Beyond the obvious there are several anglers fishing on Championship Sunday that will get a bonus lift in the standings for Toyota Angler of the Year.
Currently, Hank Cherry is fourth with 419 points. Keith Combs is eighth with 400 points. Cherry and Combs are the only two anglers fishing who are near the top of the AOY standings.
Both anglers will get a much needed boost in the points. So will Kevin VanDam, obvoiusly. Before now he was 27th.
Ish Monroe, with 366 points, will move up from 19th place. So will Stephen Browning, in 28th place with 341 points.
Of all the anglers fishing on Day 4 who needs the lift the most is Tommy Biffle, in 57th place with 291 points. Last year Biffle narrowly missed qualifying for the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro. He did that at an Open event on Fort Gibson, his home lake, where he nearly won the tournament. Winning an Open comes with an automatic berth.
Of course it’s way too early to begin predictions. There is plenty of flipping and pitching water on Lake Texoma, site of the next tournament. Look for Biffle to carry over his confidence from a good performance here to BASSfest.
(Footnote: Although Open events don’t count for AOY standings, Biffle has another shot at the Classic before BASSfest. The next B.A.S.S. event is an Open on the Arkansas River, not far from Biffle’s home.)