Once all the dust settled from the Oneida Lake Bassmaster Elite Series season finale, the field for next year’s Bassmaster Classic began to take shape.
As of right now, 31 Elite Series pros have locked up berths. There are two remaining Bassmaster Opens – one Southern and one Central – and a couple scenarios exist that would see the Top 36 in AOY points make it to Grand Lake next February.
To best explain, let’s take a look at the Top 36 in the standings.
Locked In
1. Brent Chapman (Lewisville Central Open winner, Toledo Bend Elite Series winner)
2. Ott DeFoe
3. Terry Scroggins
4. Todd Faircloth (Mississippi River Elite Series winner)
5. Randy Howell
6. Matthew Herren
7. Kevin VanDam
8. Edwin Evers
9. Bill Lowen
10. Aaron Martens
11. Skeet Reese
12. Bobby Lane
13. Greg Hackney
14. Chris Lane (Harris Chain Southern Open winner, 2012 Bassmaster Classic champion)
15. David Walker
16. Dean Rojas
17. Nate Wellman
18. Cliff Pace
19. John Crews, Jr.
20. Mark Davis
21. Yusuke Miyazaki
22. Brandon Card
23. Gerald Swindle
24. Takahiro Omori
25. Shaw E. Grigsby, Jr.
26. Marty Robinson
27. Tommy Biffle
28. Russ Lane
> The above anglers qualified based on points accumulated through the eight Elite Series events.
Mutiple-Qualifer Berths
29. Cliff Prince
30. Jason Quinn
31. Mike Iaconelli
> These three anglers are locked in as they qualified through berths that were available because Brent Chapman, Todd Faircloth and Chris Lane were all double-qualifiers via their points finish and victories during the season.
Contingent Multiple-Qualifier Berths
32. Mike McClelland
33. Jared Lintner
> The Classic hopes of these two rest solely on whether Chapman and Chris Lane fish the final Opens of the respective divisions in which they’ve won events this year. Chapman (Central) and Lane (Southern) have indicated they will fish the final Opens, and by doing so each would be considered a triple-qualifer for the Classic, thus opening up two additional Classic spots for McClelland and Lintner.
Help Wanted
34. Scott Rook
36. Rick Clunn
> The Classic hopes of Scott Rook and Rick Clunn are a total crapshoot at this point.
Both have a bit of control over their own destiny, as they could gain an automatic berth with a victory in the final Central Open at Ft. Gibson (both fished the first two events on the circuit). If that doesn't occur, they'll have to hope for victories by Classic-qualified Elite pros to get in (Clunn would need wins by pre-qualified anglers in both remaining Opens, as the first spot would go to Rook).
Clunn is seeking his record 33rd Classic berth and first since 2009.
Boyd Duckett finished 35th in points, but since he won the Oneida Lake Elite Series, he’s assured a Classic spot.
