Syracuse.com - Westhill grad ran the show at Bassmaster tournament on Oneida Lake

[HuntingNY-News]

For the past eight years, Chris Bowes has run more than 100 tournaments for B.A.S.S., including eight Bassmaster Classics and a number of Elite Series contests and regional competitions. He was he driving force behind holding the Bassmaster Memorial tournament on Onondaga Lake 2007.

Jim COmmentucci/The Post-StandardChris Bowes, left, interviews Mike Cusano, of Clay, on stage at Oneida Shores Park at Thursday's weigh-in.

Chris Bowes this week has served the dual role of tournament director and emcee during this week’s Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Northern Open tournament on Oneida Lake.

For Bowes, 43, he’s working his dream job with B.A.S. S. — one he never imagined growing up in Westvale.

“I graduated from Westhill High School and was very active in Boy Scout Troop 182, which really started my passion for the outdoors,” he said. “I was a hunter, a fisherman, a trapper, the whole nine yards. I actually ran a nuisance wildlife business in Syracuse after I graduated from SUNY Cobleskill with a degree in fisheries and wildlife management.”

He eventually got a job working at Carrier and was active in the Salt City Bassmasters, organizing that club’s local bass tournaments.

His big break came in 2004, when B.A.S.S. held the Northern Open on Oneida Lake. He served as coordinator of the local volunteers for the event.

Less than a year later, he became aware of a job opening for a tournament director at B.A.S.S. He applied and got the job.

“I was like playing minor league baseball and then having the Yankees call you up to come be the starting pitcher for them. It was a dream come true,” he said.

For the past eight years, Bowes, who now lives in Clermont, Fla. has run more than 100 tournaments for B.A.S.S., including eight Bassmaster Classics and a number of Elite Series contests and regional competitions. He was he driving force behind holding the Bassmaster Memorial tournament on Onondaga Lake 2007.

He smiled when he recalled an incident several years ago during a weigh-in ceremony in Shreveport, La. The crowd suddenly started to part “like the Red Sea” and several women started shrieking, he said.

“It was this huge, 6-or 7- foot banded, water snake making it’s way through the crowd. It was about as big around as a baseball, if not a softball,” he said. “One guy just reached down, grabbed it and took it down to the water. The emcee turned to me and said, ‘That’s the great thing about being in Louisiana. There’s always a Cajun around willing to pick up just about anything.’ “

He said most the anglers in B.A.S.S. competitions are extremely honest and honorable, but he remembers one who caught fish while practicing before tournaments and would then tied them with fishing line to stumps so he catch them later.

“We got some assistance from local government officials who went out, found some of these fish tied up and punched holes in their fins with a hole punch so they could be identified. He was caught and ended up being banned for life,” Bowes said.

He said people would be surprised about what’s involved in his job.

“I call it the ‘fish circus,” he said. “That’s because we come into an area, set up stages and tents and then tear them down. We’re glorified carnies.”

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog