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"Watch your plug. Little quick jerks. Keep going. Watch your wrist, a little more wrist action," Campbell said as he taught Sam how to work the Zara Spook across the surface. "Hey, you're doing good there. Just keep it a comin'. See look, you got it a walkin' — you're walking the dog."

Campbell grew up fishing the creeks that wind through the escarpments and dense woods of Missouri's Ozarks Region, catching his fill of perch, bass and bluegill in the 1940s, back before dams turned the flow to a trickle.

Only a handful of wooden lures were available back then, so Campbell and his friends became tinkerers, poking holes and attaching hairs, cutting off the tails to see if they could entice the fish to bite.

Campbell relished the chase, spending countless hours in the family garage drilling, bending and twisting lures, then hitting the water on a homemade wooden float boat to see if his creations worked.

There were misfires, to be sure, but more often than not he hit the mark, creating lures no one had thought of, catching more fish than anyone could imagine.

"I was just curious to see if different things would work," Campbell said. "It was always a good feeling to come up with something different that worked and no one else had."

The split-level home Campbell has shared with his wife, Wanda, for 36 years sits at the apex of a circular driveway, set among elm and oak trees on a bluff above snakelike Lake Taneycomo.

The boat was already hitched to the truck when we arrived, some of Campbell's oldest spinner baits spread out across the back for us to look at. Campbell took to Sam right away, asking his age, grade, favorite subject in school.

He made Sam feel right at home, asking if he wanted lunch, pointing out famous people in photos, even cutting a story short during the interview to keep him from getting bored.

"That's just Charlie," said Hall of Fame bass fisherman and fellow Missourian Basil Bacon. "He's good people."
This was more than a gentleman acting gentlemanly, though. This was a teacher seeing a kid, wanting to nurture him, give him a memorable experience he could learn from.

Campbell has had numerous jobs, from fishing guide to marine shop owner to professional fisherman. He always makes a point to tell people he spent 15 years as a teacher.
"I wouldn't trade my school teaching for fishing any day," said Campbell, who has two daughters. "It's much more rewarding from a kid's standpoint."

Campbell was elected into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame earlier this year for his contributions to the sport.
His deep impact started on the lakes at the edge of the northern Ozarks, where he caught so many fish on homemade lures that fellow bass club members asked him to make some for them.

It wasn't long before Campbell had to enlist the help of a local lure shop owner to keep up with demand, and he later developed his own line of spinner baits, the CC Spinner, one of the top sellers in Pro Bass Shops' catalog for years.

Widespread attention came in 1974, when Campbell won a national bass tournament using an old Zara Spook instead of the new, heavier version that was designed to withstand the sharp teeth of northern pike.

The fishing community went into a frenzy searching for the rare lures, spending up to $100 to get one, eventually leading the Heddon Lure Company to reproduce the old version — after consulting with Campbell.
Campbell also a knack for rigging bass boats, locals and professional fishermen swarming his marine shop in Branson to get just the right setup. He later teamed up with Bass Pro Shops founder John L. Morris to design the Bass Tracker, a lightweight, affordable bass boat still popular 30 years later.

"He's one of the grand gentlemen of the sport of fishing, bass fishing in particular," Morris said. "Even beyond what he's invented, I think popularizing top-water fishing and doing a lot to promote the sport is his biggest contribution."

Taneycomo was just a few minutes away, but Campbell was taking us to Table Rock. Though the water was high from recent rains, it was warmer than Taneycomo, meaning a better chance the fish would bite.

We stopped at an overlook toward the end of the 30-minute drive — Campbell wanted to show Sam the dam — then spent the next three hours on the water for what turned into an impromptu fishing lesson from one of the best bass fishermen in the world.

Effortlessly patient, Campbell showed Sam how work the throttle, where to find fish, how to cast without hitting the person behind him. He untangled lines when Sam miscast, offered praise anytime he dropped a lure snugly next to a submerged tree.

Campbell is 75, hasn't taught in a classroom for the last 35. The thing about being a teacher, though, is the desire to guide others never leaves.

"He really enjoys teaching young people," Bacon said. "He's always had an enthusiasm for it."

The lower room in Campbell's home is filled with dozens of fishing trophies, awards, photos of him with politicians and celebrities. There's also glass cases full of old lures, trinkets and old gear scattered around the room.

Along one wall, not far from a picture of President George Bush next to a monster bass, is a black-and-white photo of the 1973 Forsyth High School boys state championship basketball team. The coach? Charlie Campbell.

Campbell taught health and driver's ed at Forsyth for 15 years, also serving as head coach in basketball, volleyball, track, baseball and softball. Though he didn't make much money — he worked as a fishing guide to supplement his income — Campbell truly cherished his time as a teacher.

"I always enjoyed being able to teach a kid something, no matter how small it was," he said.
In a way, learning shaped the rest of Campbell's life.

Wanting to catch more fish than anyone else, Campbell studied their feeding habits, learned where they liked to hide, when they were more aggressive. He produced productive lures through years of trial and error, working to get just the right wobble, vibration or gurgle that drove the fish crazy enough to bite.

At pro tournaments, Campbell always had his eye on what everyone else was using, speaking his notes into a tape recorder on the way home, then sharing the information with Morris so they could make better gear, lures and boats.

He also spent 30 years with Bass Pro Shops, passing on the secrets from 70 years of fishing during countless seminars and fishing trips, always doing it with the patience and enthusiasm you'd expect from a teacher.

"Charlie has a knack of being a teacher — coaching and teaching, having an influence on young people," Morris said. "It's something that's really a big part of his heart and he's a really gifted instructor."

Campbell's enthusiasm didn't land us any fish that day on Table Rock. Despite trying several spots and various techniques, the water was just too high to locate the fish.

It was getting late, so we headed back to the boat ramp — Sam at the wheel, of course — then loaded onto the trailer. Campbell helped us put our gear back in the car, offering a Dr. Pepper for the road as we closed the hatch.

He then thanked us for coming out and gave Sam a firm handshake, asking if he had a good time.

A polite "yes, sir" was all Sam could manage before getting into the car, the typical low-key response from an 11-year-old well on his way to becoming a teenager. But as we pulled away to start the four-hour trip home, the look on Sam's face was enough to see just how much he enjoyed it.

"That was cool," he said.

I'm sure it was exactly the reaction Campbell was hoping for!