By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

As many as 14 Elite Series anglers could be faced with having to re-qualify for the circuit in the future under guidelines distributed to competitors today regarding how the 2015 Elite Series field will be determined.

BassFan has learned that an e-mail sent by B.A.S.S. to Elite Series pros on Friday morning outlined specific qualification benchmarks, highlighting B.A.S.S.'s intention to cull from the bottom of its Angler of the Year standings in order to make room for new qualifiers without expanding the field size.

B.A.S.S. will cap the Elite Series field at the 2014 level of 108 anglers next year, but hardships and other factors could push it to a maximum of 114. The biggest impact from how B.A.S.S. arrived at such a number will be felt by a dozen or more pros who've fished the circuit for several years, including some who've been around since the series' inception in 2006.

The qualification structure is broken down as follows:

> Group A will consist of up to 91 anglers – the Top 71 finishers in the 2014 Angler of the Year (AOY) points, plus up to 15 anglers from the three Opens divisions (five each) who are not already Elite-qualified. Anglers returning from hardship exemptions (Mark Menendez, Byron Haseotes, Kevin Ledoux, Tommy Biffle and Cliff Pace) are also included in Group A – if any of them declines to return, their spot will not be replaced.

> Group B includes the five (5) 2014 rookies who finished below 71st in the final AOY points – Kenneth Woods, Tracy Adams, Joel Baker, Trevor Romans and Joe Sancho. Rookies are given a one-year grace period and are exempt from being forced to re-qualify after one year. They can choose to return in 2015.

> If any angler from Groups A (non-hardship) or B decline an invitation, B.A.S.S. will then work down the final 2014 AOY standings, starting with Kevin Hawk, who was 72nd in points this season (Click here for this year's Elite Series AOY standings).

> Group C will consist of the B.A.S.S. Nation champion, which will be determined Nov. 8. If the B.A.S.S. Nation champion declines the spot, it will be offered to one of the other five Nation 2014 divisional champions, in order of finish. If none of the eligible B.A.S.S. Nation anglers accept the invitation, B.A.S.S. will invite the next eligible angler from the 2014 AOY points.

> Once the above spots are accounted for, the final 16 positions will be filled from a list of Elite Series anglers who have not already qualified for 2015 through another route. Anglers finishing 72nd and lower this year were re-ranked by B.A.S.S. based on their average Elite Series AOY finish over their careers, minus their lowest season. Those anglers are (in order of average career AOY finish): Gary Klein, Kelly Jordon, Greg Vinson, Ish Monroe, Boyd Duckett, Jason Williamson, John Murray, Matt Reed, Rick Morris, Billy McCaghren, Kotaro Kiriyama, Keith Poche, Kenyon Hill, Bradley Roy, Yusuke Miyazaki and Byron Velvick.

> That leaves the following anglers facing the prospect of re-qualification through the Opens if all other invitations are accepted and the field is filled (in order of average career AOY finish): Jamie Horton, Jeremy Starks, Hawk, Pete Ponds, Fletcher Shryock, James Elam, Dennis Tietje, Charlie Hartley, Jared Miller, Kurt Dove, Scott Ashmore, Grant Goldbeck, Michael Simonton and Dave Smith.

Angler Input Key

Bruce Akin, CEO of B.A.S.S., told BassFan on Friday that arriving at the above criteria was a lengthy and challenging process, and he believes it's fair and representative of the input collected from the Elite Series anglers.

"It was a B.A.S.S. decision with a lot of input and guidance from the Elite Advisory Board and the Elite field," he said. "We did a survey of the field last year and one of the questions related to field size. Most of the responses indicated somewhere between 100 and 110 would be ideal."

Questions regarding qualification parameters were not central to the survey, but Akin said there's been ongoing dialogue with the Elite Advisory Board regarding those criteria.

"We ran this (plan) by them a few weeks ago and got a couple of additional suggestions that we put into it," Akin said. "It was a B.A.S.S. decision, but it was made with a lot of input from the advisory board."

Last year, B.A.S.S. attempted to trim anglers from the bottom of the Elite Series standings in order to control field size in light of an unprecedented acceptance rate among Open qualifiers, however, those efforts were met with resistance from anglers. Ultimately, B.A.S.S. compromised and allowed all anglers back for 2014 under the premise that it would take necessary steps to maintain a suitable field size for 2015.

"Because of the strength of the Elite Series and the demand of people wanting to get in, we sort of exceeded the expected field size when we ended up inviting everybody back," Akin said. "We knew that at some point we'd be faced with the dilemma of more demand than supply.

"We spent a lot of time this year trying to figure out what the ideal field size was, so where we ended up was what we did last year worked pretty well as far as field size and payouts. The baseline for next year will be the same as this year. We landed on this qualification criteria taking into account rookies and giving them a couple years to get established. On the other end of the spectrum, we wanted to be fair to the people who've competed in the Elites through the years."

Too Early To Tell

Some anglers with whom BassFan spoke today, especially those who were among the group facing re-qualification, were not prepared to comment for publication. Their general reaction to today's news, though, was that they support B.A.S.S.' effort to be fair and that they are simply frustrated with themselves for not performing better this season.

Charlie Hartley expressed disappointment in himself, since the anglers were aware for the ramifications if they finished below a certain point in the standings.

"My only response would be that we knew the criteria and I knew what was going to happen if I didn't catch 'em," Hartley said. "It might be just the kick in the butt I need to go back to the Opens and win Angler of the Year and prove to myself I can still fish. I take full responsibility for where I finished."

Said Akln, "The feedback we're getting, for the most part, particularly from the anglers who've been around a while feel it's a very fair way to do it. They seemed to be pleased with it so far."

Notable

> Akin also said the purse for next year's Toyota AOY Championship event has increased by $100,000 to $1 million.