2005 BASS Federation Championships
Report #8 - Final Report

By Will Wegman,
OBF Media and Conservation Director
Final Report 

Well, it’s all over and Ed Cowan is 2005 Federation Champion.  They say the toughest road to the Bassmasters Classic is via the federation ranks and when you consider that 50,000 federation members each have a shot at trying to get there every year, you can see why. But when you really look at the odds they still appear to be better thru the federation than thru the pay as you play pro-route. That is, if you are an every-day working stiff like Ed Cowan, and most of the rest of us. Estimates at fishing the pro tour range from 100,000-150,000 per year – and I don’t know about you bubba, but the odds of yours truly ever getting that kind of spare change is far less likely than me very getting to the Classic as a federation competitor.  I know how unlikely that scenario is too … but at least it is an exciting goal that I can put on my wish list every year which I know won’t cost me an arm and a leg (those, and possibly a couple of other unmentionables, are the body parts my wife would remove if I ever mortgaged the house to fish the Bassmaster pro circuit for a year).

I had a chance to speak with Ed Cowan a bit last night at the Awards Banquet.  As mentioned in a previous report, we first met in 1991 when I covered my first Classic as a press observer. That was Ed’s first trip to the Classic too – after he qualified by winning the the Federation Championships a few months earlier. Ed is the consummate federation angler and a strong proponent for what he describes as “the best tournament deal there is out there”. At 46 years of age Ed has spent the last 30 as a club member and every year sets a goal of making the state team and then the Federation Championships - something he has done four times already. The Pittsburg Classic will be Ed’s second try and already he plans on fishing it differently than he did 14 years ago. The way he envisions his return to the most important bass tournament there is, exemplifies his pride in the BASS Federation Program, “ The five federation guys who fish this year’s Classic will fish like a State Team … and we’ll go down and show those boys we know how to fish!”

Notables:

• In addition to his Classic berth, Cowan won entry to the Busch Shootout specialty event with his day 2 catch of 20-06, which proved to be the big sack of the tournament. This will see Ed board a jet to a mystery lake and compete in this no entry fee tournament for $100,000 top prize.

• When asked what his pre-fish was like before the Federation Championships Ed replied “I pre-fished for 5 days before the cutoff. I caught three fish on a Rat-L-Trap, but in the lake I liked the best (of the four lakes open to competitors), every fish I caught was on the flipping stick."
  
  Before he even knew that he would make the top 15 cut, Ed was cautiously optimistic about what would happen if he made it to the final rounds at Disney. "I've never seen it, haven't been on it," he said. Competitors could only fish Disney during the pre-practice period if they hired a Disney pontoon boat and guide. "I've never been on a guide trip in my life," he noted. Cowan was confident in his abilities though to quickly decipher new a lake. "I like the old Classic format where they put you on a plane and go to a mystery lake," he said. "I like to fish blind. Some of my best catches have come the first time I've been on a lake."

• Jerry Houste is now the first federation angler ever to qualify for the Bassmasters Classic  four times

• Remarkably during the last two days of the Federation Championships while the 15 remaining anglers fished Bay Lake in the heart of Disney World – every single angler caught a limit both days.  In fact most anglers reported catching as many as 20-40 bass per day!

• Now that Bill Todd has experienced first hand what fishing in the world amateur championships is all about is he glad that this is all over so that he can now just go back and fun-fish back home in Canada. “No way … this was so great; I hate to see it end. I thought I wanted this bad before I ever got here, but now that I’ve had a taste, I just can’t wait to try and get here again.  Luckily I have already qualified for the Eastern Federation Championships in Maine … where I’m gonna work harder than ever to do well.  But before that we have our own Provincial Qualifier on the Bay of Quinte – and man I’m so excited to even fish that again.

• Now that Ontario will be fishing in the Eastern Division, we should have a better chance at doing well. The lakes in the east are more like our own back home – natural systems as opposed to reservoirs with good aquatic plant growth like we are used to fishing back home. Of course, not having to travel 25 hours to get to the Divisional Championships doesn’t hurt either.

• Along with Ontario moving to the east, the other major change will see the addition of one more division – the mid-Atlantic. That means six federation anglers can now qualify to fish the Bassmasters Classic instead of five.

• During the final weigh-in at Disney World yesterday, MC Ray Scott was in fine form, but so was Maine angler 24 year old Joshua Mabee. When Ray asked him if he wanted to bet a ‘dolla’ to see who could come closer to guessing the weight of his big bass – Mabee said sure. After some wrangling about guessing – Mabee finally said why don’t we just make it $50 bucks to see who’s closer? Scott, somewhat surprised said he didn’t think he could afford that – but Maybee was quick to come back wit “Hah – jay right; I see the size of that big fat wallet bulging from your back pocket!” His big bass weighed 4.09 … but he only won a dollar from Ray Scott.

• When you consider that last week the BASS company moved from it’s original headquarters in Montgomery Alabama to here in Florida, and yet was still able organize this huge event, it is really remarkable.  Hats off to all BASS staff.

When I think of all that is up for grabs at these ‘no-entry fee’ events that BASS Federation anglers are entitled to, it makes me wonder if any other tournament organization in Canada or the US can even come close to offering its members what BASS already offers those who are fortunate enough to ‘move on’ to events like this. Think about it … since 1995 one lucky Ontario BASS Federation member has been treated like royalty every year when he has been able to represent our federation and country at this World Amateur Championships.

What other organization, once you make it this far has the sponsorship dollars available to: fly you in; pay for your accommodations at a world class hotel; treat you to fancy banquets almost every night of the week; has brand new bass boats ready for you to use when you get here; gives you all the gas you need; supplies a top notch crew to make sure you’re launched each morning and that boat batteries are charged each day and everything is in top-notch working order; supplies you with sponsorship products & incentives that are almost too good to believe; and still pays out $54,000 to the winners.

Well, it’s finally time for me to sign off. I’d like to thank the entire BASS staff for how well they treated all the Conservation Directors and Federation Presidents while we were here. In particular I’d like to give a personal thank you to longtime BASS Conservation staffer Cyndi Martin who works her butt off to ensure that all us conservation directors are looked after. This will be Cyndi’s last hurrah with BASS – as she has elected to remain in Alabama and not make the move here to Florida. Thanks for everything Cyndi … and the best of success.

From Kissimmee Florida … this is Wil Wegman signing off.

Good luck in Pittsburg Ed Cowan … this is one Canadian federation angler who will sure be cheering you on!