FOREVER HOOKED : Tanning Parlor Owner Gives In to the Unceasing Lure of Pro Bass Circuit

Even in this day when somebody is actually trying to reintroduce the Nehru jacket to men’s fashion (good luck, buddy), a combination jewelry store and tanning parlor seems to be stretching the limits of the L. A. life style.

Who are the customers in this Canoga Park store? What are they looking for?

Could I see that diamond ring, please, and perhaps something in a skin balm?

If this is successful, you wonder if an auto parts/contact lens/frozen yogurt shop can be far behind.

And when you hear the name of the owner of Tan ‘N Gold--John Edward Wilder III of West Hills--you assume you have this picture figured out. You reason that if this guy doesn’t drink his beer with a lime in it and drive a black Porsche, nobody does.

But, as Panamanian election officials would say, things are often not what they seem.

For starters, the owner’s name is not John Edward Wilder III. It is John Ed Wilder III. And he doesn’t go by John or Ed. He goes by the name John Ed. Sort of like Elly Mae.

And that of West Hills label? Well, John Ed Wilder III does live in West Hills, but he is of Kentucky. Pineville, Ky., to be exact.

The beer? Well, limeless and out of the can is just fine, thank you very much.

And the Porsche? There is no Porsche. But there is a fishing boat.

John Ed Wilder III, 43, is a professional bass fisherman. He is as down to earth as dirt itself. Even though he has lived in the Valley for 20 years, he knows he is still of Kentucky.

“If my buddies from high school could see me now, they’d about die laughing,” Wilder said. “They were just country boys, ole rednecks. I was, too, I guess. Maybe I still am. If they ever saw this jewelry and tanning parlor, they’d just fall down laughing.”

Wilder grew up in the backwoods of Kentucky, along the Cumberland River. His days were filled with overturning rocks along the river’s shore and snatching the crawdads that scampered out from underneath them. Some of the crawdads would be eaten by the Wilder family. Many others would be eaten by the bass family.

“I was raised fishing,” Wilder said. “I learned what bass eat and when they eat and how they eat. Very early, I had developed the instincts to catch bass any time, any place.”

Which did him no good at all at the age of 23, when a three-year marriage ended and he headed west out of the Appalachian Mountains in a ’67 Chevy driving, as he said, until he ran out of money, which occurred in Canoga Park.

For 12 years, he struggled to build a jewelry business, learning the art of a goldsmith and silversmith from a jeweler who had befriended him. He learned well. Some of his current creations are marvelous pieces of art. But always, the longing to rekindle his passion of childhood--fishing--burned inside.

Finally, in 1981, he gave in.

The first tournament he ever entered was the 1981 U. S. Bass Open on Lake Mead in Nevada, a tournament that attracted the best bass fishermen in the nation. Against such competition, Wilder finished 62nd in a field of more than 300.

“I found out that I had a lot to learn about fishing at that level,” he said, “but I also found out that there wasn’t all that much difference between the big boys, the famous bass fishermen who made fine livings from the tournaments, and me.”

Wilder vowed to pursue his found-again sport.

“I bought a boat and began fishing local bass tournaments with my girlfriend,” he said. “We fished Casitas and Castaic and Cachuma and some other lakes around here. A while later me and her broke up. But from then on, I’ve kept on fishing.”

And showing off his Kentucky instincts for catching bass.

In eight years of part-time fishing on very low-paying local tournament circuits, Wilder estimates that he has won about $50,000. He finished 19th three weeks ago in the WON (Western Outdoor News) Open at Lake Mead that featured many of the same nationally known bass anglers against whom he had fished eight years earlier. His three-day total weight of bass left him only a half-pound out of the top 10.

“I was tickled to death to finish that high,” Wilder said. “I knew then that I could compete on that level.”

Wilder said that his next test will come in August when he returns to Lake Mead for another crack at the U. S. Open, the biggest bass tournament in the nation.

“Then, I’ll really see how far I’ve come,” he said. “I feel really good about what I’ve learned in the past eight years, fishing alongside these guys.”

The ultimate goal for Wilder is to fish the pro circuit full time. He would turn the tanning parlor over to a colleague and continue designing gold and silver jewelry but would make bass fishing his life.

That, he said, is his dream. And he has seen enough dreams of friends and family derailed, or at least put away temporarily. One of the biggest was the dream of his son John, who was the California Angels’ top draft pick in the January, 1985, baseball draft, the 16th player chosen overall. But John Wilder, an overpowering pitcher in high school, opted for college at the University of Kentucky, sustained a rotator cuff injury and is now fighting his way back in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization.

“Fishing like this has been a lifelong dream for me,” he said. “Maybe it’s about time to make this dream come true.

“Fishing gives me peace of mind. It’s the only thing I do that gives me that peace, and I believe that’s something that’s real important. I’ll probably never get rich with either the jewelry business or fishing, but if I can live comfortably and have that peace of mind, then I’ll be a very happy man.”

Even if his mother doesn’t quite understand.

“My mom calls me all the time,” he said, “and she says, ‘John Ed, when are you gonna grow up?’ And every time I just have to tell her, ‘Mother, I really don’t know.’

“What I don’t ever tell her, though, is that I hope that never happens.”