Craig Lamb

Harold Sharp, legendary B.A.S.S. tournament director, once called him “The Original B.A.S.S. Groupie.” Today, Craig Lamb of Murfreesboro, Tenn., wears the nickname proudly, even though it doesn’t even hint at all the ways he has made his mark on the sport and industry of bass fishing.

He got the nickname because he was regularly showing up at every tournament he could afford to attend, hanging out with the pros and journalists and other tournament gypsies. His first job as Forrest L. Wood’s “caddy” on the tournament trail led to his helping in the production of “The Bassmasters” TV show on The Nashville Network in the mid-1980s.

The enormously popular show was a watershed event in the evolution of professional fishing, and Lamb was in on it.

When Dewey Kendrick replaced Sharp as tournament director, he hired Lamb as his assistant. The young Tennessean was a witness to and a participant in some of the most important innovations in competitive fishing. He helped pull off the made-for-TV MegaBucks tournaments with their 10-hole format. He helped manage the Western Division, which expanded B.A.S.S.’s reach outside the Southeast and enticed some of the West’s best anglers to become Bassmaster pros.

Lamb next became associate editor of B.A.S.S. Times, helping produce the magazine and also covering tournaments and writing columns and features for Bassmaster.

Then came a stint as TNN’s manager of Outdoor Programming. In that role, Lamb not only contributed to the popularity of bass fishing and a membership explosion in B.A.S.S., but he also helped make stars of several tournament anglers turned TV fishermen.

As digital media began to emerge, he returned to B.A.S.S. and helped launch and edit Bassmaster.com. He innovated the first subscription-based premium website for B.A.S.S. and produced franchise programming for ESPN Outdoors.

Currently a Senior Editor at B.A.S.S., he oversees custom content and produces tournament coverage. Still a tournament junkie at heart, Lamb continues to attend the events that called to him 45 years ago. He has worked nearly 400 fishing derbies by now, including 42 Bassmaster Classics and many of the most momentous events in sportfishing.

He is proud to have held a myriad roles in the bass fishing game, he says, but all fall under a single job description: “promoting the fun of bass fishing.”