By BassFan Staff
After considering the momentous happenings that the first half of 2016 served up to BassFans, the last six months had a tough act to follow. Between the on-the-water achievements and off-the-water business, it’s been a memorable and interesting second half of the year.
Leave it to John Cox and his aluminum boat and Gerald Swindle’s keep-it-simple approach and ever-present Southern charm to carry the day, not to mention Andy Morgan adding another highlight to his historically steady career.
On the business side, 2016 will be remembered as the year one Goliath outdoor retailer decided to buy another in a move that is still in the process of being approved. It’ll also be remembered for the upheaval that’s taking place at Pure Fishing, which was part of another massive transaction involving Newell Brands buying Pure Fishing parent company Jarden Corporation.
Below is the conclusion of our two-part Year In Review feature (to check out part 1, click here). We’ve launched a new poll on the BassFan home page asking readers to vote for the top story of 2016.
Morgan’s a Monster
For most pro anglers, kicking off a season with 40th- and 42nd-place finishes would be considered a good foundation for the rest of the schedule. To Andy Morgan, it was cause for alarm.
Consider this: Morgan had not posted finishes of 40th or lower in back-to-back tournaments (in the same season) since 2007. His so-called slump didn’t last long as he notched a 6th at Beaver Lake and then finished the season with a 11th (Pickwick Lake), 10th (Kentucky Lake) and 13th (Lake Champlain) to slam the door on a third career FLW Tour Angler of the Year title. He held off a valiant push from Canadian rookie Chris Johnston to move into a tie with David Dudley and Clark Wendlandt for most career FLW Tour AOY championships.
"I'm 44 years old and you can see the gray in my beard, but I've still got the work ethic,” he said capturing his third AOY win in the last four years. “Maybe I've gotten a little smarter as time's gone on and I don't have to work quite as hard as I once did, but I know how to work.”
With another wave of anglers departing the FLW Tour for the Elite Series in 2017, Morgan will be considered a favorite to capture a fourth AOY title, but one thing he’s surely chasing is another victory. His only FLW Tour win came at Beaver Lake in May 2007.
Bracket Buster
The Niagara River Classic Bracket, staged out of Grand Island, N.Y., near Buffalo in mid-July served as B.A.S.S.’s first attempt to organize and live-stream an event on the Internet it in its entirety. The event matched up the top eight finishers from the Cayuga Lake Elite Series and seeded them in brackets (1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, etc.) based on where they wound up at Cayuga.
The first-round (quarterfinal) pairings were Kevin VanDam vs. Drew Benton, Jordan Lee vs. Dean Rojas, Brett Hite vs. Keith Combs and Koby Kreiger vs. Jacob Powroznik with each matchup playing out over two days – one morning session and one afternoon session. While VanDam and Hite advanced fairly easily, Rojas needed a late rally on day 2 to oust Lee.
Koby Kreiger (background) took a win against Jacob Powroznik (foreground) in the first round of the Classic Bracket after Powroznik decided to not fish in the second period of their match.
That left the Kreiger-Powroznik pairing as the one to watch, except Powroznik wound up being the one doing the watching in the end.
Powroznik took a 1-pound lead over Kreiger on the first day and the close friends were part of the afternoon session on day 2. Of the eight competitors, Kreiger was by far the lowest in AOY points (72nd) so he had the most to gain (Classic berth) from winning the event. Powroznik, who was near the top of the AOY race, had hinted that he’d try to help Kreiger out if he could.
When the second half of their matchup started, it was clear Powroznik wasn't in it to win it. He had a bright and gaudy musky bait tied on. After a few casts, he put his rod down and basically acted as a spectator/coach as Kreiger tried to pick off keeper smallmouth around the upper Niagara River, which serves as part of the link between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
As time wore on, Kreiger’s struggles became more and more evident. Some spots went cold. He’d lose a fish here and miss a bite there. The pressure was mounting as his opponent looked on along with an online audience that didn’t know what to make of the situation.
At one point, Kevin VanDam, who was fishing nearby, idled over to get a read on the situation. After chatting with Powroznik for a moment, he got on plane and ran to another spot.
“It’s like when you’re doing school work as a third-grader and your teacher is peeking over your shoulder,” Kreiger said afterward. “You know what you’re doing. It makes it that much tougher – just leave me alone and let me do what I do. It was definitely a lot more pressure with him and other guys watching, especially him because we’re working together on this program.”
Finally, Kreiger connected with a 1-07 smallmouth to overtake Powroznik to advance to the semifinals, where he nearly took out VanDam, who prevailed on a tiebreaker before going on to the win event.
The event as a whole offered a window into how modern technology can help bring an audience into the boat with competitors for an entire day of competition, but it also served as a learning tool for B.A.S.S. as it gears up to possibly widen its use of Bassmaster Live in the future.
Tin Man Can
In 2015, Cox made a run at the FLW Tour AOY crown only to fall short to fellow Floridian Scott Martin, who claimed his first career AOY title.
This year, the 30-year-old Cox was the AOY leader after three events – he also took over the number 1 ranking in the BassFan World Rankings – but eventually faded to 7th. Still, he continued with his shallow-water strategies and it produced not only his second Tour win at Lake Hartwell, but a career-defining triumph at the Forrest Wood Cup at Wheeler Lake in August.
The man best known for running an aluminum boat and building rods in his hotel room on the eve of tournaments maneuvered his way about as far as he could go up Cotaco Creek to a jungle-like section of the creek that he hammered with a hollow-body frog and buzzbait.
John Cox went where no other competitor could during the Forrest Wood Cup and he emerged with the victory.
His weights dropped off through the tournament, but his 16-11 effort on day 1 gave him some wiggle room and by the time the weekend rolled around, he only needed a pair of 11-pound bags to sew up the triumph and $300,000 payday. His victory further cemented his place among the top anglers in the sport today despite his aversion to anything other than shallow-water situations.
Swindle Sacks ‘Em
Not qualifying for the 2016 Bassmaster Classic at Grand Lake didn’t sit well with Swindle. Instead, he worked sponsor booths at the Outdoor Expo in Tulsa and stewed in anticipation for the coming Elite Series season.
Like Morgan, he opened the year with a 40th-place finish (at the St. Johns River), but it wound up being his lowest finish in a full-field event. He had top-10s at Winyah Bay and Wheeler Lake sandwiched around a 30th at Bull Shoals/Norfork before capping the first half of the year with a 34th at Toledo Bend and a 3rd at Lake Texoma. As the calendar flipped to June, he was second in AOY points behind Greg Hackney.
It was Hackney’s gaffe at Cayuga Lake that opened the door for Swindle and he took full advantage. Swindle reeled off three straight top-12 finishes to finish the regular season with a 43-point cushion heading to Minnesota for the AOY Championship at famed Mille Lacs Lake. The finale proved to be a headache for Swindle, who lumbered through the first two days by catching 25-06, which had him in 49th place. He rebounded with 22-plus on the final day to cap off an impressive season by one of the most popular personalities in the sport.
Afterward, he talked of his appreciation for the journey to capture a second career AOY crown, a feat only nine others have achieved in B.A.S.S. history.
His celebration, however, was short-lived after he endured severe complications following a routine operation to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. His offseason hunting aspirations took a backseat as he was relegated to crutches and a grueling rehab schedule, but barring any other setbacks he should be ready to go when the 2017 season kicks off in February at Cherokee Lake.
Board Room Bassin’
Off the water, 2016 provided some fireworks as well, most notably with Bass Pro Shops’ acquisition of outdoor retail rival Cabela’s.
Gerald Swindle battled knee pain for much of the season, but still managed six top-12 finishes to capture his second career AOY title.
The deal had been rumored for months after Cabela’s hand was forced by an activist investor, but it didn’t become official until early October. That’s when Bass Pro Shops offered up $5.5 billion, a deal that called for Bass Pro Shops to pay $65.50 per share in cash for Cabela's, a price that represented a 19.2 percent premium over what Cabela’s stock had closed at the previous Friday.
In the months since the deal was announced, it was revealed that Bass Pro Shops boasts gross profit margins of roughy 50 percent and that it expects profits to climb 10 percent with the addition of Cabela’s to the fold.
The transaction is currently undergoing a rigorous examination by the Federal Trade Commission and recent reports indicate it may be months until the purchase is approved. That news has the town of Sidney, Neb., the home of Cabela's, on edge as nearly a third of the town's residents are Cabela's employees.
The FTC has taken tough stances on mega mergers in the past and in May a federal judge ruled in favor of the FTC in a matter that ultimately sunk the planned merger of Office Depot and Staples. The judge cited the potential for impaired competition as a reason for how he ruled.
In another big business matter, Pure Fishing, the parent company of well-known brands Berkley, Abu Garcia, Pflueger and Shakespeare, among others, recently saw its marketing department at its South Carolina offices let go as part of a cost-saving initiative by Newell Brands, which merged with previous Pure Fishing parent Jarden Corporation earlier this year.
A number of anglers on the pro staff of Pure Fishing brands didn’t have their contracts renewed for 2017 and it’s prompted questions about the future status of other well-known anglers connected with Pure Fishing brands.
It’s also left some to wonder Newell plans to do next with Pure Fishing. Newell counts numerous everyday consumer brands like Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Calphalon among its portfolio and may want to sell off Pure Fishing or some its fishing brands if the price is right.
