Mike McKinnis

It might be tempting to identify Mike McKinnis primarily as the son of the late Jerry McKinnis of The Fishing Hole fame. That would be a huge mistake.

While Jerry’s impact on the sport of bass fishing has been widely celebrated — he was inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in 2003 — fewer people know about the contributions made by the younger McKinnis.

When Ray Scott founded B.A.S.S. in early 1968, he dreamed that one day, bass fishing would be broadcast live on television just like basketball and other sports. Mike McKinnis and his production team at JM Associates made Scott’s dream a reality with the streaming of the 2015 Bassmaster Classic live on Bassmaster.com.

The breakthrough production was an immediate success. It evolved rapidly until today, on-the-water fishing action is streamed live on FOX Sports networks — not only from the Classic but also from Bassmaster Elite events, Bassmaster Opens and College Series tournaments.

Since joining his father’s company, JM Associates of Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1990, Mike and his team have transformed the way fishing fans consume content around their sport.

His productions of one-off fishing tournament programs in the mid-‘90s attracted the attention of ESPN, which tapped JM to launch ESPN’s coverage of the new FLW tour in 1996. He and his crew managed to deliver packaged programming from FLW events in less than a week.

After ESPN bought B.A.S.S. in 2001, McKinnis and company began packaging outdoor sports programming, including “The Bassmasters” TV Show, every Saturday and Sunday morning on ESPN and ESPN2.

After his father became a part-owner of B.A.S.S. in 2010, Mike’s impact grew even greater. He assigned live camera operators to the Top 10 anglers’ boats each day, added teams of live-action reporters and incorporated live video from drone cameras.

Mike played a key role in development and production of other popular fishing programs including Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show, The Spanish Fly with Jose Wejebe, The Redfish Cup Series, The Madfin Shark Series among many others. His productions have earned an Emmy, Emmy nominations and other top awards.