Today in 1982-83 Bassmaster Trail Part 1, we’re taking a look back at the announcement of the coming season and the changes imposed. This is going to be different than the way we’ve covered a season in the past. Let me explain.
Over the years we’ve covered the Bassmaster Tournament Trail, from 1970 through the 1981-82 season, by breaking the season into multiple posts. Normally we split the season in half with two posts, then cover the Federation, Classic Contenders, and then finish up with the Classic report. This resulted in four or five articles that were between 1000 words and in many cases, more than 2500 words. The problem is few are reading the posts.
It’s hard to say whether the lack of readers is due to the post length, but in an attempt to garner more readers, we’re going to cover each event as a separate article, including this announcement for this season. When we get done with the season, please let us know in the comments whether you like this format better or not.
Let’s get on with the announcement of the 1982-82 Bassmaster Trail.
As stated in the first paragraph, the 1982-83 season had several changes to it. Over the course of time, B.A.S.S. had made several changes to the format, which included dividing the Trail into two different regions, going from a points system to total weight, giving extra points for fish weighed alive then changing to a two-ounce penalty for dead fish. It seems every season had a new twist.
This season would prove to bring the same.
First off, the season started at the B.A.S.S. Champs event held on the Ohio River in July 1982. I have scoured every 1982 issue of Bassmaster and was only able to find one announcement (blue insert in the September/October 1982 issue) about this. It wasn’t in the B.A.S.S. Champs tournament coverage, nor was it in the Classic Report, unless I missed it.
This is contrary to what was announced in the 1981-82 magazines with the 1983 Early Bird event to be held on Lake Toho, December 1-3, 1982. I’m sure B.A.S.S. sent out a letter to all their anglers letting them know of the change, but when?
The BASS Champs event drew 284 anglers, twice as many as attended the previous year. But was that because they knew it would be the first event of the next season or because they were drawing from two fields? It’s hard to say. Imagine if you didn’t know this and missed the first event because of bad communication.
Next, B.A.S.S. said on the first page of this announcement that there would be three events in each division. Same as the prior year. Later on the next page they announced the season would only consist of two events in each the Eastern and Western divisions. Was the front page the original text they forgot to edit or was this just a typo. I have a feeling they were in cleanup mode here with these changes and forgot to edit the first page after it was decided to change the number of events. Anyway, here’s the stated tournament schedule for the 82-83 tournament season.
Eastern League
Florida Invitational, Lake Toho, Dec1-3, 1982
Virginial Invitational, James River, April 20-22, 1983
Western League
Texas Invitational, Sam Rayburn, February 23-25, 1983
LaCrosse Invitational, Mississippi River, May 25-27, 1983
Next on the list of changes was the BASS Masters Classic dates. This was actually the first announcement in the blue insert, and it was a pretty big one.
B.A.S.S. was changing the Classic from a fall event to a summer event. With the Classic Expo becoming a major draw, this was done in order to make the event available for anyone who wanted to attend. In fact, these summer Classics are still looked at as some of the best there ever were with many fans wanting the event to change back to this schedule.
B.A.S.S. cited that the change in the Classic dates is what precipitated the change in the 82-83 schedule. The following year the trail would go back to its normal schedule of seven events.
Now, how to qualify for the Classic. B.A.S.S. again was taking the Top-15 anglers from the Angler of the Year race, which were the anglers who committed to both leagues. Then they took the Top-10 from each league as well as five anglers from the Federation. At least this was consistent with the prior year.
That was all this announcement said with respect to the 82-83 trail – but there would be another change announce in a few months. We’ll cover that when we get there.
In the meantime, let’s refresh our memories of the 1982 BASS Champs event and the standings, since it is the first event of the season.
If you’d like to read the tournament report from this tournament, click on the link here.
| Angler | ||||
| Larry Nixon | 7/7 | 16.3125 | $12,000 | |
| Tom Jurkewicz | 7/7 | 14.1875 | $4,000 | |
| Denny Brauer | 6/6 | 14.0625 | $3,000 | |
| Thomas Southwick | 7/5 | 13.7500 | $2,500 | |
| Randall R Romig | 5/5 | 12.1875 | $1,700 | |
| Mac Teegarden | 4/4 | 11.8125 | $1,600 | |
| Carl Hoskins | 5/5 | 10.7500 | $1,500 | |
| Eddie Bowden | 4/4 | 10.5000 | $1,300 | |
| Jim Wells | 3/3 | 10.5000 | $1,300 | |
| George Cochran | 5/5 | 10.5000 | $1,300 | |
| Ron Shearer | 5/5 | 9.8750 | $1,100 | |
| Jerry Rhyne | 5/5 | 9.4375 | $1,100 | |
| Pat Kidd | 5/5 | 9.3750 | $1,100 | |
| Basil Bacon | 4/4 | 8.7500 | $1,100 | |
| Jack Chancellor | 4/4 | 8.1875 | $1,100 | |
| Walter Conway | 3/3 | 8.0625 | $1,000 | |
| Harold Allen | 3/3 | 7.8125 | $1,000 | |
| Jerry Patton | 3/3 | 7.6250 | $1,000 | |
| Maurice Jackson | 5/4 | 7.3125 | $1,000 | |
| John Mclain | 3/3 | 6.5625 | $1,000 | |
| Robert Kilby | 3/3 | 6.5000 | $8,900 | |
| Tommy Jenkins | 2/2 | 6.4375 | $900 | |
| Ken D Cook | 3/3 | 6.1875 | $900 | |
| Richard Arcari | 2/2 | 5.7500 | $900 | |
| David Slonaker | 2/2 | 5.7500 | $900 | |
| Darrel Maggard | 2/2 | 5.6875 | $800 | |
| Dan Webber | 2/2 | 5.6875 | $800 | |
| Marvin Baker | 3/3 | 5.6875 | $800 | |
| Kenneth Walker | 3/3 | 5.6250 | $750 | |
| Richard Vance | 3/3 | 5.6250 | $750 | |
| David Wharton | 3/3 | 5.5625 | $600 | |
| Randy Dearman | 1/1 | 5.5000 | $600 | |
| Thomas Martin | 3/3 | 5.4375 | $600 | |
| Denny Brammell | 3/3 | 5.4375 | $600 | |
| William Sparks | 2/2 | 5.4375 | $600 | |
| Herbert Seidelman | 3/3 | 5.2500 | $600 | |
| Paul Elias | 3/3 | 5.1250 | $500 | |
| Johnny Grice | 3/1 | 5.1250 | $500 | |
| Norman Tillman | 3/3 | 5.1250 | $500 | |
| Jimmy Houston | 2/2 | 5.0000 | $500 | |
| Angler, State | ||||
| Randy Dearman, TX | 5-08 | $6,600 | ||
| Malkus Teegarden, OH | 5-06 | $850 | ||
| James Willis, WV | 4-10 | $350 | ||
| 218-05 | 184-05 | 213-01 | 615-11 | |
| 110 | 92 | 100 | 302 | |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 100 | 89 | 100 | 289 | |
Two penalty ounces are deducted for each dead fish. Winner Award consisted of $5,000 Cash and a $7,000 Ranger Boat. Overall Big Fish Award was $6,600 Ranger Boat Rigged with trailer, charger, kill switch, lowrance flasher and Surface Fish-n-Temp, and Johnny Reb TectrAnchor. | ||||
In the next installment of the 1982-83 Bassmaster Trail, we’ll cover the first event of the season held on the Kissimmee.
