule:

• Florida Invitational Bass Tournament, St Johns River, FL, January 19-21
• Louisiana Invitational Bass Tournament, Toledo Bend Reservoir, LA, February 16-18
• Virginia Invitational Bass Tournament, Gaston Lake, VA, March 16-18
• B.A.S.S. Champs, Percy Priest Reservoir, TN, April 13-15, 1977
• Arkansas Invitational Bass Tournament, Greer’s Ferry Reservoir, AR, May 11-13
• Alabama Invitational Bass Tournament, West Point Reservoir, AL, June 15-17
• New York Invitational Bass Tournament, St. Lawrence River, NY, September 21-23
• Bass Masters Classic, To Be Announced October 24, October 26-28

The 1977 tournament year was also the start of a new points system for the AOY race. In prior years, B.A.S.S. had given 35 points to the winner and each place below that got one less point down to 35th place receiving 1 point. Then in 1975 they went with a 50-point system. In 1977, I guess they decided to make it better for the math majors. First place through 10th place received 100 to 91 points, 11th through 20th received 80 through 71 points, and 21st through 80th received 60 to 1 point respectively. Talk about a cobbed-up points system.

1977 would mark the year that the flippin’ technique would finally gain the respect it deserved. This time, Dee Thomas disciple, Dave Gliebe would not just win a Bassmaster event, he went on a tear throughout all the tournament organizations. Gliebe won three events back-to-back in three different organizations and had everyone’s ear.

For full coverage of the 1977 season, please click on the links below.

• 1977 Bassmaster Trail – Part One
• The B.A.S.S. Champs – 1977
• 1977 Bassmaster Trail – Part Two 
• 1977 B.A.S.S. Federation Championship
• 1977 Bass Masters Classic Contenders
• 1977 Bassmaster Trail Classic Seven

The patches presented above are the patches the angler received at each of the events in the 1977 season. It is not a complete set as the B.A.S.S. Champs Press Angler Patch and Bass Masters Classic Contender Patch are missing. The Classic Contender Patch looks just like the Press Angler Patch without the words Press Angler embroidered into the patch. The BASS Champs Press Angler Patch will have Press Angler attached to it. If you’ve seen either of these patches and they’re for sale or barter, please leave a comment below or contact Terry Battisti at terry@bass-archives.com. Also, a big thanks to Jeff Haines for sharing the patches with us.