51st Qualifier Highlights Women in Bass Fishing

January 20, 2009

Story and Photo Courtesty of BASS

BASS Reporter’s Notebook: ESPN2 Show 51st Qualifier Highlights Women in Bass Fishing

When Kim Bain-Moore of Alabaster, Ala., became the first woman to qualify for a Bassmaster Classic, she joined an exclusive club whose pioneering members include Vojai Reed, who in 1991 was the first woman to compete in a BASS event, and Sugar Ferris, who in 1976 founded the former Bass’n Gal circuit.

Ferris and Reed are two of the people featured in 51st Qualifier, a programming short that debuted last Saturday morning on ESPN2 that traces how women broke the glass ceiling in competitive bass fishing.

“To be the first woman to fish a Classic would really be overwhelming,” said Reed, who hails from Broken Bow, Okla., and is the wife of 1986 Bassmaster Classic champion Charlie Reed.

Also interviewed for the piece was veteran pro Kathy Magers of Waxahachie, Texas, an early advocate of women’s bass fishing. In 2005, Magers helped BASS establish the Women’s Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors, the avenue through which Bain-Moore earned an entry into the 2009 Classic by winning the 2008 Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year title.

51st Qualifier will be broadcast four more times before the Feb. 20-22 Bassmaster Classic, in which 51 anglers — including Bain-Moore — will compete on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La., for a $500,000 first-place prize.

To see the segment again before the Classic, fans can tune in at 7:26 a.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 7; and at 5:26 and 7:26 a.m. Feb. 14. It’s also scheduled to be shown at 5:26 a.m. Feb. 21 and 28, and in the same time slot March 14, 21 and 29.

All times are Eastern.