National Bass Association

So far, out of the old bass fishing organizations that came and went in the 1960s and 70s, we’ve published articles on the Professional Sport Fishing Association, the Bass Casters Association, American Angler, and American Bass Fisherman.  Today we’re going to look at another organization, National Bass Association (NBA), and their magazine, The National Bassman.

There were a lot of unanswered questions about this time in the history of competitive fishing.  American Bass Fisherman’s owner, George Oates was being investigated for fraud yet still running events, NBA was organized and purchased the Professional Bass Association and several other tournament organizations were coming and going at a rapid pace.  It was a time of flux in the industry and many of the anglers who supported these organizations didn’t know if they would still be around for the next month’s tournament that was scheduled.

In order to find out more about this time in bass fishing, I contacted former NBA President Dewey Yopp in mid-2014 to see if he would talk about NBA, its history and the purchase of ABF.  As it turns out, Yopp was the tournament director for ABF for a time and was right there when all the allegations pertaining to George Oates were brewing.  In the conversation that ensued, a lot of questions about this time were answered and to those of you who remember that far back, they are interesting to hear.

From the Pentagon to Bass Fishing

Yopp was an angler but had never fished a bass tournament. He was a career military man, serving for 27 years in the United States Army as a pilot, serving two tours in Vietnam.  It was this job that would bring him into the competitive realm of bass fishing, from the standpoint of running tournaments.

“I first got introduced to American Bass Fisherman when I was stationed at the Pentagon,” Yopp said.  “I went down to do an article for Army Times on two of my flight instructors who had made the World Championship.

“At that tournament I met George Oates and he offered me a job as their tournament director. I went back home, thought about it, and put in my papers to retire.  It was a fun job.

“Shortly after that, George (Oates) was accused of fraud and rigging tournaments.  I knew that no one would support his organization much longer and a friend of mine, Don Bradford (who would end up becoming vice president of NBA) suggested we start out own tournament organization.  This was in mid-1976.”  (This period is consistent with when Oates was taken off the masthead of ABF magazine.)

By October 1976 National Bass Association was conceived and started operation.  In January, the Charter Issue of The National Bassman, the magazine for all NBA members, was published.

“PBA was a small organization and some of the guys who were fishing it contacted us,” Yopp said. “They’d seen our magazine and they really liked what we were doing and asked if we’d buy them out.  If I remember right, they only had a van – I’m not sure if they even owned scales.  I can’t remember the exact amount we purchased them for, but it wasn’t much at all.”

By early 1977 NBA was running a professional circuit, a semi-pro circuit, a national club circuit (to mirror the B.A.S.S. Federation) along with continuing the PBA events.  Contestants from all circuits were fishing for a spot in the NBA Bassman’s $50,000 Gold Medalist championship event.  To top that off, they were also going to conduct an Old Timers’ tournament for anglers over 45.

Although NBA may have had trouble enticing the top anglers at first, they did attract up-and-comers like Hank Parker, Jerry Rhyne, Dick Busby, and Ron Shearer.  Reading through the magazines, you do see names such as Roland Martin, Guy Eaker and Orlando Wilson in the tournament reports but unfortunately only the top 10 was listed in most of the reports.

“It was hard to get the thing off the ground,” he said.  “There was a lot of work involved and we finally got it going.  It was just never profitable – all the money was going out and not much coming back in.”

One of the problems was low draws at the events, which averaged under 100 anglers per tournament. Advertising dollars, which many of the top organizations rely on to help with expenses, were also hard to come by.

“Advertising was difficult because of the number of magazines we published per year,” he said. “We were a bi-monthly publication and advertisers wanted the most bang for their buck. Because of this most of the companies wanted to trade ads for product. This didn’t get us any cash at first. It was the same with the boat companies. Then, as membership grew, we started getting some cash.”

Membership at the height of NBA’s reign was between 20,000 and 25,000 members.

As a publication, the magazine may not have been Bassmaster, but it contained a lot of good content written by some of the best writers of the day. Writers such as C. Boyd Pfieffer, Larry Mayer, Byron Dalrymple, Bob McNally, and Nick Sisley all had bylines in the publication.

The All-Mighty Dollar

A combination of things is what brought the end to NBA at the start of the ‘80s but it all led to one thing, finances.

“That’s when Jaggers wanted out so for all the money he’d put into the business, I gave him Astroglass.  I never got a cup of coffee or even a thank you for that. A year and a half later he sold the company to Mercury for $3.5-million dollars – ten times more than what he’d put into NBA.

“That’s when I closed NBA. I couldn’t run the business on my own.

In the coming months we’ll be posting more about National Bass Association as well as the other organizations we’ve mentioned here at the Bass Fishing Archives.  For a look at the complete Charter Issue of The National Bassman, please see the gallery below.  Click on the first image and scroll through each page.  It’s a blast from the past that is sure to entertain.

Gallery – The National Bassman Magazine Covers

Gallery – The National Bassman Charter Issue