I Stole From the GOAT

I have a lot of bass fishing memorabilia in my home office, some of it theoretically valuable on the open market, some of it valuable only to me. Of course, it includes lots of lures – one signed by Rick Clunn, another that I traded for with the late Aaron Martens, and others that I just stole. I’m not necessarily proud of the five-fingered discounts, but enough time has passed that the statute of limitations has run its course. Besides, it’s not like I jacked anything that was major or otherwise likely to be missed.

The thievery started at the 2004 Bassmaster Classic, my first as a media observer when I rode with Aaron Martens on Day One. He put on a show, and while I didn’t know it during competition hours, he was in legitimate contention to win. He was demonstrating all sorts of then-oddball techniques – the “horsey head,” finesse swimbaits, and of course drop shotting. At the end of the day, there were dead soldiers scattered along the bottom of his loaner Triton. I scooped up a bunch of Roboworms and took them home.

The next year, I rode with Gary Klein at the Pittsburgh Classic and he gave me an additional drop shotting clinic. Same deal at the end of the day – worms he intended to throw out scattered everywhere. I grabbed a bunch. They commingled with Aaron’s plastics on a shelf. At some later date, they were thrown away by my wife. I’m still mad about it, although I’m not quite sure what I would’ve done with the torn-up worms.

In 2007, I practiced with Kevin VanDam for three days prior to an Elite Series event on the California Delta. Most of the fish were caught flipping (him) or semi-aimlessly pitching a Senko (me) but we also did some vintage KVD power fishing. That included a lure which had just been introduced at the Classic a month or so earlier – the Red Eye Shad. I’m not sure if they were officially out on the market yet, but obviously, if you’re the man – or you know the man – you have access to them. KVD was and is the man. He, like Martens and Klein before him, put on a clinic. At the end of the practice period a gold Red Eye was miraculously tied to the end of my line. I probably should have given it back, but dude, it was blessed with GOAT-goodness. It wasn’t right, but I justified it by saying he could get some more.

Mea culpa, Kevin.

Today it sits in my office, hooks removed. I may have thrown it a time or two on the Potomac before thinking better of it and saving it as a keepsake. It’s a good reminder that I fished with KVD, and after he announced his retirement, I counted the teeth marks on it. They may just represent a minuscule fraction of the bites he’s earned over his storied career, but they’re a big part of my origin story. I hope he no longer needs it.