Sometime just after 7 p.m. today, the world of professional bass fishing will crown a new world champion at the 54th annual Bassmaster Classic in Tulsa, Okla., completing another chapter in the long and colorful history of fishing’s biggest event.

The field of 56 Classic anglers launched Friday for the first day of competition on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake and will conclude later today at the final weigh-in stage in front of more than 15,000 fans in the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa.

Today is the day when the focus of everyone in the bass world is directed on one event. On-the-water action will be broadcast live during today’s fishing and highlights will be aired tonight on FS1.

Known this year officially as the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoor, the Classic is considered the Super Bowl of bass fishing. Winning the Classic is the dream of every angler who competes in bass tournaments across the U.S., including locally in Mohawk Valley (Youngstown) and Ohio Valley (Columbiana) bass clubs as well as “opens” and series events on Mosquito, Berlin, West Branch, Milton and other NE Ohio waters.

As the annual showcase of talent and tactics, the Classic helps educate the bass fishing public. I had the good fortune to earn media credentials to 20 Bassmaster Classics starting with 1984’s event on the Arkansas River. Over the years, I served as an on-board observer for many acclaimed anglers, including Rick Clunn, Kevin VanDam, Larry Nixon, Guido and Dion Hibdon, George Cochran, Joe Thomas, Woo Daves and Michael Iaconelli.

I experienced many of America’s great lakes and rivers – the Arkansas, James and Ohio rivers, lakes Chickamauga, Michigan, Lay, Logan Martin and High Rock, the Chesapeake Bay and Louisiana’s Mississippi River Delta.

On the water, I was fortunate to witness great anglers, spectacular catches, amazing scenes and harrowing boat rides.

From my catbird seat on the back decks of Classic competition boats, I witnessed GOAT Rick Clunn’s hyper-focused approach on shallow-water Alabama largemouths and Kevin VanDam cranking rip-rap on the Chesapeake’s Middle River while A-10 Warthogs practiced touch-and-goes on a runway just 200 yards away.

Amid the cacophony of downtown Chicago, I had a front-row seat as Jay Yelas plucked bass from steel pilings and concrete walls as pedestrians gaped at the oddity of fishermen working their Chicago River. With the Sears Tower poking high above the Windy City’s skyline, I sat 15 feet from Woo Daves as he caught the first of his three daily limits of Lake Michigan smallmouth bass and to the stage for his popular Classic win in 2000.

On tidewater Virginia’s Appomattox River, not far from its confluence with the historic James River, I watched Guido Hibdon put together the pattern that would propel him to his Classic crown.

The Classic fishing day starts at sunrise and continues for eight hours. I spent six of those hours riding in contender Harold Allen’s boat during the final day of the 2001 Classic on the Louisiana Delta. Allen’s fishing hole was a 3-hour one-way boat ride from the launch. With just two hours of actual fishing time, the Texan bagged a hefty limit and finished fourth behind winner VanDam.

My first Bassmaster Classic observer’s assignment included a day aboard the boat of Paul Elias in 1984 on the Arkansas River. Elias executed perfectly on a spectacular strike by a big bass that jumped out of the water to eat his buzzbait. Later, as Elias awaited the arrival of his trailer at the boat ramp, he pulled alongside Clunn’s boat and learned Clunn had caught another huge limit, enough to gain his third Classic victory.

So who will be the next world champion? This year’s tournament prognosticators foresaw a contest pitting the old guard versus the young guns. Will it be a veteran bank-beater or a tech-savvy youngster staring at video screens projecting underwater images from forward-facing sonar?

Many picked defending champion Jeff Gustafson, who last year became the first Canadian to win the world title, or two-time champ Hank Cherry. Others leaned toward Oklahoma native and local favorite Jason Christie. Or perhaps one of the first-day frontrunners, Lee Livesay and Cody Huff.

Regardless of the outcome, it will make a great story. The Bassmaster Classic never disappoints in that regard.

Jack Wollitz is the author of “The Common Angler,” a book featuring stories about experiences that help define the “why” behind anglers’ passion for fishing. Email Jack at jackbbaass@gmail.com.