Legend Biography
Chris Houston
2008
1st Woman in the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame
Sponsors: Coming Soon
Chris began fishing as a small child on the banks of the Illinois River, in northeastern Oklahoma. In 1961, she met a high school senior by the name of Jimmy Houston, and this chance encounter would forever change her life.
In the 1960s, when tournament bass fishing was in it's formative years, her husband convinced her that she could fish as well as anyone he had encountered at these tournaments. He talked her into fishing the next Oklahoma State Championship, where she finished third. In 1968, the couple both fished the World Series of Sports Fishing Tournament where she won the Women's Division while her husband won the Men's Division and they collectively won the "Mr. and Mrs." Division.
In 1977, Chris helped form the first ever All-Womens Bass Club, "The Tulsa Bass Belles". Chris won the "Miss Bass Belle" award many times in the 1970s.
In the late '70s, Chris dominated the Bass'n Gal circuit winning the Bass'n Gal "Angler of the Year" title seven times. She placed in the money 19 straight times over a period of five years, and fished every regular season Bass'n Gal Tournament for 20 years, as well as qualifying for every Classic, which she won three times.
In 1987 Chris Houston was named to the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. In 2005, she was inducted as the first woman to be voted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.
She retired from professional fishing when Bass'n Gal discontinued their circuit but has continued to stay active in fishing.