Bassmasters Classic Draws Roadside Audience for Winning Catch

By Frank Sargeant
from The Fishing Wire

BIRMINGHAM. In one of the more amazing performances in recent Classic history, Randy Howell of Springville, Alabama, leaped from 11th place and a full nine pounds behind leader Edwin Evers on day two to the Classic championship and a $300,000 winner’s check on the final day.

In fact, Howell hardly needed more than the first hour after take-off to put the trophy and the title away.

He stopped at the Big Spring Creek bridge across U.S. 431 right in the midst of Guntersville, and there proceeded to haul in one lunker bass after another, often on consecutive casts, while a crowd that quickly assembled on the bridge right above his boat cheered him on. Howell put over 22 pounds in the live well in that insane flurry, later culling up to his total bag of 29-2. He released what he estimated at close to 30 pounds more.

Howell only stopped briefly during the performance to thank the horde of howling and cheering fans for their support.

“I’ve been fishing tournaments for 21 years and this was by far the best day of fishing I ever had, period,” said Howell. “I might have had some Divine Guidance on that first spot-I was going to run up the lake and something just told me to turn and go back to Spring Creek. A voice inside me said “do you want to be good or do you want to be great? I turned around and went to Spring Creek and that’s what did it.”

Most of his catches were made on a crawfish red Rapala DT6 and a prototype Livingston Lures medium-running crankbait, also in crawfish red.

B.A.S.S. statistician Ken Duke said Howell’s charge from 11th place to first was the greatest comeback in Classic history.

Howell said God truly blessed him to bring the win in front of his home crowd. He said his son had taped a prayer request on the bathroom mirror which said “My Dad to Win the Classic.” Apparently the prayers came true.

Connecticut angler Paul Mueller was second with 66 pounds, 8 ounces for the three-day competition, Edwin Evers of Oklahoma third with 65-11, Ott DeFoe of Tennessee fourth with 63-6 including the big bass of the day, an 8-4, and fifth was Randall Tharp, formerly of Gardendale and now of Port St. Joe, Fla., with 62-12. Jordon Lee of Auburn was sixth with 62-1.

Seven former Classic champions competed in this event-but none of them even made it to the final-day top-25 cutoff. Four-time winner and bassing superstar Kevin Van Dam came the closest, finishing 26th. The other ex-champions who came up short were Chris Lane (36th), Mark Davis (43rd), Alton Jones (45th), Mike Iaconelli (47th), Takahiro Omori (48th) and Skeet Reese (49th).

This Classic will be remembered as the first where personal video cameras delivered full view reports on many of the fish caught soon after the fact. Every Classic competitor had a tiny GoPro camera-from one of the title sponsors of the event–mounted on his boat, allowing viewers of www.bassmaster.com to see uploaded action throughout the day. The cameras also in some cases clearly show the location where the anglers fished, the lures they used and how they worked the baits-an unprecedented access to information for the viewing public.

Randy Howell was only the second angler ever to win a Bassmaster Classic in his home state. Boyd Duckett, now a Guntersville resident, was the first.