With the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship wrapping up last weekend, the field for the 2015 Bassmaster Classic is nearly complete.
There is one berth left to be filled in the 57-man field that will compete at Lake Hartwell on Feb. 20-22, 2015. There will be no Classic Wild Card tournament this year, meaning the winner of the new Bassmaster Team Championship, slated for Dec. 10-13 at DeGray Lake in Bismarck, Ark., will be the last man in.
Below is a rundown of who's headed to Lake Hartwell next February.
2015 Bassmaster Classic qualifiers
(* denotes double qualifier; # denotes Classic berth reverts to Elite Series AOY points since Tyler didn't fish all Central Opens; ^ Pace was given a medical exemption due to injury that prevented him from competing at 2014 Classic)
Automatic berths
> Lake Seminole Elite Series: Brett Hite*
> St. Johns River Elite Series: Chris Lane*
> Table Rock Lake Elite Series: Mike McClelland*
> Toledo Bend Elite Series: Jacob Powroznik*
> Lake Dardanelle Elite Series: Jason Christie*
> Lake Chickamauga BASSFest: Jacob Wheeler
> Delaware River Elite Series: Mike Iaconelli*
> Cayuga Lake Elite Series: Greg Hackney*
> Lake Amistad Central Open: Andy Young
> Red River Central Open: Stephen Browning
> Arkansas River Central Open: Mark Tyler #
> Lake Toho Southern Open: Van Soles
> Lewis Smith Lake Southern Open: David Kilgore
> Lake Norman Southern Open: Andy Montgomery*
> Douglas Lake Northern Open: Ott DeFoe*
> Lake Champlain Northern Open: Shinichi Fukae
> Detroit River Northern Open: Chad Pipkens
> Bassmaster College Classic champion: Brett Preuett (University of Louisiana-Monroe)
> B.A.S.S. Nation Division champions: Paul Mueller (East), Coby Carden (South), Jeff Lugar (Mid-Atlantic), Teb Jones (Central), Steve Lund (West), Troy Diede (North).
> Bassmaster Team Championship winner (Dec. 10-13): TBA
> 2014 Bassmaster Classic champion: Randy Howell*
> 2013 Bassmaster Classic champion: Cliff Pace^
2014 Elite Series points
> Todd Faircloth
> Aaron Martens
> Mark Davis
> Keith Combs
> Skeet Reese
> Jared Lintner
> Dean Rojas
> Casey Ashley
> Justin Lucas
> Randall Tharp
> Gerald Swindle
> Matt Herren
> Brandon Palaniuk
> Chad Morgenthaler
> John Crews
> David Walker
> Scott Rook
> Edwin Evers
> Paul Elias
> Cliff Crochet
> James Niggemeyer
> Brandon Lester
> Morizo Shimizu
> Bill Lowen
> Bobby Lane
> Brian Snowden
> Andy Montgomery
> Clifford Pirch
> Takahiro Omori
> Kevin Short
> Cliff Prince
