News

Former Arkansan takes honors in first bass competition

By Joe Mosby

Former Fort Smith resident Sharon Rushton is certainly no novice when it comes to fishing. She is, however, a neophyte in bass tournament competition.

So she entered her first competition, a national tournament, and won it. She's ready for more now.

Rushton now lives at Kimberling City, Mo., just across the border from Arkansas and on fish-rich Table Rock Lake.

She entered the first Women's Bassmaster Tour event of Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) as a co-angler, mainly because she didn't have confidence in her boat-handling abilities. This tournament was on Lewisville Lake in northern Texas, and Rushton came in first among the co-anglers.

Now the Women's Bassmaster Tour is headed for its second competition, this one on Neely Henry Lake in Alabama, east of Birmingham and site of past Bassmaster Classic competition.

BASS is the organization formed by Ray Scott after his landmark tournament on Beaver Lake in Arkansas in 1967. BASS events were men-only for many years. That has changed. ESPN, the television cable sports network, now owns BASS. The women's tour is a recent development, although a handful of women have fished the BASS national tournaments for about 15 years.

"When I first heard about the Women's Bassmaster Tour," Rushton said, "I wanted to be part of the preview event (on Lewisville Lake). I considered the event historic because BASS and ESPN were giving women's involvement in fishing an added support system and needed visibility. This inaugural event would also bring out the cream of the crop of women anglers and at the very least, I would learn a tremendous amount."

This was a case of a teacher wanting to learn. Rushton was a national leader in organizations and programs promotion fishing for youngsters. She helped lay the groundwork for today's highly successful Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs (HOFNOD) that operates all over the country including many schools and communities in Arkansas.

Gov. Mike Huckabee has been a strong proponent of HOFNOD since he took office nearly 10 years ago.

"Fishing has always been an important part of my life, as it's both my avocation and vocation," Rushton said. "My father introduced me to trout fishing as soon as I could walk and fishing became the most favored of all family outings.

"I'm not a novice when it comes to fishing. I have worked in the fish and wildlife industry for more than 25 years and have learned to fish from some of the best. However, my angling skills are better than my boating skills. So, I entered the WBT preview event as a co-angler.

"Once I made my decision, I began studying and getting tips from every angler willing to share their knowledge of Lewisville Lake. My husband James and I had just moved to Kimberling City and found the anglers there so supportive. One in particular, George Quest, spent hours with me on and off the water. I studied everything I could find and reviewed back issues of Bassmaster and BASS Times.

"Throughout the week (of the tournament) in Texas, I met so many wonderful women with high skill levels in fishing and boating. I was amazed how women came from three countries to participate. I was fortunate to practice one day with Lisa Craig from Chandler, Texas, who fished and camped at Lewisville for three weeks to prepare for the tournament. The three women I drew as partners shared their advice on how to fish the areas they selected and they even shared the trick, paddle-tail and finesse worms they were fishing.

"Angie Douthit of Clewiston, Fla. was my Day 1 partner and I caught a limit of three fish weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces, putting me in first place. She also took first place on Day 1 with 15 pounds, 6 ounces. The next two days, my fishing partners were Lisa Elkins from Amarillo, Texas, and Brenda Davis of Sand Springs, Okla., and I caught one fish each day, enough to hold the lead. Primarily all of my fish came flipping or casting to standing timber in shallow water."

Rushton is hooked now. She's in the field for that next Women's Bassmaster Tour event on April 20-22 in Alabama.

Women's Bassmaster Tour Info


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Joe Mosby is the retired news editor of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas' best known outdoor writer. His work is distributed by the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. He can be reached by e-mail at jhmosby@cyberback.com.