Lake Norman Bass Tournament 1970!!!

Today’s video is a look back at our early history in bass fishing. A time before graphite rods, high-tech reels were an ABU 5000, and there were no power poles or even paper graphs. This is an event, the first event to be held in any of the Carolinas, that features as many runabouts as it does bass boats. No livewells, no kill switches and a tournament day that lasted 13 hours or more. The video, Lake Norman 1970 with Rhodney Honeycutt is a good example of what competitive bass fishing was like in its infancy.

But let me give you a little background of how I came to be trusted with this video.

This past March at Bassmaster Classic 52, I was lucky enough to be able to sit down and talk with Bob Cobb and COL (ret) Jim Kientz over breakfast about the early days of bass fishing. That conversation is one I will never forget and one I will share with you all at some point. At the end of our discussion, Jim reached into his pocket, looked at Bob and handed me an envelope. In the envelope was a small drive and note written on the front. The note said, “Lake Norman Video. 1st Major Bass Tournament Held in North or South Carolina.” I was a bit taken aback.

I opened the envelope further and saw another note. That note said, “1970 Lake Norman, NC. 1st Major Bass Tournament in NC/SC. Narrated by Rhodney Honeycutt, son of Hall of Fame Member Blake Honeycutt.

I asked Bob and Jim where they got the video and they told me it had been given to them a couple days earlier by a gentleman named Lenny Smathers. Smathers is a close friend of Rhodney Honeycutt’s and the Honeycutt family.

If you’re not familiar with the name Honeycutt, let me fill you in.

First off, Blake Honeycutt, Rhodney’s dad, holds the all-time record for the total weight for a 15-fish/day limit in a B.A.S.S. tournament with 138-06. Blake is also an inductee of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame and played a major role in the development of Humminbird Electronics. More important, Blake had passed away the day before and that news had reached the Classic.

I asked Bob and Jim what they wanted me to do with it. They said, “we want you to share this and make sure it doesn’t get lost to time.” Chills went down my spine.

After our meeting I went to the final day of the Classic Expo and then the weigh-in. After weigh-in I went to my room, sat down at the computer, and plugged the drive into the slot. What my eyes saw was raw footage of an event that happened just after I’d turned 6 years old. It was amazing to see the old boats, the anglers, the lake, and the awards. The narration, done by Rhodney, gave a good explanation of what happened in the event and who was fishing it.

The video was too special just to throw out on YouTube and not have the back story. On the way home, not wanting to bother Rhodney during this time of grief, I called Lenny Smathers. Lenny and I talked and agreed it’d be best to wait for a while before contacting Rhodney.

A month of so later, I got on the phone and gave Rhodney a call. That call led to numerous emails until we were finally able to meet face to face. At that meeting, I asked him about that event and if he could give us a little background of how it went down.

Here is what he had to say.

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