Photo Bass Master Magazine 1973.
In the January/February Issue of Bass Master Magazine was a compiled list of the all-time tournament winners and records up through 1973. It’s a great list that we’re adding to the upper menu bar of the site. In time, as we go through the years, more data will be added. We don’t want to do that right now because there might be some piece of trivia we’ll want to use in future trivia games.
In all, by the end of 1973, B.A.S.S. had held 39 events and gone from a 15-fish one day limit to a 10-fish one day limit. Also, the record for total weight had been broken four times for a 15-fish limit and once for a 10-fish limit. An interesting fact is the first 10-fish limit event that was held, Lake Eufaula, OK in 1970, set that total weight bar and it wouldn’t be broken until 2 1/2 years later at the St. John’s River event.
I won’t go too much more into the weeds here because there may be some stats in this table we’d want to use in the future.
| 1. All-American, Beaver Lake, AR | Stan Sloan | ||
| 2. Dixie Invitational, Smith Lake, AL | Gerald Blanchard | ||
| 3. Seminole Lunker, Lake Seminole, GA | Carl Dyess | ||
| 4. Rebel Invitational, Ross Barnett, MS | Bill Dance | ||
| 5. Eufaula National, Lake Eufaula, AL | John Powell | ||
| 6. All-American, Sam Rayburn, TX | Bill Dance | ||
| 7. Dixie Invitational, Smith Lake, AL | Bill Dance | ||
| 8. Seminole Lunker, Lake Seminole, GA | Joe Verbeck | ||
| 9. Texas National, Sam Rayburn, TX | Harold Hays | ||
| 10. Rebel Invitational, Ross Barnett, MS | Pete Henson | ||
| 11. Eufaula National, Lake Eufaula, AL | Blake Honeycutt | ||
| 12. All-American, Lake Ouachita, AR | Bill Dance | ||
| 13. Eufaula Team, Lake Eufaula, AL | Bobby Murray (43-10) Bill Dance (35-14) Forrest Wood (21-00) Bob Ponds (19-14) | ||
| 14. Toledo Bend Invitational, TX | Mike Bono | ||
| 15. Seminole Lunker, Lake Seminole, GA | Roland Martin | ||
| 16. Rebel Invitational, Ross Barnett, MS | Bill Dance | ||
| 17. Henshall Memorial, Walter F. George Lake, GA | Bill Adair | ||
| 18. Oklahoma National, Lake Eufaula, OK(3) | John Hadad III | ||
| 19. Texas National, Sam Rayburn, TX | Bill Dance | ||
| 20. All-American, Table Rock, MO | Bill Dance | ||
| 21. Seminole Lunker, Lake Seminole, GA | Tom Mann | ||
| 22. Table Rock National, Table Rock, MO | John Powell | ||
| 23. Texas National, Sam Rayburn, TX | John Powell | ||
| 24. All-American, Ross Barnett, MS | Roland Martin | ||
| 25. Bass Masters Classic I, Lake Mead, NV | Bobby Murray | ||
| 26. Florida National, Lake Kissimmee, FL | Tom Mann | ||
| 27. South Carolina National, Lake Keowee, SC | Glin Wells | ||
| 28. Arkansas National, Lake Ouachita, AR | Bobby Murray | ||
| 29. Tennessee National, Watts Bar, TN | Roland Martin | ||
| 30. Rebel Invitational, Ross Barnett, MS | Ricky Green | ||
| 31. All-Americcan, Lake Eufaula, OK | Roland Martin | ||
| 32. Bass Masters Classic II, Percy Priest, TN | Don Butler | ||
| 33. Florida Invitational, St John's River, FL(5) | Larry Hill | ||
| 34. Arkansas Invitational, Beaver Lake, AR | Don Butler | ||
| 35. Rebel Invitational, Ross Barnett, MS | Roland Martin | ||
| 36. Seminole Lunker, Lake Seminole, GA | Roland Martin | ||
| 37. Carolina Invitational, Lake Keowee, SC | Junior Collis | ||
| 38. All-American, Watts Bar, TN | Roland Martin | ||
| 39. Bass Masters Classic III, Clark Hill, SC | Rayo Breckenridge | ||
Notes:
- (1) The all-time record for total weight in a 15-fish per day tournament. Blake Honeycutt (34 fish weighed).
- (2) The all-time record for one-day 15-fish limit. Rip Nunnery (98-15).
- (3) First 10-fish daily limit tournament.
- (4) B.A.S.S.’s record for total weight in a 10-fish per day tournament. Larry Hill (29 fish weighed).
- (5) All-time biggest bass weighed in a Bass Master Tournament. Bob Tyndall (12-13).
- (6) All-time smallest weight to win a Bass Master tournament. Roland Martin (21-06).
Number 17 on this list is The Henshall Memorial on Lake Walter F. George in Georgia. Some may not know this is still Lake Eufaula, Alabama where Blake Honeycutt and John Powell set records. This tournament was conducted on the Georgia side of this border lake and it’s known as Walter F. George Lake in Georgia and Lake Eufaula in Alabama.
Rip Nunnery set a record with 98-15, we were told he boated 30 Bass out of 31 strikes that day and also used a method that no one else used, he cast a plastic worm, let it sink to the bottom and pointed his rod tip at the worm and slowly cranked it back to the boat. When a bass picked it up, Rip just kept cranking until the bass hooked itself and started fighting back. Then Rip just raised the rod and cranked it in the boat, he never set the hook, the bass hooked itself.
Terry; Here’s an interesting record, I don’t have a copy of BassMaster and the BASS web page does not list the total weights for the 1969 Lake Eufaula,AL. tournament won by Blake Honeycutt with 138.06. If you have a copy of Bassmaster that list these total weights, look at the Top 5 in this event .Blake Honeycutt, Bill Dance,Rip Nunnery,Gerald Blanchard and John Powell, total their total weight for a BASS Top 5 record. Blake had 138.06, I believe Dance had 96 on the day Nunnery had 98.15 and Blanchard was paired with Nunnery the day he set the record and John Powell always did well on this lake. Total these Top 5 to see if it’s not a BASS Top 5 record, they could weigh 15 per day and it was in June, the best month for Eufaula
Hi Terry; Here’s something to compare the 1969 Lake Eufaula Top 5 against, the 1968 Lake Eufaula event was won by John Powell with 132.2, here’s the Top 5, John Powell 132.02, MJ Watkins 130.01, Pete Henson 97.02, Ray Murski 94.01 & Don Stasser 83.12…Total 539.15. Again it was 15 per day limit in June.
Thanks Harold! Unfortunately, I don’t have those issues of BassMaster.
A close friend of mine is sending me the Fall 69 Issue of BM in the next couple of weeks that has the write up of Rip. Rip was a close friend of mine and my friend. Jon also has a picture of Rip with Bill Dance, Roland Martin and I think Honeycutt after Rip weighed his record weight.
If anyone has pre-70s Bassmaster magazines I would really like to borrow them. I will return them after I scan them within a week.
Can someone tell me the date of the last Bassmaster tournament Bill Dance competed in? It’s scary how dominant he was in the early days.
Hi Monte,
It was July 23-25, 1980 at the BASS Champs event held on Lake Guntersville. Here is a link to the results. Dance finished in 42nd place.
http://www.bassmaster.com/tournaments/1980-bass-champs/results/0/