I am gonna go with rick clunn.  To win the biggest tourney on the biggest stage in three different decades with all the new tecnology, gear, baits and increasing competition each year is very impressive.  He won his first bassmaster classic when KVD was 8.  To be an all time great longevity comes in to play in my mind and while KVD will probably get there evenetually, he just isn't there for me yet. 

I think if I was pressed for an answer, I would probably agree with you.  Without Clunn there might not be a KVD.  In the end though, I think KVD will be considered the greatest tournament angler of all time.

I like KVD but what will he leave the sport?

Greatest Tournament Fisherman: Rick Clunn

 

Greatest Fisherman:  Al Lindner 

I like KVD but what will he leave the sport?

nothing really....much like many others who are on the jordan is the best wagon too.  Nothing to change the game necesarrily but did what he did very well

Greatest Tournament Fisherman: Rick Clunn

 

Greatest Fisherman:  Al Lindner 

I think Linder could fish in a puddle and catch a citation szed fish of any species

Pro Anglers

My 3 favorite pro anglers of all-time are Kevin VanDam, Roland Martin & Rick Clunn (in that order).
Unfortunately though, it's not possible to compare champions from different eras,
just as we'll never see a fight between George Foreman and Joe Louis.

 

Mount Rushmore
With respect to contributing valuable knowledge as to the Where, When & How for all freshwater species,

I don't know of any angler who brought more to the table than Al Lindner.

 

Roger

Me + 3 other guys.

With bird poop all over you!  J/K

Hmmmmmm most influential to the sport of tournament bass fishing:Ray ScottForest WoodBass Pro Shops ( dang coffee not strong enough this morning...can't remember his name)

Johnny Morris

Rushmore is a tribute to our founding fathers.

Come on Rhino, two of the four are founding Fathers, Roosevelt and Lincoln were not. Its a tribute to the Presidents who have made the biggest contributions to the country. Many would argue Teddy Roosevelt even belonging on the monument and others want Ronald Reagan to occupy the spot left.

Johnny Morris

Yeah that's it and thank you....hit me soon as sent "post"

I probably got of subject anyway

Greatest Tournament Fisherman: Rick Clunn

 

Greatest Fisherman:  Al Lindner

Could agree with this

Uhh tournament fishing started long before Ray Scott!

It most certainly did. But I believe ol Ray brought a lot to the table as far as catch and release and conservation. I may not agree with all he's done but he made some stepping huge stepping stones along with Ranger and Forest Wood.

Also last but not least I got off topic and apologize to all... he said tounament fishermen! I like ol Rick Clunn as one of the beginners and still here.

Al Linder,

Hank Parker

Bill Dance, like him or hate him he is probably the most recognized bass fisherman in the world. His show has introduced legions of fishermen and non fishermen alike to the sport.

KVD

three amigos and kvd

Hard to argue with most of the suggestions, thus I like the Easter Island metaphor.

 

So I'll suggest Clunn, R. Martin, H. Parker, Dance... and many more in the Pantheon of Fishing Greats.

It most certainly did. But I believe ol Ray brought a lot to the table as far as catch and release and conservation. I may not agree with all he's done but he made some stepping huge stepping stones along with Ranger and Forest Wood.

Also last but not least I got off topic and apologize to all... he said tounament fishermen! I like ol Rick Clunn as one of the beginners and still here.

Sorry but Ray only brought catch & release to the table after pressure from Pro Anglers & news media.

Every one I listed are tournament anglers

This guy!

This guy!

 

  Now that's funny 

This guy!

Didn't realize Phillip Fulmer fished!

IMO Clunn is a lock..........the other 3 is a big argument.

 

 

The only thing this thread has for the most part agreed on!

 

Tied for most classic wins

Longest running streak of appearances

1st to win $1,000,000 competitive bass fishing

14 BASS National champs

+ many more accomplishments I can't think of!

 

Jeff

 

I think Ray Scott has to be up there.

The only thing this thread has for the most part agreed on!

Tied for most classic wins

Longest running streak of appearances

1st to win $1,000,000 competitive bass fishing

14 BASS National champs

+ many more accomplishments I can't think of!

Jeff

Uh! Actually Larry Nixon was the first to $1,000,000 with 4 Megabucks wins, a feat not even KVD or Clunn accomplished, they never won one. Under a Megabucks format the lake was divided into 12 sections, each angler started in a section & then they change sections until each angler fished all 12 section.

Try fishing behind KVD, Clunn, Roland Martin, Gary Klein, Denny Brauer & others. He did on Lake Guntersville, Chickamauga Lake, & Harris Chain twice.

Several years back I wrote an arithmetically weighted program that ranked the pro bass anglers.

Separate weights were given to 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th place finishes plus a secondary weighting for finishes in the top-10.

Also factored in was length of career (number of events), but no special weight was given for AOY, Classics, Elites

or Megabucks, which I felt were redunduncies that would skew the raw achievement score.

In this manner, Bill Dance and Hank Parker did not fare as well as expected. Firstly, Dance & Parker were pioneers

of organized tourney fishing (particularly Bill Dance), an era when comparisons were much easier.

Just for example, the record multi-day stringer went from Preston Clark, to Dean Rojas to Paul Elias

in a matter of a few years. Secondly, Bill Dance had a brief 12-year career, while Hank Parker had a brief 13-year career

(his TV show lasted far longer than his fishing career). On the other hand, there are some top-flight pro bass anglers

who are rarely mentioned today, such as Larry Nixon (the worm king) and Bobby Murray.

 

Roger

Uh! Actually Larry Nixon was the first to $1,000,000 with 4 Megabucks wins, a feat not even KVD or Clunn accomplished, they never won one. Under a Megabucks format the lake was divided into 12 sections, each angler started in a section & then they change sections until each angler fished all 12 section.

Try fishing behind KVD, Clunn, Roland Martin, Gary Klein, Denny Brauer & others. He did on Lake Guntersville, Chickamauga Lake, & Harris Chain twice.

 

 

Something I did not know. I stand corrected! That is quite a feat!

 

Jeff

Several years back I wrote an arithmetically weighted program that ranked the pro bass anglers.

Separate weights were given to 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th place finishes plus a secondary weighting for finishes in the top-10.

Also factored in was length of career (number of events), but no special weight was given for AOY, Classics, Elites

or Megabucks, which I felt were redunduncies that would skew the raw achievement score.

In this manner, Bill Dance and Hank Parker did not fare as well as expected. Firstly, Dance & Parker were pioneers

of organized tourney fishing (particularly Bill Dance), an era when comparisons were much easier.

Just for example, the record multi-day stringer went from Preston Clark, to Dean Rojas to Paul Elias

in a matter of a few years. Secondly, Bill Dance had a brief 12-year career, while Hank Parker had a brief 13-year career

(his TV show lasted far longer than his fishing career). On the other hand, there are some top-flight pro bass anglers

who are rarely mentioned today, such as Larry Nixon (the worm king) and Bobby Murray.

 

Roger

I always like statistical analysis.....my question is with regards to length of career and number of events begin the indicator.  Were the same number of tournaments available back in the day?  If not, than this would not be a fair indicator for weighting the career numbers.  Kind of like NFL players don't have to play as many years to get the same number of games as those form when the league had 12 or 14 games.