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 1979 Season. Click on the first image to open the gallery.
1979 Bassmaster Florida Invitational St. Johns River
1979 Bassmaster Arizona Invitational Lake Powell
1979 Bassmaster Virginial Invitational Lake Gaston
1979 Bassmaster Kentucky Invitational Kentucky Lake
1979 Bassmaster New York Invitational St. Lawrence River
1979 Bassmaster Arkansas Invitational Millwood Lake
1979 Bass Masters Classic Lake Texoma Contender Patch
1979 Bass Masters Classic Press Angler Patch
The 1979 season of the Bassmaster Trail would again consist of 6 qualifying events and the BASS Masters Classic, but this year would see the cancellation of the BASS Champs event. As in previous years, the schedule was primarily filled with familiar lakes, with two new lakes on the agenda. Those lakes, Lake Powell, AZ and Millwood Lake, AR would be instrumental in the final Angler of the Year race.
A couple other changes slated for the 1979 season would be a later start of the year, February instead of January and the Classic would be held in September instead of October. Scott announced that this change would possibly allow the Classic to be held on a northern tier venue. The later Classic schedule would also allow B.A.S.S. to hold the first 1980 event in the later part of calendar year 1979. Scott also announced the Classic would be announced “a few weeks prior to the event.”
Here’s the 1979 schedule:
- February 21-23, 1979: Florida Invitational, St. Johns River, Welaka, FL
- March 21-23, 1979: Arizona Invitational, Lake Powell, Page, AZ
- April 25-27, 1979: Virginia Invitational, Lake Gaston, Gasburg, VA
- May 23-25, 1979: Kentucky Invitational, Kentucky Lake, Hardin, KY
- June 20-22, 1979: New York Invitational, St. Lawrence River, Alexandria Bay, NY
- July 18-20, 1979: Arkansas Invitational, Millwood Reservoir, Ashdown, AR
- August 22-24, 1979: Bassmaster Chapter Championship, Lake of the Woods, Sioux Narrows, Ontario, Canada
- September 26-28, 1979: Bass Masters Classic, Lake Texoma.
The 1979 tournament year would also continue with the combined total weight system to determine the Bassmaster Angler of the Year.
For full coverage of the 1979 season, please click on the links below.
- 1979 Bassmaster Trail – Part One
- 1979 Bassmaster Trail – Part Two
- 1979 B.A.S.S. Federation Championship
- 1979 Bass Masters Classic Contenders
- 1979 BASS Masters Classic Nine
The patches presented above are the patches the angler received at each of the events in the 1979 season. It’s not a complete set of patches for the year in that the 1979 BASS Masters Classic Contenders patch is missing. If anyone knows of one and is willing to part with it, please contact us at terry@bass-archives.com. Jeff Haines, would be interested in talking with you.
