Orlando, Fla. ? Ray Scott was in rare form.

The man who conceived the concept of the bass tournament and propelled bass fishing into a multibillion-dollar industry was holding forth on his concept of elevating the competition to a higher plane.

As a spectator sport, professional bass tournaments are too boring, Scott was implying.

“Who wants to watch a guy hook a pound-and-a-half bass, ski it across the top of the water as fast as he can, reach down, lip it, plop it in a livewell and start casting for another right away?” Scott asked rhetorically.

He compared it to watching a NASCAR race that had no crashes.

“My wife and I went to one, had to pay $140,” Scott said. “If they were to tell you there would be no wrecks today — just 500 miles of cars going around and around and around, with no wrecks . . . you know what half the people would do? They wouldn’t pay the money.

“God loved little fish a lot more than He did big fish, and these guys catch a lot more little fish than they do big fish. At the Bassmasters Classic in Birmingham, the average fish weighed 1 pound and 11 ounces.”

But since all the pros are hoping for 10-pound fish, they’re armed accordingly, and it’s overkill, Scott said.

So he wants to stage a light-line, elimination tournament pitting the top pros from the West, where light-line fishing is often a must in the clear reservoirs, against the best pros east of the Rocky Mountains.

“Let’s try something new that takes more of a challenge and takes more finesse and more skill,” Scott said. “It’s harder to horse a 3- or 4- or 5-pound bass on 4-pound test line — and you’d have some ‘wrecks.'”

The shootout would take place on the 55-acre lake at Scott’s Pintlala, Ala., home — a lake he had sculpted to hold the maximum number of bigger bass. It’s the same lake where Scott caught a 7-pound, 9-ounce bass on 4-pound spinning tackle.

Scott originated the bass-tournament format, holding the first one in 1967 and going on to found the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society.

He sold it in the 1980s, and the organization now is owned by ESPN.

Scott said since word of his idea has spread, he has had plenty of angler interest.

One of the top pros, who has his own TV show, said the concept would make for exciting viewing.

“It’s a neat idea — 4-pound test takes a lot of skill to land a big fish,” said Gainesville, Fla., pro Shaw Grigsby, who is host of One More Cast on the Outdoor Life Network.

Grigsby has a reputation as one of the profession’s light-line experts. At a time when others were using 20-pound test, he perfected the art of catching spawning bass on 8- and 10-pound test line.

But even he realizes fishing with 4-pound line is a tough challenge.

So far, Scott has been stymied in lining up TV time.

“I can’t get anybody to sell the thing,” he said. “Whenever (a TV network) gets up enough nerve, it’d be great television.”