The points don’t become official until after today’s weigh-in, but the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year race has definitely tightened this week at Lake Oahe.
Depending on where Justin Lucas, Bradley Roy and Josh Bertrand finish in today’s Top 12 final, a few points will shift here and there. But the overall standings of the top four AOY leaders will not change. Bradley Roy will be the AOY leader after event No. 7 of the nine-tournament Elite Series regular season. Justin Lucas, after his third Top 12 finish in a row, will be second, followed by previous leader Brent Chapman and Josh Bertrand. Then there’s almost a 50-point gap down to fifth-place Ott DeFoe.
With Chapman finishing 53rd, his string of consecutive Top 50 finishes ended. Bertrand is the only angler who has made the Top 50 cut in all seven Elite Series tournaments this year. Lucas is the only angler who has made four Top 12s this season, and he just missed another, finishing 13th at Grand Lake
The following is a look at the AOY leaders and where each has finished in the seven tournaments:
| Roy | Lucas | Chapman | Bertrand | |
| 7. Oahe | 4? | 9? | 53 | 5? |
| 6. La Crosse | 26 | 11 | 23 | 30 |
| 5. Sabine | 4 | 10 | 37 | 44 |
| 4. Travis | 73 | 48 | 5 | 26 |
| 3. Kentucky | 22 | 73 | 9 | 6 |
| 2. Grand | 4 | 13 | 29 | 46 |
| 1. Martin | 25 | 6 | 19 | 20 |
| Points | 619 | 607 | 602 | 600 |