Who Should Win This Year's Comeback Award?

Who had the best comeback this year – do you have an opinion? Because you get to vote on who should receive the 2003 BassFan/PAA Comeback of the Year Award.

When BassFan created the award last year, the fans were given a say. BassFan votes, the Professional Anglers Association (PAA) votes and the fans vote. The combination of that voting determines the winner.

Last year was easy: Davy Hite climbed from 96th in the 2000-01 points to win BASS Angler of the Year (AOY) in 2002. He was the only angler nominated, so the fans didn't get a chance to vote.

This year it may be as easy, or it may not. Dan Morehead climbed from 93rd in the 2002 FLW Tour points to win FLW AOY this year. That's similar to Hite's climb, and he's the only AOY winner eligible to win it this year. So is it easy? That's up to you, though the BassFan staff couldn't resist putting in a couple of lines of comment on each candidate.

Without further adieu, here they are.

Dan Morehead

Morehead lit up the FLW Tour this year. In the first four tournaments he finished 3rd, 23rd, 8th and 1st. In the last two regular-season tournaments he didn't finish higher than 55th, but by then he practically could have just fished from the bank and still won.

His worst three finishes – including the FLW Tour Championship – all came at the end of the year, but that shouldn't take away from how handily he won FLW AOY this year. And besides, his worst finish in seven events was 68th, and the FLW events were all full 175-angler fields: no BASS-like 100-man and 50-man events for him to skate through.

Morehead had been a two-tour pro, but this year decided to fish only the FLW Tour. Earlier this year, he said: "When BASS added more events, I pretty much decided that I wasn't going to fish both. I have a wife and daughter at home, and with two tours I wasn't going to be home at all. Then I put pen to paper and figured out what I already knew: there's simply more money in the FLW Tour."

Whatever the reasons, his decision paid off. He fished like he had much more focus and energy, and it seemed as if he could finally put his competitive archery training to use.

> Comeback comment: From 93rd all the way up to wining an AOY award? Now that's a comeback.

Roger Boler

"Roger who?" That's what almost everyone would've said before this year. Boler was a rookie last year on the Bassmaster Tour, and finished 101st in the BASS points. This year he put on a fishing clinic for the other 174, 99 and 49 pros fishing the Bassmaster Tour.

After a dismal start in event 1 of 10 – the Harris Chain, where he finished 166th – he finished in the Top 20 in five of the next seven events, including a 2nd at Okeechobee and a 3rd at the California Delta. He didn't do as well in the last two regular-season events, but because they only had 50-man fields they didn't hurt him too badly.

The bottom line was that he ended up 4th in the BASS points, and made his first Bassmaster Classic. And were it not for the Harris Chain, he might be wearing the BASS AOY crown right now.

This year was the first that Boler fished full-time, and he said he felt more comfortable on tour. He also benefited from sharing information with his running buddy Chad Morgenthaler.

> Comeback comment: Going from 101st to 4th can be seen as a comeback, and Boler had a stellar year. We can't wait to see what he does in 2004. But since last year was his rookie year, was he really coming back from something?

Mike Surman

Like Gary Yamamoto and a few others in the tackle business, Mike Surman tests his baits on tour. Surman is a co-owner of Gambler-Bang, and this year had by far his best year on the FLW Tour.

He finished 7th in the FLW points vs. 98th last year. And as so often happens when someone does well, he credited his season to just seeming to make the right decisions. This season that groove earned him three Top 20s, including two Top 10s, and a trip to the FLW Tour Championship.

> Comeback comment: Surman definitely ramped up his fishing this year. But since the last time he cracked the Top 20 in the FLW points was in 1996 – when the FLW Tour started – does this qualify as a comeback?

Shaw Grigsby Jr.

Shaw Grigsby is back. For a time, some wondered whether he was going to be content to be a "TV pro," notably because he finished 90th in the points in the 2001-02 season and 68th the year before that. But they wondered that because those were uncharacteristic finishes.

This season Grigsby showed everybody that he still has what it takes. He was in the BASS AOY hunt, and finishing a strong 6th in the points.

For him, the difference this year was the "spring-loaded" Bassmaster Tour schedule. That schedule, bemoaned by many, was embraced by Grigsby, and not for the obvious sight-fishing reason. Because of the cold and wet spring, few of the events were sight-fishing events so he couldn't really use his Ph.D. in that technique. Rather, the schedule meant that he could fish most of the events before he had to start filming again for his TV show.

"My fishing definitely has taken a dive since the TV show, but think lot of factors are involved," he said in March. "As far as the show goes, right now we're not in production and I have nothing to do with editing the show and putting it on TV. I don't have to think about TV until probably May. We start filming in May and film through December to get the shows done for January. So (BASS) changing the schedule in a sense really helped me."

Whatever the reason, he had three Top 10 finishes, another Top 20 and qualified for his 10th Classic.

> Comeback comment: Definitely a comeback. But is it the comeback of the year?

Zell Rowland

Zell Rowland's comeback is a little different than the above anglers in that it's based on his world ranking rather than tour points.

The three Bassmaster Tour seasons before this one were disappointing for Rowland, and the whispering started. If a pro has been around a while, the whispering is usually about how that angler has "lost it." If the pro is newer to the scene, the whispering usually says he "never really had it." Usually it's 100 percent wrong.

Certainly it was in Rowland's case. He went through some trying times personally, and that affected his fishing. He finished 2nd in the BASS points in the 1998-99 season, and then hit a rut, finishing 55th, 89th and 70th.

But this year he rebounded. He finished 9th in the points, and chalked up a win, two more Top 10s and three more Top 20s on the way. Lost it? Not bloody likely.

More significantly, his six Top 20 finishes out of 11 events fished (a 54 percent average) – three right at the end, including the Classic – propelled him from below 100th in the State Farm-BassFan World Rankings to finish the season ranked 11th in the world. That was the biggest jump in the rankings this year, and it's a huge one.

He credited his good year to his wife Kim, who has helped him with business matters so he could focus on fishing.

> Comeback comment: Definitely a comeback. But is it the best comeback of 2003 or just a great comeback? We're not giving your our opinion.

Notable

> 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 (or Teva sandals) and vote. And no, that's not a hint.

> Voting will be complete on Friday, Nov. 7.

> For any fan clubs out there: Please don't "game" the voting by pouring in thousands of votes. We can tell where the votes are coming from, and that will needlessly void the votes of other fans.

> All of the above candidates are one-tour anglers.

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