88'CHAMP BEAT ALL-STAR FIELD

The following was the result of the 1988 Bassmaster Classic:

1 Guido Hibdon 28 - 8 $50,000

2 Woo Daves 28 - 2 $12,000

3 Ken D Cook 27 - 4 $6,000

4 Paul Elias 26 - 1 $4,000

5 Tommy Martin 25 - 7

6 George Cochran 23 - 3

7 Jack Hains 23 - 0

17 Denny Brauer 19 - 2

18 Rick Clunn 16 - 13

19 Hank Parker 15 - 13

22 Stanley Mitchell 12 - 15

There were additional things worthy of notice - more interesting for sure than the $50,000 check to the winner, which pales by comparison to today's winner's check. Of the 41 anglers who squared off against Guido Hibdon in the Classic that year, 10 of them also won the Classic, including a couple who have won more than one. One could conclude that Guido definitely beat the best that year. He would only win this one time out of the 10 times he qualified. In a career that spanned 163 national level tournaments, Guido won 5, finished second 3 times and finished third 5 times, and put together back to back Angler of the Year seasons in 1990 and 1991- a very impressive set of accomplishments.

The '88 Classic was held on the James River, and the Gravois Mills, Missouri native won using a

3/16-ounce Stanley Jig and a plastic crawfish trailer known as the Guido Bug. He used a flipping technique with his finesse version of the jig-and-pig, to amass his 28 pounds, 8 ounces of winning bass. He also fished the FLW Tour earning two wins and numerous top-10 finishes. Guido, who passed away at the start of Classic Week 2018, will always be remembered as the "Professor of Finesse," who led a group of anglers, including Ned Kehde of Ned Rig fame, that pioneered the finesse style of fishing. He was patriarch of the Hibdon fishing family, which includes his son, Dion and two tournament fishing grandsons.