Remembering Bryan Kerchal, Epic Classic Pro
LISTEN: (4 min, 4 sec)
WE’RE AT FULL STRIDE of another season in big league bass fishing and on the heels of another Bassmaster Classic, this one held back in March at Lake Ray Roberts near Denton.
Thoughts of the late Bryan Kerchal always come to mind when someone mentions the sport’s most revered event. Kerchal won the 24th annual ‘Classic’ held on 15,500-acre High Rock Lake in Greensboro, N.C. way back in 1994. Sadly, his promising career was cut tragically short about 4 1/2 months later. Kerchal was killed when American Eagle Flight 3379 crashed about four miles from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina while traveling between sponsor engagements. He was only 23.
In 1994, Bryan Kerchal became the first and only amateur angler to win the Bassmaster Classic. Sadly, he died just 4 months later in a plane crash.
(Photo: B.A.S.S.)
The lessons the young angler from Newtown, CT, taught with his legendary victory continue to resonate with anglers around the globe. Especially those hopeful, club-level warriors with tall aspirations of making it big someday.
The ‘Classic’ win earned Kerchal a spot in professional bass fishing history and made him an instant inspiration to amateur anglers everywhere. It also made a strong case for his innate ability to think on his feet. A fast food cook who worked nights at the Ground Round restaurant at the time, Kerchal was the youngest competitor in the ‘Classic’ mix that year. BASS founder and emcee, Ray Scott, sometimes dubbed him the “Hamburger Flipper.”
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Kerchal qualified for the big show through the BASS Federation (now called BASS Nation), a grassroots organization built around bass clubbers from all around the country. Roughly four years after joining the Housatonic Valley Bassmasters bass club, he became the only amateur to win the sport’s most coveted championship trophy in BASS’ 50-plus year history. Followers of the sport may recall how Kerchal got onto the winning pattern that resulted in his dramatic ‘Classic’ win 31 years ago. For those who don’t, here’s the skinny:
Kerchal spent much of his pre-practice fishing structure away from the bank. He didn’t have much luck until he found a couple of torn red shad plastic worms floating in the water. Assuming someone had caught fish on the worms, Kerchal dug into his own stash, found something similar and started catching fish around docks. Come tournament time, he applied what he’d learned weeks earlier and put a whipping on a star-studded tournament field of 40 anglers. Kerchal, who refined the pattern by downsizing to light line and a small bullet weight – was the only angler in the event to turn in three consecutive limits.
Adding to the ‘Classic’ lore was the bass-shaped whistle Kerchal carried in his pocket throughout the tournament at the behest of a close friend, Roy Rickis. He tooted on the green whistle to commemorate each fish he caught.
Several lessons can be learned from the outcome. The most obvious is pro bass fishing has no boundaries and that anyone can beat the odds and rise to the top when all the stars line up.
Another is that anglers should always keep an open mind and be willing to try something different when other stuff just isn’t cutting it.
Little things can sometimes mean a lot when fishing for bass. This holds especially true when fishing on small water in a high-pressure situation at a time of the year when there are an abundance of fish holding around shallow cover. Changing up from what everyone else is doing can at times be the ticket to getting more bites and putting more fish in the boat.
That’s what Kerchal did. His decision to dare to be different earned him a $50,000 pay day and a Bassmaster Classic win that is arguably among the most legendary outcomes the sport has ever seen.
Email Matt Williams at ContactUs@fishgame.com
