Hanging With the Spinnerbait King of Sallisaw, Oklahoma

When I first became obsessed with tournament bass fishing in the mid-1990s, OT Fears was one of my heroes – and despite the adage that you’re not supposed to meet your heroes, a series of coincidences turned that into a 30-plus year friendship. He’s still a badass at nearly 80 years old. 

It wasn’t just that he’d won the Red Man All-American and multiple B.A.S.S. events – setting records at Santee and overcoming tough conditions on the Illinois River. Nor was it the fact that he could identify every tree and plant, had caught just about everything under the sun, and had ridden horseback through a storming herd of buffalo.

Instead, it was because he seemed like the ultimate road warrior: living out of his truck, driving 12, 25 or 20 hours at a clip, and going wherever the tours took him or the bite was hot. He knew someone in every town, at every great fishery, and always had a place to stay. There I was, deskbound, and he was living the life I wanted, with freedom I could only dream about.

So it was fitting that in my first major solo road trip from home post-retirement – heading to Oklahoma, then Missouri, back to Oklahoma and finally a couple of stops in Arkansas --I got to visit OT in his natural environment of Sallisaw, Oklahoma. The BASS tours are weird that way, they’re a traveling circus of sorts, with anglers from everywhere including Japan, Australia and from Florida to Idaho converging on sites around the country. Occasionally someone gets to sleep in their own bed, but not often. More typically they’re living out of their trucks or an Air B and B in remote towns, building little villages of their own.

Over the years, I’ve stayed at the homes of a number of top pros, and it always strikes me as a bit incongruous. Seeing them mowing their yards, paying bills and otherwise being domestic takes away a bit of the mystery, but it also adds to my understanding of who they are.

For the first time, I got to see the streets and terrain of Sallisaw to understand more of OT’s story, tidbits I’d only assumed or imagined before. OT and his wife Marie (they were high school classmates who reconnected later in life, invited me into their house with open arms and a meal beyond compare – fried crappie, grilled grouper, hush puppies, corn, French fries, cole slaw, fruit salad and a pineapple cake. I left with two big bags of chocolate chip cookies.

Marie has made him at least 50% less ornery, so it was a treat to be there and reminisce about how we’d met, and to quiz them about their lives and some of the stories that I remembered only vaguely. It was special to see them not on the road but where they could be most themselves. I got to see OT’s man cave and view in person the oversized checks and trophies and other residue of a life well-fished. I might’ve even grabbed a Superstars spinnerbait of his own design.

The Elite event in Muskogee was a fine one. I hope we go back, but mostly so I can spend more time with my friend OT.