Keith Poche is attempting to make the biggest move up the AOY points standings this week. He came into this event hanging by a thread, ranked 67th. But if Poche finishes in 10th place or better today, he will advance to the AOY Championship.
In the process, he will knock Ish Monroe down to 51st place, and out of the field advancing to Sturgeon Bay in two weeks. If you remember how Poche and Monroe started the season in Bass Pro Shops Southern Open at Lake Toho, you might imagine Poche has some extra fire in his belly today.
At the AOY 50th place cutline currently, Poche is "theoretically" tied with Mark Menendez for 49th place with 381 points on the season, but Poche wins the tiebreaker with Menendez based on total weight of fish caught this season, so Menendez drops to 50th.
That's "theoretically" because those points aren't final yet. If Poche drops one spot to 11th today, he would be tied with Monroe and Andy Montogomery with 380 points. Monroe wins the tiebreaker with Montgomery based on weight. Poche needs 17-0 today to win a total weight tiebreaker with Monroe at 380 points.
If Poche finishes 12th today, he will finish with 379 points and fall out of the top 50 when the points for the 2015 season are finalized at the end of the day.