Season at a Glance – 1973 Bass Master Classic – Part Four

This is Part Four of the four-part series on the 1973 Bass Master Tournament Trail. To read Part One click here, to read Part Two click here and to read the ’73 Classic Anglers’ Profiles click here.

The end of 1973 brought with it the third Bass Master Classic, and again, it was another “mystery lake.” In the previous two events, Ray Scott had waited for the chartered jet to reach 10,000 feet before announcing the destination to the Classic contenders. This flight, though, would be different.

Scott not only waited to tell the contestants, he waited until the flight was almost over and they were flying a circle above Clark’s Hill Reservoir before he made the announcement. Here’s how it went according to Bob Cobb in the January/February 1974 issue of Bass Master Magazine.

“We’re going to circle the lake in a minute, anyone see anything familiar? That’s Clark Hill Reservoir…..Junior Collis, we’ve brought you home.”

It was Collis’ first Classic and he’d recently won one of the toughest events in B.A.S.S. history in May at Lake Keowee. Now Scott was taking him to his home lake. He was an obvious favorite right from the start.

Another favorite, though, was Roland Martin who had already won three events in the ’73 season and won the AOY by such a margin the other anglers were fishing for second place with two events left in the season. Many were talking about this being the year Roland would finally do it after three consecutive AOY trophies.

Of the contestants, six were returning for their third Classic appearance. They were, Roland Martin, Tom Mann, Bobby Murray (Classic winner in ’71), Stan Sloan, Don Butler (Classic winner in ’72), and Glin Wells.

Mann reported to the crowd at the weigh-in that he was catching fish on a number of baits including his Little George tail spin, Mann’s Jelly Worm, a Rebel Humpback and a Norman Little Scooper. Ray Scott’s reply to his admission was, “He must be telling the truth, cause he admits he caught fish on some other plugmaker’s baits.” [January/February 1974 issue Bass Master Magazine].

Day Three

The final day turned out to be a nail-bitter for Breckenridge. He would only bring seven fish to the scales that would weigh 12-07. He was one of the first anglers to weigh in so he had to wait it out for the rest of the competitors to come to the scales. His total weighed 52-08.

Finally Dance came to the scales and he had his third limit of the event. Fortunately for Breckenridge, they tipped the scales at 19-06, giving Dance a three-day total of 48-14.

The final standings are shown in the table below.

This was also the first Classic in which a Federation angler was invited to fish. Wendell Mann was that angler and he ended up weighing one fish for 1-06.

Regarding the area where the event was won, in which Breckenridge and Norton were fishing, Breckenridge said, “Instead of fishing each others’ used water, we came to the gentleman’s agreement to divide the fishing waters.”

Norton had some interesting recollections about the spot and the agreement too. Here’s what he said as written by Bob Cobb in the same issue of Bass Master Magazine.

“Opening day seemed like a convention. Tom Mann was setting in the timber just outside the mouth of Fishing Creek. Roland Martin was searching for keepers near-by. I was trying to get a hawg out of the deep hole in the mouth of the creek next to a moss bed. Rayo was just inside the creek working on the outside bends.

“…. We knew that wouldn’t work, so we worked out our agreement. I’d take the places where I had located bass. He would do the same. BUT one of us would be sure we could be seen from the mouth of the creek at all times, and even run our Super Motor-Guide trolling-motor up to the entrance if necessary to ward off any would be poachers.”

Breckenridge won the event on a number of lures including a silver Whopper Stopper Baby Hellbender, a Cordell Little-O (silver/black), a Norman Little Scooper (silver/black), a 3/8-ounce singlespin, a Mann’s Wooly Bully (white/chartreuse) and a strawberry 6-inch Mann’s Jelly Worm.

There was so much written about this Classic that we’ll be posting another report on how the finishers caught their fish along with some interesting events that happened during the Classic. And, as usual, Harold Sharp will be writing his behind-the-scene recollections of what transpired prior to the kickoff of Bass Master Classic III.

Here are some other photos from Classic III.

Past Reader Comments:

Joey Breckenridge:  Great article and pretty accurate. I’ve read a few articles regarding the final day that stated that my Dad (Rayo) “came from behind” to beat Bill. Actually Dad led after the second day and Bill made a late charge but came up a few pounds shy of Dad’s total. At this Classic, one night they had a barnyard themed hoe-down, complete with a greased pig contest. Roy Clark entertained the fisherman and their families. It’s came along way since then……very family oriented back then. Seeing it held in an arena these days is almost sad…but it is what it is! I was proud to be one of the original “tournament brats”….hanging around every tournament, being able to just walk up to Tom Mann and have him say “Joey…my little buddy”! Ray and Bob always let me just wander around the area and I even got to help out during the weigh-ins….pretty special for a young kid!

Terry to Joey Breckenridge:  Hi Joey. Thanks for the comments! If you read Harold Sharp’s recollection of the ’73 Classic, you can see what he said about the Barn Dance and greased pig event. You can read it here:

Thanks again for visiting the site!

Jerry Rapp:  I have been watching a lot of the old classics on my computer. You can go to bassmaster.com and in the search box type “1973 Classic” and there will be a link to the video. Most of the years are available dating back to the 1st classic. The footage is sometimes pretty crude, but just to watch how it has all unfolded is pretty amazing.

Joey Breckenridge to Jerry Rapp:  Jerry, you can also order the official videos of each Classic from Bass Anglers Sportsman Society.