The winning fish of the 2015 GEICO Bassmaster Classic could very well be seen flopping around live on Bassmaster.com. Internet coverage for this year’s Classic will include live on-the-water video of anglers on Lake Hartwell.
“It’s somewhat new technology that uses cell service to transmit video,” Bassmaster TV producer Mike McKinnis said. “Once we really tested the technology and found this works, we knew this would be huge.
“We do things that inspire us, and we know if we get excited, typically the fans can get excited about it. I think the fans will be blown away.”
Introducing Bassmaster Classic Live
The shows, called Bassmaster Classic Live, will be hosted by tournament emcee Dave Mercer each morning, Feb. 20-22, from 9-11 a.m. ET. Bassmaster TV hosts Tommy Sanders and Mark Zona will work the next two hours each day.
The set will be at the B.A.S.S. booth at the Classic Expo. The booth will have a number of video screens displaying the feed to Bassmaster.com, which includes live footage of anglers on Lake Hartwell as well as Kevin VanDam and other pros who will provide analysis.
“There will be shots from the set, but my wish is that we never leave the lake,” McKinnis said. “The perfect scenario is we go out on the water and we go from angler to angler, just like you would see from a live golf tournament.”
There will be technical issues, McKinnis warns, because cell service is marginal in the far reaches of Lake Hartwell. But he’s hopeful at least a few anglers will remain in range at all times.
“If they get in the back of some creeks, behind a ridge, we might have some trouble,” he said. “The technology is going to get better, cell service is going to get better, but there’s going to be lots of times where we’re watching guys catch meaningful fish that are important in winning the Bassmaster Classic.”
While the anglers with a cameraman onboard isn’t set, McKinnis said past champions Randy Howell and Mike Iaconelli along with local favorite Casey Ashley are good Day 1 prospects.
“Day 2 and Day 3, we’re going to be covering the Top 5 guys,” he said. “We’re going to be seeing the guys who are making a difference, and it’s going to be happening live.”
Learning from the Brawls
Bassmaster.com used the new cameras to stream two B.A.S.S. Brawls. Howell and David Walker competed live on the Tennessee River in October then brothers Chris and Bobby Lane dueled on a Florida lake.
“Those were our first real jumping-off points,” McKinnis said. “They showed us what we could do.”
McKinnis said that Bassmaster fans are discerning and past attempts at live coverage left them voicing their displeasure, but the B.A.S.S. Brawls were received favorably.
Watch the B.A.S.S. Brawls: Randy Howell vs. David Walker I The Lane brothers
“All these live experiences that we’ve had, we’ve gotten hammered by the fans,” McKinnis said. “When we did that Tennessee B.A.S.S. Brawl with Howell and Walker, they were like, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever seen.’ And they weren’t even catching fish.
“But they were seeing the guys out there casting, seeing what they were doing and it’s happening right now. We’re getting ready to see that at the Classic.”
McKinnis was intrigued when he learned of the cameras, which were designed to eliminate the need for satellite trucks of TV news stations. Live fishing has been discussed since ESPN began working on Classics in 2001.
There was technology to do it then, but getting cameras out on the water and satellite hookups was cost prohibitive. McKinnis said there was some live coverage in the past, on Lake Wylie in 2004 and at the 2005 Classic.
“We had our first live fish caught on camera in Pittsburgh, only because Dean Rojas was fishing across from downtown and we got a live shot of him,” he said. “We’ve had Byron (Velvick) and Jerry (McKinnis) as reporters on the water, but never a live shot of some action, a fish caught that meant something in a tournament.”
How it works
McKinnis heads the editing team that will have their eyes on each angler, and he said they can switch over to meaningful action and will replay pertinent fish catches.
“We may cut into some things happening that are big, especially on Sunday and with the leader,” he said. “If anything twitches in his boat, and we’re on something else, we’re stopping what we’re doing and we’re going to him to see what happens.”
With TV and the Internet beginning to merge, McKinnis said he’s excited what the future holds for live fishing coverage. The cameras will be used throughout the Elite season, although he said there are several venues with poor cell service.
“Now, you get some coverage on Bassmaster.com and get your television show a week or two later on ESPN,” he said. “What this is going to do is put us in that line with live TV, live sports.
“It’s Saturday, Day 2 of the Classic, I’m going to watch it right now because it’s happening right now. Our TV will become live, the way ESPN wanted and tried to do for years.”
“It could just be a monster step in our sport,” said B.A.S.S. co-owner Jerry McKinnis, who envisions a future when there’s feeds to all the anglers in the Top 12. “You can see them all and punch up this one right here and watch him for a little while, and then you see No. 6 over here looks like he’s caught a fish, let me pop him up.
“Let me tell you, there will be people fired at work. That’s going to happen. I may not see it, but it’s headed that way and this technology we have is the beginning of that.”