John Powell

John Powell (1929 – 2007) – John Powell knew from a very early age what it meant to work hard. He grew up on what he called a “rawhide” farm in Elmore County, Alabama, just northeast of Montgomery. Like his father before him, he fished commercially in lakes and rivers along the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers near his home.

Powell joined the Army Air Corps in 1947. In his 22-year service in the Air Force, he served in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War, rising to the rank of Chief Master Sergeant.

While still serving in the Air Force, Powell returned to his native Alabama and decided to check out the new tournament organization established in nearby Montgomery, the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, by his longtime friend, B.A.S.S. founder Ray Scott.

Scott loaned Powell a V-hull plywood boat so he could fish the second Bassmaster tournament, the Dixie Invitational on Smith Lake, Alabama, in 1967. Scott secured a more seaworthy Chrysler boat for Powell to fish additional events, and he used it to post his first win, claiming the 1968 Eufaula National on Lake Eufaula, Alabama, with a stunning catch of 132 pounds.

Hooked on tournament fishing, Powell retired from military service in 1969 and began fishing professionally, becoming the first to win back-to-back tournaments, in 1971 on Sam Rayburn and Table Rock lakes. Powell qualified for six Bassmaster Classic championships.

Powell was one of the first members of B.A.S.S. and one of its early tournament trail stars. He shared the spotlight with men like Bill Dance and Tom Mann, and he was winning tournaments before Roland Martin arrived on the scene. He was frequently near the top of the standings, finishing in the Top 50 in more than half the 90 tournaments he fished, including 32 Top 20s and 16 finishes in the Top 10, counting his three victories.

Along with Martin, he was a popular speaker on the Bassmaster Seminar Circuit, on which they, along with Scott, Bob Cobb and Harold Sharp, toured the nation giving presentations on bass fishing to packed auditoriums in 101 cities over a two-year period. Powell believed he was the first pro angler at the beginning of B.A.S.S. to earn a sponsor contract.

He was an early innovator of shallow-water fishing with plastic worms, which were gaining popularity in the 1970s after Mann’s Bait Co. hit the market with the Jelly Worm. Powell regularly told anglers in the boat with him to set the hook quickly when they felt a bite instead of waiting. “That first tap you feel is the bass sucking in your worm,” he would tell his listeners. “The second tap is the fish spitting it out. The third tap is me tapping you on the shoulder to tell you that you missed him!”