By 1974, bass clubs had been popping up all over the country as bass fishing became more popular. The clubs offered competition, but they also offered those wanting to learn a platform in which to do so. Clubs would post their reports in the sports section of the paper or, if they had a weekly or monthly fishing rag, they’d get printed in that. Southern California was no different and it was in the California Lunker Club newsletter that clubs sent in their bass club news.
Although this post may seem southern California-centric, I’m posting it for two reasons. One, I want to put out some old material for my friends in California and two, it’s a calling card for any of you readers who may have similar reports stashed away in your closet.
For those of you who reside in California (or lived there) and fished during the early years of competitive bass fishing, I hope you enjoy reading these club reports. Not many of these clubs exist today, if any, but I’m sure you’ll recognize a lot of the anglers, some of which are still competing.
The clubs listed here offered stout competition in the day and the anglers born from them became some of the best in the country. For example, the Pisces Club had members such as “Lunker” Bill Murphy, Mike Folkestad, Dave Nollar, Jim Kast and Bobby Sandberg – who, if I’m not mistaken, caught the first California Bass over 18 pounds.
Another club to mention would be the Saddleback Bassmasters who had among their fold Larry Hopper, Dave Myers, Bill Rice and George Kramer.
The South Bay club featured one of the West’s best, Pete Gardner and Steve Oliver, the man who got Byron Velvick started in this crazy sport.
To see the full club reports, scroll down to the bottom and click on the images to enlarge.
There’s also an interesting bit of information here with respect to the B.A.S.S. Chapters. California held its Chapter Qualifier at Lake San Antonio to determine the 1974 California Team to head to the Nationals. Out of the 25 Chapter Clubs in the state, only 17 anglers from six Chapter Clubs participated. Still California had its second team to head to the Nationals at Table Rock Lake. Unfortunately, the team didn’t fare well, placing 20th out of 24 teams.
In a few days I’ll post the CLC report from that 1974 Chapter National event. There’s some neat info in there that I’m sure everyone will be interested in reading.
In closing, if any of you readers have any old bass club news reports that you’d like to share, please let us know by writing us. Just hit the Contact button on the top menu, write us a note and we’ll be happy to work with you on getting the information out so everyone can see it!
