Famous. . . Bill Dance. Still where a Tennessee Vols hat fishing a lot of the time because of him. But in my life, my Grandpa and my dad taught my how and had the biggest influence on me. My grandma, however, provided the biggest inspiration for me to bass fish. When I was 10 she caught a 12 lb 13 Oz largemouth that hangs in my parents house now. Biggest bass I have ever seen that I knew who caught it!! Been trying to catch a bigger one ever since!

I remember sitting on the couch on Sunday with my dad watching Virgil Ward on TV.

LARRY NIXON, GUIDO HIBDON, JIMMY HOUSTON, BABE WINKELMAN, MARK DAVIS & GEORGE COCHRAN...

 

ROLAND MARTIN

Gete Hibdon was my friend, mentor and my HERO. I'll miss him BAD.

Lefty Kreh passed away this week, and I feel like it's impossible to have an influence/inspiration thread without mentioning him.  Not everyone on here is big on fly fishing, but Lefty did more to grow fly fishing and conservation in both freshwater and the salt than almost anyone.  

 

Also, even into his 90's, his casting instruction remained awesome and incredibly matter-of-fact.  Listening to him catch people off guard by cursing like a sailor as a tiny old dude is also pretty hilarious.  

12 hours ago, 2tall79 said:

The duo of Homer Circle and Glenn Lau.   OK, Glenn Lau wasn't exactly a fisherman, but his videos sure inspired me.

Homer Circle had a campy wit that's never been duplicated.  I always liked his reference that "the fish knew but weren't talking."

Hank Parker, Bill dance 

i have always been inspired by bob izumi 

and once i got back into fishing dave mercer 

I met Rick Clunn, Dee Thomas, and Dave Gliebe waaaaaaay back in the day at a seminar in Seattle.  They definitely led to my flippin' obsession.

Billy Westmoreland, Rick Clunn and Bill Dance. I say Bill Dance as I can remember watching his show growing up and getting interested in fishing. Super nice guy too. Like him or not, he's done a lot for our sport.

I was reminded to add

 

I fished a dozen tournaments with Lonnie Stanley, Terry Oldham, Jerry Dean, Shaw Grigsby, Ken Cook, Todd Faircloth, Bob Sealy, Ron/Rick Pierce, & Darren "Mad Man" Mooneyham.

 

On a few occasions I met Gary Yamamoto, Ben Matsubu, & Takahiro Omori at the cafes and boat launches around Toledo Bend and Rayburn.

 

What y'all will find is these guys are easy to approach & love to talk fishing as much as we do. Ben Matsubu & I talked for over an hour at the 6-Mile boat ramp. We even took a ride in his Legend bass boat!

That's awesome Cat!

17 hours ago, jbmaine said:

Anyone remember Gadabout Gaddis?

 

Showing my age with this, but yes I do. Watched him with my dad.

 

Like others here Bill Dance, Hank Parker, Roland Martin, but the guy who still inspires is the Legendary Rick Clunn.

 

On the not at all famous side is of course my Dad, and my grandfather who passed when I was 6. Not many true memories of him, but plenty of Fishing stories from my dad who fished with him all the time. Keep a picture of him in my tackle box for luck.

1 minute ago, LadiMopar said:

 but the guy who still inspires is the Legendary Rick Clunn.

 

Agreed 

1 hour ago, 2tall79 said:

I met Rick Clunn, 

I think, no wait, as unbecoming as this is.... I know I'm jealous. ?

12 minutes ago, LadiMopar said:

I think, no wait, as unbecoming as this is.... I know I'm jealous. ?

This was back in the late '70's.  I think he'd won his first classic and nobody really knew much about him.........yet.

I always enjoyed shows that not only taught you something but entertained you.  I always enjoyed Hank Parker early shows.  Shaw Grigsby, Jimmy Huston, and early Roland Martin before all the constant product pushing.  These guys were just funny as well as great fisherman.  The early shows were so much better then the recent stuff.

My early bass fishing era we didn’t have TV so magazines, books and local bass anglers influenced me.

Jason Lucas, Sports Afield, was my favorite.

Red, a local bass angler,  taught me how to use bait casting reel and a top water spoon (#3 Hawaiian wiggler) that got me started bass fishing at age 12.

The biggest influence on bass fishing for me was my 1st Lowrance flasher in 1960 that allowed me to find bass on structure away from shore.

Tom

 

2 hours ago, 2tall79 said:

This was back in the late '70's.  I think he'd won his first classic and nobody really knew much about him.........yet.

He won his first classic in 1976, and published his book in 1978...trying to decide on which version I want on the bookcase; hardbound or paperback. They are out of print now but have a line on them at amazon. Either way probably as close as I will ever get to "meeting" the man himself.

I grew up studying the writings of Buck Perry, Al & Ron Lindner, Bill Binkleman and Doug Hannon.

8 minutes ago, Crestliner2008 said:

I grew up studying the writings of Buck Perry, Al & Ron Lindner, Bill Binkleman and Doug Hannon.

We used to buy Binkleman's jigs from him. 

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

We used to buy Binkleman's jigs from him. 

I've still got a box of those Binkleman's jigs, along with all of his "Blue Book" series on catching bass & walleye. A great man, highly underrated and way ahead of his time. He was a co-founder of the In'Fisherman, along with Al & Ron.

I've told the story in other posts but Hank Parker's tv show taught me how to use a baitcaster without getting massive backlashes. Between him and Bill Dance I learned a lot about bass fishing. 

On 3/16/2018 at 4:50 PM, Scott F said:

My early hero wasn't famous. My dad was my inspiration. He's been gone a long time and I've lived my life trying to make sure he was always proud of me. 

Same here.

Other than my dad, I was a Dance and Martin fan mostly, and later on , Hank Parker.

There were a couple locals that I also followed : Bob Mcnally, a writer , and Monroe Campbell, who lived in my area and had his own local show. Knew them both , and they were down to earth guys who would spend time talking outdoors with you.

Bill Dance and Gary Yamamoto