Big Bait Bouillabaisse

[I was going to write about walleye fishing this week, but since there’s nothing going on in that world, I’ll revert to my bass fishing comfort zone]

Over the past few weeks, two things have consumed the bandwidth that I have reserved for bass fishing news. The first was my attendance at the Swimbait Universe Gathering in Virginia. The second was my attendance yesterday at the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Taking them in reverse order, the Hall of Fame is about as “establishment” as you can get in the sport. It’s celebrating people and institutions who are recognized as having made a positive difference in the sport. The swimbait world, on the other hand, while it’s gaining some insider credibility, still celebrates its outsider “garage” status.

At some point, though, everything new becomes old, and if it has lasting value what was once the counterculture becomes institutional. Just look at all of the 1968 Woodstock attendees who became investment bankers in the 80s. I’m not saying that everyone loses their paths, their morals, or their special purpose, but rather that eventually you’re no longer tilting at windmills. The swimbait crew is at a critical juncture – as more and more mainstream bassers, including influential pros, follow what they’re doing.

So when will we see someone in the Hall primarily as a result of their swimbait prowess, innovation, or business?

It probably won’t come soon.

Certainly, we could see someone like Skeet Reese, who has won with a swimbait, inducted, but when that happens it won’t be primarily for his big bait prowess. It will be because of his broader body of work. I’m talking about someone like a Butch Brown or an Allan Cole. Since so many of these dudes operate in the shadows, or in the hinterlands of the west (and some have argued that the Hall has an anti-west bias, a premise I get but don’t necessarily agree with), they’re not making their own case. There’s also the time element – a certain amount of lag between something being introduced and the time when it’s recognized as integral or important to the sport. That’s working against swimbaiting, too.

Nevertheless, whether it’s Oliver Ngy or Mike Bucca, someone else, or perhaps someone I’m not yet aware of, I have a feeling it’ll happen during my expected lifetime. I wasn’t there to see the first iterations of the Big O or the buzzbait, but I was around when swimbaiting started to rise to prominence, and I hope to be there when it’s completely mainstreamed.