Here’s a great photo of two absolute giants in the field of fishing, Virgil Ward and Roland Martin. Martin shared this image on his Facebook page in September, 2023. He wrote that it took place sometime in the 1980s. Virgil Ward of course was a media pioneer with one of the most popular fishing television shows, Championship Fishing with Virgil Ward, for over 25 years. He is also credited with creating the maribou jig, and introducing the Beetle Spin and fiber weed guard. Ward was inducted into the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in 1992.
Roland Martin is still an industry legend. Winning more tournaments than you can shake a flippin’ stick at, Martin too was a media pioneer, with a top rated television fishing show – Fishing with Roland Martin – and now a successful YouTube channel, Roland Martin Outdoors. Martin was inducted into the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in 1986, and has the distinction of being the first angler to be inducted into all three fishing Halls of Fame (IGFA Hall of Fame, Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame).
A lot of anglers of a certain age remember, as kids, watching back-to-back Virgil Ward’s and Roland Martin’s fishing shows on Sunday mornings. There’s got to be some film or video out there somewhere of these two greats fishing together. Wouldn’t that be a fantastic video to share!
