Terry Butcher had been late for check-in at a tournament once before. It was at an EverStart back in the 1990s and he'd been bed-fishing, and he simply lost track of time. There was no real consequence for that indiscretion, since he wouldn't have earned a paycheck whether he'd been punctual or not.
It was a different story last week at the Oneida Lake Bassmaster Elite Series, though. A "brain lock" regarding his check-in time cost him a $10,000 check for the event, several thousand dollars in Angler of the Year money and a slot in next year's Bassmaster Classic, which will take place at Grand Lake in his home state of Oklahoma.
"I'm sure I'll get over it at some point," he said. "But I'll remember that until I go to my grave."
He said he flat-out knew his check-in time was 3:45 and responded with those numbers when asked by a B.A.S.S. official when he launched. But somehow, at some point during the day, the deadline became 4 o'clock in his own mind.
"I was just doing the normal deal, coming in with the second flight while thinking it was the first. I waved at the guy in the check-in boat just to let him know it was me, and he started waving me over. I thought that was odd because he could see who I was from there.
"When I got close to him, I realized what had happened. I started to turn around and just leave, but then I came back and asked him how late I was. He told me 11 minutes and I knew I had more than 11 pounds, so I was just hoping it would be enough to keep me in the Top 50 (in the points race) for the Angler of the Year money.
"I ended up 51st, so I missed that, too."
The 11-pound penalty dropped his weight for the day from 13-15 to 2-15. Without it, he would've been in 22nd place at the midway point of the event and would've needed only about 10 pounds on day 3 to secure a Classic berth.
He's a member of the Bass Cat Boats pro staff, and Bass Cat owner Rick Pierce has launched a campaign to try to get him elected to fill one of the four at-large spots for next month's Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Elite Series All-Star Week. Pierce has put out the word on his own company's owner's board, along with other popular forums such as Bass Boat Central and the Bass Fishing Home Page.
"I'm hesitant to say that he's 'deserving' because he did make a mistake," Pierce said. "But it was an honest mistake and he's just such a good guy."
Butcher could still get into the Classic by winning next month's Central Open at Fort Gibson Lake, but that's admittedly a longshot. All the money he left behind at Oneida is gone for good.
Nonetheless, he was able to find a tiny bit of humor in the ordeal.
"I've seen guys write down their check-in time on their hand and stuff like that, and I'd better start writing it somewhere. I'm 41 years old now, and they say that the memory is the first thing to go."
