Industry veteran and BassFan friend Alan McGuckin is another Tulsa resident who's absolutely amped that the Bassmaster Classic is finally coming to Tulsa.
"Guck" formerly worked for Terminator and is now with Dynamic Sponsorships, where he's involved with marketing and communications for clients like Toyota, BoatUS and Zebco/Quantum.
He was at the BOK Center press conference yesterday and couldn't be reached until later in the day. Thus his thoughts weren't included in today's top story, but he's so passionate on the subject we wanted to share his thoughts with BassFans. Guck says:
"My entire 17-year marketing career in the fishing industry has been centered in Tulsa. That, coupled with the fact that I've fished many individual and team tournaments on Grand Lake o' the Cherokees, makes this announcement really special. Based on fan support alone, I've thought for years that Tulsa would someday be a fantastic venue for a Bassmaster Classic, but until the construction of the 19,000-seat BOK Center in 2008, we really lacked the infrastructure necessary to house and host a Classic. Now we can.
"You'd be hard-pressed to find a fishery of 20,000 surface acres or greater – that doesn't have vegetation in it, which Grand does not – that houses more 2- to 5-pound bass than Grand. I've heard Bassmaster Elite Series pros say that Grand is the 'best non-grass lake' in the country. The 70-year old reservoir sustains tremendous amounts of tournament pressure, yet still continues to kick out dozens of 12- to 20-pound limits every weekend, with a 25-pound limit not out of the question.
"Certainly Grand Lake is rich with B.A.S.S. history too. From the fact that the first member of B.A.S.S., Don Butler, once called Grand Lake home, to one of Ken Cook's career-launching wins at the Bassmaster Chapter Championship back in 1980, to Jim Morton's unbelievable buzzbait-dominated win at the B.A.S.S. Oklahoma Invitational in 1993 when air temperatures dipped to 17 degrees one morning, Grand is deep in B.A.S.S. history.
"Speaking of 17-degree mornings, weather is the one wildcard that'll influence success of the 2013 Classic. Few states in America feature more dynamic weather than Oklahoma. Unbelievably, this past Monday evening we were under a tornado watch, while simultaneously we felt an earthquake shake our homes. And this past February, we had a rare and record-setting 22 1/2 inches of snow in Tulsa. My fishing log indicates water temperatures at Grand were 39-41 on February 27, 2010. So I'll keep my fingers crossed for all involved that the air temp is a friendly 62 degrees, the skies are blue, and no snow's on the ground in northeast Oklahoma during Classic Week 2013. If so, I truly believe it'll be the long-awaited fantastic event we've dreamed of hosting throughout my 17 years in the fishing industry here in Tulsa."
