Ken Cook

Ken Cook (1947—2016) In 1983, Ken Cook walked to a payphone across from the weigh-in stage in Palatka, Florida to phone his wife Tammy and tell her he’d just won $100,000 in the Super B.A.S.S. event, and would soon be quitting his job as a fisheries biologist.

It was a phone call that ultimately lead him to the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.

Cook was an impressive blend of both academic intelligence and natural intuition. He was raised in rural Wilburton, Oklahoma and graduated with a B.S. degree in zoology from Oklahoma State University before beginning his 13-year career as fisheries biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife and Conservation.

He was proud of his work in fisheries, but an internal fire to combine his love of the bass fishing with competing in tournaments eventually lead to a pair of victories in much respected B.A.S.S. regional events prior to winning the $100,000 1983 Super B.A.S.S. events on the St. Johns River.

Cook’s phone call home from the St. Johns to declare a major career change became powerful igniter to what became an iconic 26 career as a pro angler, highlighted by his victory in the 1991 Bassmaster Classic on the Chesapeake Bay using the beloved Hart spinnerbait he helped design.

Prior to his Classic victory, Ken also won the 1983 Missouri Invitational on Truman Reservoir, and the 1987 New York Invitational on the St. Lawrence River.

He was truly one of the world’s greatest professional bass anglers during the decades of the 1980s and 90s, qualifying for 14 Bassmaster Classics during that era.

The 1991 Bassmaster Classic victory enabled him to buy hundreds of acres of land near Meers, OK, where they built a home in 1995 on what he and Tammy named Tarbone Ranch. The family passionately manages herds of whitetail deer, elk, and trophy bison for trophy hunting.

In 2005, Cook was selected by B.A.S.S. as one of the Top 35 angler of all time, and two years after he retired from professional bass fishing in 2009, he was inducted into the 2011 class of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.

He thoroughly enjoyed retirement by sharing quality time in the outdoors, not only on Tarbone Ranch with sons Jason, Hunter and Tanner and their families — but also with Tammy on extended excursions to places such as Door County, Wisconsin to chase smallmouth bass for weeks at a time, and Africa where he harvested perhaps his proudest archery trophy of all time – a leopard.

Ken was chopping wood and hunting coyotes on Tarbone Ranch hours prior to his unexpected death in January 2016 of an apparent heart attack at age 68.

Perhaps a fitting final chapter to a man whose life was guided by his own compass en route to achieving what many may have labeled nearly impossible dreams of becoming a legendary pro bass angler while working as a fisheries biologist.