They say a bad day fishing beats a good day at work, but given the occupation of these participants, I don’t know if it holds true.
The 2024 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic kicked off yesterday with their first ever celebrity Pro-Am that featured a number of professional athletes and musicians, teamed up with Elite Series members, on Skiatook Lake in Oklahoma.
Representing country music were Koe Wetzel and Cody Cannon, frontman of Whiskey Myers, while the rest of the celebrity field contained current and former NFL stars, such as Patrick Queen and Randy Moss, as well as MLB player Michael Brantley and his dad Mickey, X Games legend Travis Pastrana, and NASCAR’s Ross Chastain.
From what I’ve read online, Shiatook Lake is a tough body of water to fish in northeast Oklahoma. Nicknamed “The Gateway to the Osage”, the 10,500 acre lake with 160 miles of shoreline contains three species of bass, largemouth, smallmouth, and stripped bass, and while it plays host to a number of fishing tournaments each year, many people in forums online have referred to it as the “Dead sea” and claim they’ve barely caught anything there, despite many attempts.
But fortunately for our celebrities, who are all accomplished anglers in their own right, they were under the watching eye of some of the most experienced bass fishermen on the planet, and when the 7am to 11am window closed yesterday morning, there were more than a few good totals throughout the field.
Hood Fishing Entertainment (a great social media follow if you don’t already) and Chris Zaldain wound up taking first place with a 64.75″ Total while Cody Cannon and John Soukup tied with Randy Moss and Rick Clunn for second with a 59.5″ Total.
Koe and Matty Wong finished in an entertaining 7th place with a 42.25″ Total.
While our dude didn’t quite do enough to get the win, he at least well-outperformed a few others in the field, like Travis Pastrana, Michael Brantley, and Patrick Queen, who didn’t catch a single fish.
All in all it looked like a great day on the water and I sure wish I could have been a fly on the wall (or in the boat) for all of it.
If this proves anything, it’s that everyone, even the most famous among us, love a morning on the water.
