19 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

If @A-Jay gets to carve 7.5 faces, I'm adding a fifth: @WRB!

I must be a non-conformist . . . .

#rebel

A-Jay

I don't watch pro fishing, but I watch YouTube. 

 

My grandpa takes the number one spot. He taught me the basics as a child and instilled an interest at an early age. 

NDYAKangler on YouTube. 

@A-Jay because he's a master at catching my favorite fish, the smallie, and a wealth of info. 

And @ol'cricketybecause she's just an inspiration and an absolute cheerleader for everyone here on the forums. (Also, I've never seen anyone do her kind of numbers.)

16 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

And @ol'cricketybecause she's just an inspiration and an absolute cheerleader for everyone here on the forums. (Also, I've never seen anyone do her kind of numbers.)

 

I actually buy my bass in bulk. FedEx overnights them and then I pose with them. Seriously, thanks, ICD!

My PaPa(Grand father) got me fishing young. Jason Lucas lit a fire for bass fishing

Spend the entire summer working on my uncle Joe Addison's charter fishing boat in the Gulf of Mexico and learned how to locate deep water structure.

 

1972: Started bass fishing seriously on Toledo Bend. (150-200 days a year)

 

Joined two bass clubs whose members included John Torian, John Hall, John Dean, Villis P "Bo" Dowden SR, Harold Allen, Larry Nixon, Tommy Martin, & Zell Roland all guides at Toledo Bend's Pendleton Harbor Marina. 

 

Attended a seminar in Houston Texas that totally changed my outlook on bass fishing. The man putting on that seminar was Elwood L. " Buck" Perry, not only did I buy his books but I became a devout student of his teachings. 

 

I'm an avid student of the following

Elwood L. " Buck" Perry & Bill Murphy: Finding & understanding deep structure

 

Douglas Hannon & Shaw Grisby: Understanding bass behavior

 

Rick Clunn: Mental aspects of bass fishing

 

Bobby Murray: Big bass can be caught on light line.

Bill Dance

Roland Martin

KVD

Mike Iconelli

Gadabout Gaddis, the Flying Fisherman, first person on TV in my area.

Charlie Brewer, his do-nothing system fit in with my life style.

Fishing Facts crew, can't think of one particular guy though.

Rick Clunn, like his whole outlook, and someone who is actually older than me still fishing 

This is easy.

 

Glenn May

Tom Young

Dwight Hottle

Trey McKinney

29 minutes ago, herder said:

Gadabout Gaddis

Never heard of him but what a name.

I've only been bass fishing about about three years now, so I haven't really had a fair share of influencers, or at least enough to put on a pedestal the likes of Rushmore. I started out hardcore off the Florida coastal beaches, sooner advancing into big game fishing, all from the sand. I had to learn everything myself through trial and error because it was something hardly done. Not a single sole was doing it. There were no rule books to follow. There was no tackle, rigs, or readily available wisdom. Nothing much out there to deal with big game from the surf. And yet, leaning every aspect was crucial in finding, fighting, and capturing fish that could easily weigh over 500lbs. With bass fishing, I sorta came up the same way, knocking around with trial and error until I figured the fish out, where they were, what they wanted, how they behaved and so forth. I eventually settled into the Florida everglades which has challenged every aspect of my craft. Same thing: no rule book to follow, hardly a sole fishing out there, as vast as the ocean. Only person that I know of who has made some quality video's on fishing the glades area is Roland Martin. He's sorta settled into that niche of fishing that I like most, not so much with the shiner thing that he does now but more so with the areas fished: everglades, mash-lands, storm treatment areas. In that regard, he'd probably be the one that I would choose. 

 

 

 

 

 

Virgil Ward

KVD

Denny Brauer

Bill Dance

Larry Nixon

Clunn...my Dad....Doug Hannon....Bill Dance....and the list goes on for a while.....I won't call it Mount Rushmore.......more like State Rushmore......a lot on this site included.....to many to mention.......

James Henshall

Ray Scott

Bill Dance

Forest Wood

Denny Brauer

Bill Dance

Roland Martin

KVD

The votes were tallied. Only people who listed four anglers counted. According to Bass Resource the Mount Rushmore of bass fishing is

 

Bill Dance

Roland Martin

KVD

Dad

Roland Martin

Bill Dance 

Jimmy Huston 

Al Linder

 

alternates;

Rick Clunn & Hank Parker

Ray Scott

Forrest Wood

Roland Martin

Rick Clunn

 

i would have placed Johnny Morris but he already has three pyramids.

Ray Scott

 Billy Westmorland 

Al Linder

Larry Nixon 

13 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

Ray Scott

 Billy Westmorland 

Al Linder

Larry Nixon 

Never thought of Ray Scott as a fisherman per say but definitely recognized as one of the biggest contributors to the sport 👍🏻

Ray Scott

Roland Martin

Bill Dance

Dee Thomas

Without Ray Scott most people would have never heard of Clunn, Martin, Brauer etc....

 

Rick Clunn

Roland Martin

KVD

Ray Scott

You guys all went old school pros or tv personalities, and they definately deserve their spot. Some of those names like Harold Ensley, Virgil Ward bring me back to my childhood, I watched fishing shows while other kids were watching cartoons. Many of those TV greats caught giant bass out of stocked private lakes so I deduct a point for that. I have to admit though, I have learned more from this site and the Youtube sticks. So my mountain looks different.

 

1. KVD 

2. Mikey Balzz

3. Matt Allen

4. Tim Little

 

With a special mention to the Bass Resource family.

 

On 6/10/2024 at 6:25 PM, rboat said:

You guys all went old school pros or tv personalities, and they definately deserve their spot. Some of those names like Harold Ensley, Virgil Ward bring me back to my childhood, I watched fishing shows while other kids were watching cartoons. Many of those TV greats caught giant bass out of stocked private lakes so I deduct a point for that. I have to admit though, I have learned more from this site and the Youtube sticks. So my mountain looks different.

 

1. KVD 

2. Mikey Balzz

3. Matt Allen

4. Tim Little

 

With a special mention to the Bass Resource family.

 

I believe you’re absolutely incorrect in your analysis. The “old school” personalities were know, and followed well before the tv gigs came along and fished Ray Scott’s Bass Master series on all the major lakes and rivers which are still used today for competition. The private lake bass were for tv expediency but they didn’t become legends by fishing private lakes.

Many of us followed the series “personalities” before they were even on tv, which only happened after they became successful event winners and popular with the mainstream fishing audience.

 

Although, it was more difficult when following was done by newsletter, magazines, an obscure radio show and attending live events. The sport was built on the shoulders of the old school giants and without the “tv personalities “ KVD would still be fishing the local lakes in Michigan.

 

just my old man take…………….

Three musts for tournament guys,  would be Rick Clunn, KVD, and Roland Martin and then anyone else you want to include.

I'm disappointed that no one would put John Candy on their Mount Rushmore. Better known as a comedian, he was nevertheless one of the most innovative anglers of all time and the host of Fishin' Musician, as seen below:

 

 

John fished with all the other great, innovative anglers, like The Tubes, who brought formal dress to bass fishing: