Top-Heavy

Earlier this week, I posted a story on my other blog about a trip to Aberdeen Bait & Tackle in North Carolina and the lead social media image showed a pack of “Danny Joe’s Original Floaters,” the “floating worm” that North Carolina angler Danny Joe Humphrey used to win the 1988 B.A.S.S. Federation Championship and then marketed under his own name.  

How do I know that he used it to win the championship? Well, first off, I’m old and I remember reading about it and seeing the footage on “The Bassmasters.” Even if I didn’t have that background knowledge, it’s right there on the package.  

Is there any chance you’d see similar language on such a package today? I doubt it. 

While it’s still incredibly tough to progress through the B.A.S.S. Nation and The Bass Federation (TBF), the offspring of the old Federation, they don’t get the airtime that they used to, nor do they carry the same weight. That’s not to say they don’t produce some great anglers – including the late Bryan Kerchal, Mike Iaconelli and Brandon Palaniuk – but they don’t hold the same marketing heft. Nor does the BFL (formerly Red Man) All-American, which used to be one of the sport’s most prestigious and high-paying events. Clunn, Shaw, OT Fears and Stephen Browning, among others, used it to launch or bolster their careers. Do you remember who won the last five of any of these AA championships? I don’t, and I’m genuinely disappointed that I don’t. 

I’m not sure that I can even remember the last time that a Triple A tournament produced a memorable marketing opportunity. Perhaps it was when Paul Elias won at Guntersville. That was nine years ago this week – and of course he was already a household name, having won a Classic three decades earlier and set the all-time B.A.S.S. weight record just a few years prior. 

Of course, when Danny Joe won in 1988 we weren’t overwhelmed with three major tours. There was no Tackle Warehouse or Tackle Tour to introduce you to all of the newest gear. We had to fight for whatever scraps of information we could get, however we could get it. Now, you just need to wait for the flow, and you don’t have to go far downstream to get it.