Season at a Glance: 1979 Bassmaster Trail – Part Two

Today in the 1979 Bassmaster Trail – Part Two we’re going to take a look at the last four Bass Masters Classic qualifying events for 1979.  After two events, the Angler of the Year race saw rookie Gary Klein in the lead with 86-00.  Remember, the AOY race for 1979 was changed from a points system to total pounds-ounces caught.  Roland Martin was close behind with 83-04 and Florida Invitational winner, Gary Alverson was in third place with 82-10.  Here’s the Top-25 as it stood going into the third event.

From Arizona the field would head back to the east coast to fish a familiar body of water, Lake Gaston, on the Virginia/North Carolina border.  In 1978, North Carolina local Hurley Board won the event fishing a bait that has become known as the go-to bait for Gaston and Kerr, the Bomber Speed Shad.  Would Board be able to repeat, or would the new kid on the block keep his momentum up and take another win?  We’ll see.

Lake Gaston – Elias Cracks the Code

The Gaston event drew an overflowing field of 254 anglers, all in hopes of garnering some of the $62,500 purse at stake.  Paul Elias, another rookie on the Bassmaster Trail in 1979, had been snakebit the first two events, but not because he wasn’t on fish.  At the St. Johns, he missed fish or broke them off. He estimated he would have weighed around 40 pounds if not for his bad luck.  Then at Powell, he found fish 160 miles from the launch but couldn’t find a partner that would go there.

Good luck didn’t fare well for the anglers leading the event the first two days.  Jetty Tuttle and Jake Crutchfield had been fishing the same area the first two days and were sitting in first and second places respectively.  On the third day they were paired together.  By the end of the day, Tuttle had only caught one fish and Crutchfield blanked.  This left the door open.

The same luck hit Roland Martin, who was in third going into the last round.  Martin did his best to get the first through fifth shots at the prime targets in his areas, but his partner for the day, Glenn Peacock, just waited until Martin moved on.  When Martin gave up on the prime spots, Peacock would throw in there and catch a fish.  Martin ended up weighing two fish for 4-01, while his partner weighed six fish for 15-14.

Rayo Breckenridge, the 1973 Bass Masters Classic winner, had a good week, weighing 18 fish for 42-04.  He was in the lead with minutes left in the weigh-in when Elias walked up to the stage with his bag.  Elias’ six fish would bring his 3-day total to 46-12, and give him the win over Breckenridge by 4-08.

Greg South (VA) took the third spot with 42-00 (14 fish), while Jetty Tuttle (NC) weighed 40-07 (11 fish) for the fourth spot.  Roland Martin rounded out the top-5 with 16 fish for 36-03.

For the three days, the 254 anglers caught 1,363 bass for a total of 3,557-11.  There were only 10 limits caught.

Rookie Gary Klein continued on his pace and finished in 6th place allowing him to remain ahead the leader board for the Angler of the Year.  The top-25 for the AOY Race as well as the Top-40 Tournament Scorecard are shown in the tables below.

Kentucky Lake – Forrest Blows Lead

The next stop on the 1979 Bassmaster Trail would find the anglers at Kentucky Lake.  Again, the fish were not cooperating and to make matters worse, neither did the weather.

Going into the last day of the event, Forrest Wood, of Ranger Boat fame, was in the lead.  The problem was he was fishing Barkley.  In the first two days Wood was only able to bring nine fish to the scales for 25-06, but it was good enough to put him in the lead.

Hank Parker placed fourth with 10 fish for 25-15 and Charles Nuckles weighed in eight fish for 25-07 to round out the top-5.

Overall, the 179 anglers who fished only caught 638 bass for a total weight of 1,690-07.  There were only two limits weighed and both of those were caught on the first day.  The full tournament scorecard is in the table below.

As for the Angler of the Year Race, Gary Klein finished in the 26th spot with 17-09 while Roland Martin finished 31st with 16-04, allowing Klein to build his lead up a little.  The top-10 of the AOY race is shown below in the table.

New York Invitational – Forrest Doesn’t Blow It

New York never seems to let the anglers down and this version of the New York Invitational was no different.  Over the course of three days, 231 contestants brought 1,803 bass to the scales for a total weight of 4,370-03.  There was a total of 179 limits weighed, by far the best event of the year.

After a major letdown at the Kentucky Lake event, Forrest Wood found himself again vying for the crown.  This time he took it.  Wood fished chartreuse spinnerbaits along with black jigs with a Mann’s plastic worm for a trailer in the Wolfe Island area of the waterway.

Arkansas Invitational – For the Birds

The final Bass Masters Classic qualifying event for the 1979 season would be held on a new lake for the Bassmaster Trail.  Millwood, in Arkansas, is a 30,000-acre impoundment that has 25,000 acres of flooded timber to navigate.  Creek channels, drop-offs, and lot of obstacles to avoid, 189 anglers showed up as either a last chance to make the Classic or have a shot at the $11,391 first place prize.

Clunn, on the other hand, enlisted a Bagley’s Balsa B in Tennessee Shad to do his work for him.  He may not have been fishing the birds, but he fished the same bait that the birds were keying on.  Clunn weighed in 38-02 for 14 fish.

Roland Martin, who was leading the AOY race going into this event, finished in the 11th spot with 28-03.  His year-long nemesis, Gary Klein, finished in 7th place with 11 fish for 32-02, making it his fourth top-10 of the year.  Unfortunately for the rookie, Klein lost the AOY race to Martin by a mere 1-15.

Here are Martin’s and Klein’s Finishes for the year and, just for the exercise, I also calculated the results based on a 100-point points system to see if it changed the outcome.

The final Scorecard for the Arkansas Invitational as well as the AOY race and Bass Masters Classic qualifiers are shown in the tables below.

The next part in this series will be the B.A.S.S. Federation Finals and then we’ll head into the 1979 Bass Masters Classic Qualifiers and finally the 1979 Bass Masters Classic.  To read part one of this series, click here.