By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Drew Benton had every reason to be upbeat heading into the 2017 Bassmaster Elite Series season.

He won the Rookie of the Year award in 2016 and qualified for his first Bassmaster Classic after finishing 11th in Angler of the Year points, ahead of the likes of Edwin Evers, Brandon Palaniuk, Mike Iaconelli, Dean Rojas and Aaron Martens to name a few. In addition, he posted two top-12 finishes.

Benton couldn’t have been more pleased with how his first Elite Series season played out following three years on the FLW Tour.

Unfortunately for the 29-year-old from Panama City, Fla., there was little to no carry-over effect to this season. He went 4-for-9 in notching paychecks and finished 71st in AOY points with four finishes of 83rd or worse, including two to start the season during the part of the year when he typically shines. His best finish was a 20th at Lake Champlain in July.

When asked to contrast his first two Elite Series seasons against each other, Benton pointed out the one significant distinction between the 2016 season and 2017 was the lack of tournaments this year in which the spawning bite came into play.

“That’s one of my stronger deals and it just didn’t pan out,” he said. “Really, we didn’t have any pre-spawn to spawn events. The one we did have pre-spawn was a totally different off-the-wall deal that I hadn’t been exposed to before (at Cherokee Lake).”

Started Slow

Cherokee was new to many in the Elite Series field this year, including Benton, and his 92nd-place finish there meant he needed to bounce back two weeks later in his home state at Lake Okeechobee.

Most figured that wouldn’t be difficult considering Benton burst on the pro scene in 2013 with a victory in his first FLW Tour event at Okeechobee. He anticipated being a factor again and banked on being able to capitalize on areas where bass were still in the midst of the spawning phase.

What materialized was a head-scratcher for Benton, who wound up 96th at the Big O, leaving him near the bottom of the points standings after two events.

“I thought there’d be some (spawners) and I’d see some, but they’d be gone the next day,” he said. “It was the weirdest spawn I’ve ever experienced in Florida. I don’t know what the reasoning was, but I know it wasn’t right. I’ve talked to a lot of Florida guys who said it was a weird year for the spawn.

“It was 100 percent different from what it used to be. A lot of habitat in areas I love to fish is just not there anymore. Looking back, I’d say 95 percent of checks were in the Harney Pond/Monkey Box area. I fished there some, but I have a good history there and it’s hard for me to go fish in a crowd. That was my downfall there. I tried my best to stay away from that, but ultimately, I should’ve spent more time practicing in there.”

Despite starting with two finishes in the 90s, Benton maintained a positive outlook. He knew he had some time to make up ground, but he couldn’t afford another dismal outcome.

“If you have a bomb, to cancel it out, you need a top-20, so realistically, I needed an average year with two top-20s mixed in,” he said.

He collected checks in the two Texas-based tournaments (Toledeo Bend and Sam Rayburn Reservoir) in addition to an 18th-place finish at the Classic at Lake Conroe, but an 83rd at Lake Dardanelle bumped him back to the 80s in points. He had top-50 showings at Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River before finishing the season with a dud at Lake St. Clair (87th).

Through it all, his confidence didn’t waver.

“No, but I just got really frustrated when stuff outside my control kept going wrong,” he said. “It’s almost like, ‘Here we go – what’s next?’ I can look back to at least three tournaments where fish you would never lose on single-hook baits came off and cost me over the course of the year about 75 AOY points. You factor that in and you’re in the Classic. That’s the part of the sport people don’t take into account. There are so many more variables in this sport that are completely out of your control.”

Time to Regroup

Benton did take some positives out of an otherwise uneven season. He relished the opportunity to compete in his first Classic and despite some execution mishaps, he’s anxious to get back to the sport’s marquee event.

“It was awesome,” he said. “It was really cool weighing in at Minute Maid. I played ball in college and at some point was hoping I’d play a game in one of those stadiums. My family got to come and my granddad, who got me started in fishing, was there. It was really cool.”

He also nearly won the Douglas Lake Northern Open, but settled for 6th after a mechanical breakdown on the final day.

For 2018, he’s interested to see the impact of the tougher no-information rule B.A.S.S. instituted in the offseason. He was supportive of the change and hopes it levels the playing field, especially for the younger competitors.

“I don’t know hardly anybody so it won’t hurt me,” he said. “On the flip side, a guy who has the information from being at a place before, they don’t have to forfeit that info.”

He’s focused on getting out to a better start than he did this year and is planning practice trips to Lake Martin in Alabama and the Sabine River in Texas.

“I’m just going to keep grinding on them and keep doing what I do,” he said. “I’m going to put in the time at Martin and Sabine to get off to a good start. When I say time, I’m going to put in weeks because a lot of the competition is going to these venues and spending weeks if not a month there before they go off limits.”

> (Editor's note: This article was updated at 11:44 a.m. EST Nov. 19 to reflect that Benton won the 2016 Rookie of the Year award outright.)