I got to combine a family visit in Western PA with my 1st trip to the Classic. BASS puts on quite a show. The exhibition was dynamite. Lots of great tackle displays, two huge aquariums for fishing demos, boats, motors, etc. ESPN/BASS had an outstanding booth for showing off the tricked-out kickboat that appeared on the show, & it was great seeing Rich there to represent us. He looked very professional & it was an excellent display. All of the members of the SCBBBC & BNT deserve a collective pat-on-the-back for building these clubs to the point where they’re now getting national attention.

The weigh-in on Sunday was a lot of fun, too. ESPN did its best to create a dramatic finish, with lots of great interviews & film footage. There must have been 10,000+ spectators in the Mellon Arena to see it. It was a very positive atmosphere.

I did watch the pros for a little while on Saturday afternoon while they fished bridge pilings. Spectator boats didn’t appear to be getting too close to them & there were lots of folks on the riverbanks watching them fish.

It would have been nice to see some bigger fish come to the scales. Nevertheless, it was a great event & well worth your time if you ever have the opportunity to witness a Classic. BTW, Skeet Reese is becoming quite a fishing celebrity & seemed to be right up there in crowd recognition along with KVD & Mike Iaconelli.