With the Bassmaster Elite Series regular season now in the books, the snapshot of the field for the 2014 Bassmaster Classic is starting to come into focus. There are still a handful of positions up for grabs – College champion, one Northern Open, two Central Opens, B.A.S.S. Nation, Weekend Series and the new Wild Card event – before the final field is set.
For now, the Top 29 finishers in the Toyota Tundra B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year standings, along with the Elite Series and Southern Open winners, have secured spots at Lake Guntersville next February.
Here's a rundown of who's clinched a Classic berth at this point and how each qualified:
Tournament winners
> Bassmaster Classic: Cliff Pace
> Sabine River Elite Series: Todd Faircloth
> Falcon Lake Elite Series: Keith Combs
> Bull Shoals Lake Elite Series: Jason Christie
> West Point Lake Elite Series: Skeet Reese
> Alabama River Elite Series: Edwin Evers
> Mississippi River Elite Series: Tommy Biffle
> St. Lawrence River Elite Series: Brandon Palaniuk
> Lake St. Clair Elite Series: Chris Lane
> Lake Toho Southern Open: Richard Howes
> Douglas Lake Southern Open: Patrick Bone
> Logan Martin Lake Southern Open: David Kilgore
> Red River Central Open: Stephen Browning (^)
> Arkansas River Central Open: TBD (Sept. 19-21)
> Ross Barnett Reservoir Central Open: TBD (Oct. 17-19)
> James River Northern Open: Randy Howell
> Oneida Lake Northern Open: Jim Bianchi (#)
> Lake Erie Northern Open: TBD (Sept. 12-14)
> College Classic Bracket (Grand River): TBD (Sept. 27-29)
> B.A.S.S. Nation Champions – 6 berths (Lake Dardanelle): TBD (Oct. 24-26)
> Weekend Series Champion (Old Hickory Lake): TBD (Nov. 6-9)
> Classic Wildcard (Lake Okeechobee): TBD (Dec. 5-7)
Elite Series Points
> Aaron Martens
> Edwin Evers (*)
> Kevin VanDam
> Bobby Lane
> Keith Combs (*)
> Alton Jones
> John Crews
> Chris Zaldain
> Todd Faircloth (*)
> Cliff Crochet
> Ish Monroe
> Cliff Pace (*)
> Ott DeFoe
> Hank Cherry
> Tommy Biffle (*)
> Greg Vinson
> John Murray
> Skeet Reese (*)
> Brent Chapman
> Terry Scroggins
> Stephen Kennedy
> Yusuke Miyazaki
> Jonathon VanDam
> Randy Howell (*)
> Gerald Swindle
> Dean Rojas
> Takahiro Omori
> Rick Morris
> David Walker (%)
> Cliff Pirch (%)
> Morizo Shimizu (%)
> Mark Davis (%)
> Casey Ashley (%)
> Chris Lane (*)
> Gary Klein (%)
> Jason Christie (*)
> Josh Bertrand (%)
> Bill Lowen (%)
> Fred Roumbanis (%)
(^) denotes provisional qualifier; will secure berth upon competing in all three Central Opens
(#) denotes Classic berth will go to Elite Series points list since Bianchi will not meet requirements of fishing all three Northern Opens
(*) denotes double-qualifier
(%) denotes earned spot due to double-qualifiers
