By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Randy Howell’s 2016 Elite Series season will come down to a one-game playoff of sorts. The venue will be the Mississippi River around La Crosse, Wis. The stakes will be massive.
Howell is still stinging from an uncharacteristic bomb at the Potomac River, where a 9-pound penalty for being 9 minutes late and subsequent DQ on day 2 resulted in a 102nd-place finish that knocked him out of contention for next year’s Bassmaster Classic (for now) and onto the bubble to qualify for this season’s Angler of the Year championship.
Nobody lost more ground in the AOY points by virtue of his finish at the Potomac than Howell as he plummeted to 53rd from 33rd. He’s now 2 points out of 50th, the cutoff for invitations to the AOY Championship at Mille Lacs Lake, which will take place the week after the Mississippi River. He’s currently 37 points behind Gary Klein (39th place) for the presumed final spot in the Classic via AOY points.
His streak of qualifying for the Bassmaster Classic is also in jeopardy. He’s qualified for nine of the last 11 Classics, including the last five in a row, winning in 2014 at Lake Guntersville.
After reeling off three Top-25 finishes in the first four Elite Series tournaments this season, he finds himself in the midst of the worst slump of his career. He’s missed the money cut in four straight events, a first for him. Not counting the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, where each competitor gets a check, Howell’s last money finish was at Wheeler Lake in late April.
“It’s been a weird season points-wise,” he said. “This is a good year to be high in the points. I’d be in the Top 5 if I’d been consistent. The schedule fit my style really well, but I haven’t done the right things. I’m hoping to have a good success story at the end to talk about. I want to be able to say, ‘Even though I messed up here and here, I still made the Classic.’”
Potomac Putdown
Howell’s day-1 catch at the Potomac (2 fish for 6-08) had him well off the pace in 85th place.
“It was a bad-luck deal,” he said. “It was so frustrating because not only did I have a good morning on the first day of practice, I got on a stretch that had good ones.”
When he went back to Acquia Creek for the start of the tournament, he couldn’t trigger any bites.
“Jared Lintner was also in there and he struggled, too, but he went back the next day and figured them out,” Howell added. “By then, I was in survival mode and wanted to get as high as possible on the leaderboard.”
On day 2, he opted to fish another creek where he’d posted a Top-5 finish several years ago.
“I remember it had a lot of fish in there then, but this time there weren’t as many,” he said. “The water was super clear in the back and I could see the fish swimming around. I knew there was 15 pounds in there, but really only one day’s worth.”
With low tide occurring in the morning, he had to wait for the water to start returning in order to access the section of creek he wanted to fish.
“I finally got back in there and ran across a sandbar,” he said. “There was a 4-foot hole about 40 yards long and the fish were under some mats.”
He caught a 2 1/2-pounder, then a 3 3/4 before missing a couple in the 3-pound range. He later caught two more that pushed his weight past 10 pounds.
When it was time to leave, he moved over toward the deeper water knowing he’d have to get on plane to get over the sandbar again. He tried four times, but couldn’t slide over it. Eventually, he got hung up and had to get out and push in an attempt to dislodge it.
“My tennis elbow had flared up and I couldn’t push worth a flip so my marshal had to get out and push it over the last hump,” Howell said.
Upon returning to the ramp 9 minutes past check-in, he notified B.A.S.S. officials that his marshal had to assist him in freeing his boat. As a result, his day-2 weight was disqualified and he wound up 102nd.
Had he had made it back on time and without his marshal’s help, he’d have weighed 10-14 and finished 70th, which would’ve kept him in the Classic and AOY hunt.
“It’s disappointing to say the least,” he said. “I didn’t’ expect that. I caught the fish I needed to survive. Then to have that happen … stuff happens. I can’t do anything about it. I have to lick my wounds to move on.”
Second-Half Slumber
The Potomac River was the fourth straight event where Howell failed to draw a paycheck.
He was as high as 6th in points earlier this year after finishing 22nd at Wheeler. Since then, he’s steadily regressed with finishes ranging from 69th to 102nd over the last four Elite Series events.
He took 73rd at Toledo Bend, then had an 87th at Lake Texoma before the schedule shifted north. He’s typically strong in New York events, but Cayuga Lake caught him off guard in June.
“I thought after practice it would be a post-spawn event,” he said. “I didn’t realize that many fish were still coming onto beds. I thought the spawn was just about over. I really missed it there.
“I got on a dock bite and did some flipping and Jordan Lee was near me on the outside looking around offshore. I just made the wrong call there.”
Limits haven’t been an issue until the Potomac. He’s just been unable to tap into areas with bigger fish.
“I have still caught fish,” he said. “The hardest part is when you catch fish and you’re still doing all you can and can’t figure out why you’re not getting bigger bites. In all three I missed a check, I caught plenty of fish, but didn’t get any big bites. At Toledo Bend and Texoma, I never got on the right area or the right bushes that held those 3s and 4s. I was on the right pattern in the wrong areas.”
Comfortable at La Crosse
One thing working in Howell’s favor as the final full-field tournament looms is the success he’s had in recent years at the Mississippi River. In 2012, he was 11th and then posted a 10th the following year. At the very least, he’ll go there with a positive vibe based on past results.
“It means nothing, but I do feel comfortable there,” he said. “It gives me confidence and that’s a big key right now because my confidence took a hit in the second half of the season.”
“Confidence is big in our sport, but it only takes a few poor events for it to mess with your head. Everybody has ups and downs and I have to shake it off and look forward and not behind. I’m glad to be going somewhere I have done well and have confidence in trying to get the job done.”
He knows he’ll have to execute at every turn at the Mississippi in order to reverse his backward momentum.
“I want to get inside the Top 40 (in points) going to Mille Lacs,” he said. “That way it won’t be too stressful. It’s definitely doable.”
