Oklahoman Sheri Glasgow Takes Women's Bassmaster Tour by Storm
By Tim TuckerCELEBRATION, Fla. — There is a Bassmaster pro dominating BASS tournaments in impressive fashion, scoring eight top-five finishes in 11 events and leading the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings.
Here's the surprise: It's not Kevin VanDam.
Sheri Glasgow, a 40-year-old veteran angler from Oklahoma, is piling up accolades on the Mercury Marine Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats.
"That's impressive," said VanDam, who leads the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year race on the Elite Series circuit. "The hardest thing to do in tournament fishing is to be consistent. When you're in the top five, you're probably in contention to win and that's even tougher to do.
"In any sport, anybody would be really proud of that. It doesn't matter if it's golf, NASCAR, tennis or anything, that's an impressive stat."
In the WBT's inaugural season, Glasgow had two runner-up finishes and a fourth-place showing and finished fifth in the Toyota Women's Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings.
Since placing second in the 2006 WBT Championship on Alabama's Lake Mitchell in February, Glasgow has been nothing short of phenomenal. Her finishes include a third at the WBT season opener on Texas' Lake Amistad; first at Arkansas' Lake Dardanelle; fifth at Alabama's Lake Guntersville; and second at Kentucky Lake. With just one event remaining, she holds a 129-point lead over 2006 AOY runner-up Tammy Richardson. Just two points behind Richardson is Pam Martin-Wells, the 2006 WBT Championship winner.
"I've had a blessed year," Glasgow said. "It has kind of blown me away. What's interesting about it is I've actually been on the fish to win every tournament. To be fortunate enough to win tournaments you have to have all those little key elements go right. But to have the opportunities I've had to win this year has almost been surreal to me. I find myself in awe over the season."
Despite a sizable lead in the AOY race, Glasgow doesn't think she can cruise to the season finale at Louisiana's Red River.
"I've got a pretty significant lead, but I'm not uncatchable," she said. "I could go over there and have one of those terrible tournaments like I had the end of last year, and walk away with my tail tucked again. So I don't want to go to the Red River counting my chickens before they hatch."
Meanwhile, Glasgow has to wait more than two months before she can attempt to wrap up her incredible season. The Red River tournament is set for Sept. 20-22.
"It's keeping me so anxious, because I'm wired up and pumped up about it right now that I would go fish it next week if they'd move it up," Glasgow said.
BOTTOM BASS.
Fishing fans will soon be able to get up-to-the-minute tournament news on ESPN2.
The Bottom Line, which provides viewers with updated scores and sports news at the bottom of the television screen, will display Bassmaster Elite Series event results and Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings starting July 14-15 with the Champion's Choice at Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y. These standings will air on the ESPN2 Bottom Line from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET., Saturday and Sunday.
IKE REACTS.
Think Michael Iaconelli is psyched about being a finalist for a high-profile ESPY in the Best Outdoors Athlete category?
"Awesome!" the Runnemede, N.J., pro said. "It's an honor to be recognized. I was also recognized the year after winning the (2003) Classic. I'm not used to being put with other top athletes. It's an honor."
Iaconelli was asked about his chances of winning. "I don't know," the 2006 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year replied. "The other nominees are at the top of their sport. But this year I have a good feeling.
"The last three to four years the sport of fishing has come a long way. It's being recognized as a sport and we are being recognized as athletes in mainstream forums."
Former winners of the category include Kevin VanDam and Tammy Richardson.
SPREADING THE WORD.
Elite Series pro Darrin Schwenkbeck, a new resident of the Buffalo area, made the ceremonial first cast last week during a special press event at the site of the July 19-22 Empire Chase.
"It was a big deal," Schwenkbeck said. "I met with the mayor and all kinds of politicians for a press conference on the waterfront in the small-boat harbor in Buffalo. It was on every news station in Buffalo, several radio stations and in the newspapers."
Schwenkbeck, a western New York native who recently moved from Maryland to Varysburg, N.Y., said the city is excited about the upcoming tournament, which will be the first BASS appearance in the area since 2004.
"This is a championship event for elite fishermen from around the country and it will attract the best bass fishermen in the country," Richard Geiger, president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau, said to the Buffalo News. "On top of the athletes and their families, we're expecting over 5,000 spectators throughout the weekend, all totaling an economic impact of about $1 million on our community."
WRAP RAP.
Having grown up in the duck-hunting Mecca of Arkansas, Stephen Browning is a devoted waterfowl hunter. And it shows on his wrapped boat.
The Elite Series pro's Triton promotes www.mackspw.com, better known as Mack's Prairie Wings, a Stuttgart catalog business that has catered to waterfowlers since 1993. Interestingly, the catalog is an outgrowth of McCollum's Hardware Store, which began outfitting duck hunters in the 1930s.
WEIRDEST CATCH.
Believe it or not, Jon Bondy once caught a horseshoe.
The Elite Series pro was guiding on the Detroit River when he hooked the metal object with the exposed hook of his jighead.
"They used to smuggle booze across the ice on that river with horses," the Canadian pro said. "I don't know if that is where it's from, but why in the heck else would it be out there?"
No word on whether Bondy's unexpected find brought him luck.
DID YOU KNOW?
After the recent Elite Series stop at Oklahoma's Grand Lake, Jeff Kriet and Jared Lintner are the only competitors who have cashed a check in every single Elite tournament.
IF I HADN'T BECOME A BASS PRO...
Elite Series pro Lee Bailey has a background in graphics that had a hands-on beginning.
"I was an offset press operator," the Alabama angler said. "I ran a printing press. I worked for the Connecticut State Employees Association and worked in their print shop running the press operation area.
"Fishing is better."
THEY SAID IT.
"Naaah. Can't be eating them. It's like eating a co-worker." Elite Series pro Gerald Swindle, when asked by the Daily Oklahoman newspaper whether he ever ate bass.
For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208 or visit www.bassmaster.com. Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN's latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.
News exclusives, audio and video clips of bass fishing's biggest stars, loads of discounts and more are all part of BASS Insider, an exclusive membership, now available at www.bassmaster.com.
BASS is the worldwide authority on bass fishing, staging more than 20,000 events through the BASS Federation Nation annually. Guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans, BASS sets the standard for credibility, professionalism, sportsmanship and conservation, as it has for nearly 40 years.
BASS stages and sanctions bass fishing tournaments for every skill level culminating with the Bassmaster Classic. Through its clubs, youth programs, aquatic resource advocacy, magazine publishing and multimedia platforms, BASS offers the industry's widest array of services and support to its nearly 530,000 members. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.
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