In a day full of highlights and big smallmouth, two anglers made critical mistakes on Day 1 of the Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite Series. In the face of adversity, both anglers did the right thing and reported their mistakes to tournament officials. And while the sting of the day will last, doing the right thing makes a lasting impression.
Ray Hanselman was having a banner day on Lake St. Clair, landing close to 20 pounds before midday. His day went from great to terrible when a game warden approached and alerted the Texan that he was fishing in Walpole Island Indian Reserve without the proper license.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and I thought I was a mile from that area. I thought I was fine, but there was a thin red line on my mapping that I misinterpreted,” he said.
Every bass he had caught to that point was located in the Reserve, which means they were caught illegally. Hanselman contacted tournament director Lisa Talmadge and after a quick explanation, Hanselman released all of his fish as she watched through the video call to confirm his bass were back in the lake.
“I had a really good bag going. My big one was a 5-6 and I had a 4-12 and another 4. A 3-12 was my small one and I caught two more 4-pounders after I threw them back,” Hanselman said. “I was pretty spun out after that. I should have had another 20-pound bag.”
Hanselman continued his day after purchasing a license from the warden and caught a limit weighing 15-5, finishing the day in 96th.
Wes Logan’s Day 1 was not going how he had hoped, that was until he hooked a 4-pounder that he hoped would spark a comeback. He boated the bass, looked down and saw several more that size or bigger staring back at him.
“There were two or three big ones with it. I had it on a spybait with little bitty treble hooks so I’m running around the boat (trying to keep it pinned),” Logan said. “I finally got a hold of it in my driver’s seat and I put it down in the boat. When I looked back over, those fish were still sitting there.”
Instinctually, Logan pitched to that group of smallies, and within seconds realized he made a mistake. The Springville, Ala. pro had made a cast while in possession of six bass, a violation of B.A.S.S. rules.
Once Logan realized his mistake, he called Talmadge to report his error, incurring a 2-pound penalty and bringing his daily total down to 14-15, finishing the day in 99th.
“Instinctually, I just grabbed another rod and dropped a bait to them,” Logan said. “As soon as I let go of the bail, I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I called Lisa and we walked through it all.
“I’m going to take it like a man. It is nobody’s fault but my own. I just hate that it happened here. I didn’t have to have a great finish in these last two to make the Bassmaster Classic, but you’re going to have to finish better than the 80s or 90s.”
