The Race Is Down To The Final 8 Laps

(Editor's note: Former B.A.S.S. emcee Keith Alan lived and breathed the tour for a half-decade. This year, his Alan Report will break down each B.A.S.S. tour-level stop to help BassFans get the inside scoop.)

It’s hard to believe that we're down to the final two tournaments of the Bassmaster Elite Series season. With 4 days of fishing in each event, that leaves very few opportunities to move up the leaderboard.

To put it in racing terms, there are eight laps standing between those in contention and the Angler of the Year (AOY) award, and every lap you lead gets you 5 points closer to the title. With the Top 10 anglers in the Toyota Tundra B.A.S.S. AOY race less than 150 points apart, I can’t think of a better time to challenge the world’s best bass anglers with a very tough tournament.

One of the biggest challenges in this tournament is going to be the ever-changing playing field. The Arkansas River is like a wild animal. It’s a living, breathing organism and its shape and velocity are going to change daily.

The guys who know the river best have a huge advantage over the field because they won’t waste any time dissecting dead water, and they’ll know how and where the fish tend to position themselves as the water level and flow changes.

At this stage in the season they are fishing for one of the following things:

AOY Title

With the last two events of the season there is some serious pressure for a half-dozen guys trying to pick up every point they can toward the ultimate goal. That AOY title is every bit as valuable as a Bassmaster Classic win, and it’s the goal every guy in the field is focused on from day 1.

As close as the race is right now, the AOY could be determined by 1 point, which equates to a single position on the lower third of the leaderboard. We’re talking one fish, maybe even 1 ounce!

Classic Berths

Under 2011 guidelines, a win on the Elite Series or in an Open event earns a Classic berth. That will take the pressure off of guys like Shaw Grigsby, who won earlier this season, but isn’t in contention for AOY.

At this stage there are two ways to get to the Classic – either finish the season inside the Top 28 in the points (in reality, more like the Top 37 or 38 due to double-qualifications), or win an event. If you’re not familiar with this river, both are
daunting challenges.

The 'W'

In addition to the $100,000, a win comes with the aforementioned automatic berth in the Classic. Most of the Arkansas River rats like Scott Rook, Kevin Short and Billy McCaghren aren’t anywhere close to the Classic cut, and a tournament on home turf will give them a legitimate shot. The river could give the uninitiated some problems.

2012 Requalification

This is a position nobody wants to be in … ever. While B.A.S.S. always works down the list of Elite Series pros to fill any spots that were not taken by other qualifying means, sitting below the 73rd-place position in the points race is a bad place to be.
Currently, that includes guys like Short, Mike McClelland, Tommy Biffle, Rook and Boyd Duckett.

Since its inception, B.A.S.S. has toyed with the idea of cutting the Elite field down to 50 to 75 anglers. Will the field be reduced in 2012? No telling, but you don’t want to be below the cutline when Uncle Jerry decides he wants to lighten the load.

Make or Break
In terms of the AOY race, this is a make-or-break event. Some guys in the middle of the pack are in survival mode, just hoping to catch enough fish to lock them into the Classic. Then there is that bunch of Arkansas River rats including Rook, Short, McCaghren and Greg Hackney. Those guys are fishing strictly for a win and the Classic berth that comes with it.

Meanwhile, every guy in the Top 10 is hoping that one or all of those river rats do better than the other AOY contenders. After all, the more positions Kevin VanDam can wedge between himself, Scroggins and Jones, the better chance he’ll have of slamming the door on another AOY title on Wheeler next week.

8 Laps To Go

Currently tied with VanDam for 2nd place in the points race, Alton Jones is as close to realizing his AOY dream as he has ever been. In preparation for the event, he spent a day in an airplane surveying the river. He claims it has already paid dividends in terms of managing his practice time, but whether it keys him into enough fish to gain points on Scroggins and VanDam remains to be seen.

VanDam and Jones sit 19 points behind Scroggins. Both have their eye on the prize. For VanDam it would be his seventh AOY title and for Scroggins his first. The Toyota teammates travel, work and live together on the road. It’s worth noting that the other half of their club includes Davy Hite and Little Rock local Rook.

Rook, who won the 2006 Bassmaster Legends on the same body of water, currently sits in 79th place in the points. While out of contention for everything, he is the heavy favorite to win on the Arkansas River, and he would be glad to pick up a late-season Classic invite.

The dynamics of the relationship between VanDam, Scroggins and Hite, all inside the Top 6, and Rook, who sits out of AOY contention, doesn’t bode well for Jones. The fact that three of the four roommates have a shot at AOY may keep the info-sharing among the group to a minimum, but short of jeopardizing his own victory, one would think that Rook is going to do what he can, within the rules, to help his buddies put some distance between themselves and Jones.

For those near the cutline for the Classic or in contention for the AOY title, these first four of the final eight laps of the race are the most critical of the season as the field jockeys for position to race for the checkers in Alabama next week.

Keith Alan spent the better part of the last decade traveling, working and fishing with the pros. His company, Ultimate Fishing Experience, offers on-the-water fishing clinics and trip-of-a-lifetime experiences with the biggest names in fishing.