Entering the 2006 Bassmaster Classic, which begins Friday, Feb. 24 on Florida’s Lake Toho, Zell Rowland 
of Montgomery, Texas has earned $980,665.90 from BASS tournaments. If Rowland finishes in the Top 10 at Toho – his 14th Bassmaster Classic – he’ll crack the million-dollar mark.
Rowland, who competed in his first BASS tournament when he was 13 years old and has never made his living doing anything other than fishing for bass, actually has already earned more than a million dollars as a professional angler, having won $65,750 on the FLW Tour. A high Classic finish would simply seal the deal on the BASS money list.
Of course, no one aims for a "good finish" at the Bassmaster Classic. It’s an all-or-nothing deal, with no points involved, and every angler fishes to win, leaving nothing on the table. The top prize for this year’s Classic is $500,000, but even that number pales in comparison to the career boost a Classic victory always provides and the prestige of being Classic Champ.
Lake Toho and neighboring waters in the Kissimmee chain are full of grass and very large bass, characteristics which favor Rowland’s style of fishing. Many East Texas lakes fit the same profile, and three of Rowland’s five BASS wins have been on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville (two) and South Carolina’s Santee Cooper lakes.
Rowland, who is widely acclaimed as the finest topwater fisherman in professional bass fishing, has brought nearly three tons of fish to the BASS scales during his career. He has a dozen Top 3 finishes and 33 Top 10 finishes to his name and has finished "in the money" in more than half the BASS events in which he has competed.
Many anglers believe flippin’ will be the winning tactic at Toho. If so, a YUM Wooly Bug could be a critical tool. Designed to penetrate grass, move a lot of water with its ribbed body and imitate a crawfish with its pincers, a Wooly Bug is ideal for punching through mats of vegetation.
That said, Rowland noted that the Kissimmee chain offers a lot of variety and that anglers shouldn’t rule out other tactics. Bass commonly school at Toho – good news for a topwater specialist – and Rowland also believes a Cotton Cordell Super Spot or a BOOYAH Blade spinnerbait is apt to produce a big bag of fish.
Of course, if warm weather prevails, sight-fishing could play an important role, and bags brought to the scales could be absolutely huge. Most anglers believe the Classic records will be re-written this week, and Rowland hopes to see his name atop every page.
Bassmaster Classic competitions days are Feb. 24-26. The ESPN Outdoors Expo & Classic Weigh-In will be held at the Orange County Convention Center. Anglers will launch from Big TOHO Marina. For more details on the 2006 Bassmaster Classic, visit the Classic home page.