Porter Wagoner Memorial Artists & Anglers Fishing Tournament
June 29, 2009
Story by Ken Sasaki, President of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits
I recently attended the second annual Porter Wagoner Memorial Artists & Anglers Fishing Tournament. It's a fun celebration of music and fishing held in honor of the late Porter Wagoner who passed away in October, 2007.
This annual event pairs two of my favorite kind of folks, country music artists with bass pros. The tournament was held on June 9th this year on Percy Priest Lake in Nashville, Tennessee. It is an ideal lake for this kind of special get-together, and the afternoon weigh-in took place nearby at Bass Pro Shops Opry Mills store where the public can take part, see the celebrities weigh in their catches, and enjoy the excitement.
A lot of people may not know that besides singing and entertaining, Porter Wagoner was an avid bass fisherman. In fact, the Opry Mills Bass Pro Shops store in Nashville has a huge picture of Porter and John L. Morris, founder of Bass Pro Shops, hanging just inside the front door. When you go in, you can’t miss it.
Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits also had a great relationship with Porter and with many, many other country artists. Porter often stole away to one of our pro-staffer’s house (Joe Jones) at Lake Guntersville for a weekend of bass fishing and hospitality.
The tournament has grown from 29 boats the first year, to 40 boats this year. It has enormous popularity among the many country artists who love to fish, and there are plenty of them. We had to turn down some country artists this year because we simply didn’t have enough boats and pro fishermen on hand to drive them. And what’s more, the pro anglers donated their time, effort, gasoline, talent and everything else required to hold this tournament for free. It’s quite remarkable. It was also nice for me to see some old friends like Bobby Bare and Jeff Cook, guitarist for Alabama.
Country artists Becky and Emily Robertson fished with Roland Martin.
Bass pro Emily Shaffer and Jeff Cook (from the rock band Alabama) landed 12.55 pounds for second place.
Artist Rodney Atkins and Jimmy Houston shared a boat.
We’re already working on the 2010 tournament. Some of those plans include an official tournament website. As soon as I find out more, I’ll pass along the information.
Special thanks to David Hagood of American Bass Anglers for the fine photos and the fabulous weigh-in trailer. To see many more photos of the event, please go to:
Thank you,
Ken Sasaki
President
