The Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year race has a normal magic number of 37 for Elite Series anglers qualifying for bass fishing’s world championship. That has unofficially bumped down to 39.
The reasons are Brandon Palaniuk, who is double qualified for being second in the AOY standings. He also received an automatic berth for winning Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefitting the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The other is Jordan Lee, the defending champion also in 16th place.
Michael Iaconelli is on the bubble, but the final turn going into the home stretch most certainly falls inside his wheelhouse of skill sets. Ironically, what saved him was a much needed big lift was finishing 10th at Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas.
The big surprise on the current AOY list is Ott DeFoe, who held the lead until this event. DeFoe is now 80 points behind new leader Casey Ashley.
We now have what is shaping up to be an exciting, challenging, in-the-trenches fight for the AOY trophy. Brandon Palaniuk is only 1 point behind and he’s fishing strong this season. Behind him, and only 15 points behind is Kevin VanDam.