Help Decide The 2004 BassFan Comeback Award

Unlike Angler of the Year (AOY) or Rookie of the Year awards, the BassFan Comeback of the Year Award (COY) is unique. Yes, BassFan staff play a role in the decision, but BassFans also help decide the outcome. Your vote counts, so to help with your decision, following is a brief rundown of those anglers nominated for the 2004 BassFan COY Award.

Nominees were selected based on their performance this year – in each case a significant improvement over last year. Other anglers may have had equally great seasons, but unless they stumbled prior to this season, they weren't eligible since there was no "comeback."

The following nominees were selected using both the State Farm-BassFan World Rankings and tour points (FLW and Bassmaster).

Takahiro Omori

The 911 disaster hit Omori hard. But before that, he lost his father and almost dropped out of the Bassmaster Tour. It was too much for him to handle and his fishing suffered. He knew he had to get it together this year, and did he ever.

First, consider the tour points. He jumped from 118th in the FLW points (but fished just five events that year) to 11th this year. He also climbed from 40th in the Bassmaster points to 9th. That pushed his World Ranking up from 63rd to 7th. To top it all off, he won the Bassmaster Classic.

It's a massive comeback that deserves serious attention. He came off difficult personal concerns, and difficult seasons, to record what is arguably his best season ever.

> Comeback comment: Classic victory notwithstanding, his incredible surge in the FLW points might be reason enough to vote for him.

Denny Brauer

One of the sport's true greats had fallen to the wayside for a few years because of a serious nerve problem in his back. He finished last season 66th in the Bassmaster points and 116th in the world.

After a slow start at the Harris Chain Bassmaster (109th), this year he engineered a turnaround nothing short of remarkable. He won again on Eufaula, took home two Top 10s in the E50s and finished in the Top 10 at the Classic. He improved to 24th in the Bassmaster Tour points, but the real story is his jump to 27th in the World Rankings.

With his back in better shape and his dramatic turnaround, many BassFans feel that this powerhouse is finally back for good.

> Comeback comment: His move from 116th to 37th in the world looks like the comeback everyone was waiting for, but is 37th in the world good enough? After all, this is Denny Brauer.

Stacey King

King leaped up in the World Rankings – in this case from 129th to 24th – this year. That's 105 spots, the same as Marty Stone (see below). And King also moved up in the Bassmaster points, from 51st to 29th. That was after he finished 51st, 87th, 52nd and 123rd in those points the 4 prior years.

The schedule this year definitely played to his favor. Lakes like Guntersville (where he took 2nd), Table Rock (25th), Dardanelle (7th, E50) and the Tenn-Tom (5th, E50) had cool, pre-spawn conditions and deep bites. Those are the types of conditions he grew up fishing, so he said he felt more comfortable this year.

"You have ups and downs, and maybe I'm in one of those up periods right now," he said.

> Comeback comment: The E50s shouldn't weigh into the COY decision, since not everyone can fish them. But in King's case it shows that this year he bore down and got his fishing back on track.

Marty Stone

Stone went through a couple of rough years. He said it was from a lack of focus – that he hadn't taken fishing seriously enough. Plus, he juggled sponsors, got wrapped up in issues with the BASS Athletes Advisory Council and his wife had a difficult pregnancy.

This year was different and it started with the Harris Chain Bassmaster, which he won. He went on to average a 52nd-place finish in the next five events and finished 9th at the Classic.

He climbed from 78th last year in the Bassmaster points to 14th this year, and skyrocketed from 129th to 24th in the world. He said more practice time – including fishing regional events – and more preparation helped him. He also worked out more.

On his 2004 comeback, he said, "Mentally I was better, my tackle was in great shape, my techniques were better and my instincts were better." They certainly were.

> Comeback comment: Stone moved up 105 spots in the World Rankings and his 14th in the Bassmaster Tour points was strong. It's definitely a comeback, but is it the comeback of the year?

Mike Iaconelli

Iaconelli's fishing turned heads when he first appeared on the national scene in the late '90s, but then he seemed to fall off the map. His 2003 Classic win changed all that, but some felt it was an anomaly. He set out to prove his critics wrong and succeeded.

After his dismal 102nd finish in the Bassmaster Tour points in 2003, he finished 3rd this year – 31 points behind Swindle. Just an extra fish or two, and one more cut, could have brought him the AOY title. And his success – which included a 4th at the Harris Chain and a 5th at Guntersville – moved him from 68th to 28th in the world.

"I looked at the Classic and I looked at my best year, 1999, and I decided to emulate that style of fishing, what I call 'fishing the moment,'" he said this year. "You don't go out and do what you did 2 weeks ago or 2 months ago, or what you did last year. You go out, drop the trolling motor and fish for the present."

> Comeback comment: He did what so many others couldn't – followed up a Classic win with his best regular season ever.

Aaron Martens

For everyone who followed the career of Martens, 2003 was a major disappointment. Maybe it was the rigors of a two-tour schedule, or the new 3-day practice rule that BASS imposed, or the fact that the schedule didn't favor finesse tactics. Whatever the reason, 2003 was not his year.

The good news is he recovered in a big way. He held steady in tjhe FLW points with a modest improvement from 30th to 24th, but he literally skyrocketed in the Bassmaster points – from 147th (ouch) to 6th. His World Ranking climbed nominally, from 28th to 23rd, and he finished 2nd at the Classic.

Martens is considered one of the more creative anglers on the Tour and he possesses an incredible portfolio of strengths. It's great to see him back in form.

> Comeback comment: Martens held steady in FLW points and the World Rankings. His improvement in Bassmaster is tremendous, but is that enough to win COY?

Davy Hite

After Hite won the Bassmaster AOY in 2002, and the BassFan COY that same year, he tanked. It seemed a repeat of the downturn after his '99 Classic victory, when he spent most of 2 years maxing out his promotional schedule. He dropped all the way to 163rd in the 2003 Bassmaster Tour points.

When he won the 2002 BassFan COY Award, he said it felt good but it was an award he hoped never to win again because it would mean he'd had a bad year. But he also said: "After a bad year, I would kind of want to win it again. But I hope I can straighten these valleys out a bit – put a bridge across some of them.

So far he hasn't done that, but he still manages to come back.

> Comeback comment: His huge leap in the points makes him a strong candidate, but he's won before. That shouldn't matter, but it does beg the question: Can he have a true comeback, or will he forever be up-and-down?

Below the Cut

Others who had good performances this year but didn't make the final nominee list include:

> Chad Brauer – Moved from 92nd to 11th in the Bassmaster points and jumped from 151st to 40th in the world.

> Tracy Adams – Was 83rd in the FLW points last year and improved to 6th. Also improved from 85th to 42nd in the world.

> Ricky Shumpert – Nice job moving from 67th to 10th in FLW points, but World Rankings were his real story: 152nd to 69th.

> Lee Bailey Jr. – He improved from 122nd to 22nd in Bassmaster points and 93rd to 41st in FLW points. He had no World Ranking prior to the season – so no true comeback – but finished ranked 81st.

Notable

> By chance, all of this year's nominees are either two-tour or Bassmaster Tour anglers. No FLW Tour-only anglers made the final nominee cut.

> The minimum criteria were not set in stone, but it had to include a move from a position of the 100s into the Top 30 in either AOY points or World Rankings. Of course, the nominee had to have been very successful at one point, followed by a notable downturn, to engineer a comeback.

> The BassFan COY Award was the first of its kind in the sport, and debuted in 2002 when Hite won it. Last year, 2003, was a tie between Zell Rowland and Dan Morehead.

> When you vote in the BassFan Poll (left column of the BassFan.com homepage), bear in mind that this is not a popularity contest. If you were a tour angler who achieved something great this year, wouldn't you want to be recognized for it even if some better-known anglers had good years too? Put yourself in their shoes and vote.

Make sure your vote is counted! Vote for the BassFan Comeback of the Year winner on the BassFan.com homepage.

Who do you think should win? Click here to let us know.