COLUMBIA, S.C. —Fred Roumbanis’ nickname is “Boom-Boom,” which is borderline appropriate for the explosions taking place up and down the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year race.
We watched yesterday as Alton Jones stumbled and fell out of the top of the standings with an 88th place finish, allowing Steve Kennedy to take over the lead in that prestigious race.
Then the boom started falling all up and down the standings. If Jones stumbled, Kennedy jumped off the cliff. He started the day in fifth place and at the top of the AOY standings by a decent margin. He finished the day in 60th place and fell to sixth on the AOY list.
My, how things can change and shake up in the midst of a “tough” fishing event.
Standing atop that list after Day Two of this event is Terry Scroggins with about 1,500 unofficial points.
Strangely enough, Jones, who finished yesterday in 88th place and fell to fourth overall, stayed in 88thplace, but because of all the stumbling, bumbling going on all around, actually moved up the AOY standings to second place with 1,471 points.
KVD, who did a little stumbling of his own, is third with 1437. And Roumbanis is now fourth with 1,419 (five of those points from leading Day Two).
Dean Rojas has moved into the mix in fifth with 1,393, and then there’s Kennedy one point back in sixth place with 1,392.
In the grand scheme of things, there have been a lot of moves up and down this list, and if Scroggins were to have a bad day on Day Three, Jones could wind up back in the lead, even though he will spend the day on dry ground.
The bottom line is Jones had a big cushion coming into this event. He certainly didn’t want to stumble, but his big lead cushioned the fall, so to speak. After this event, whether or not he leads the race, things will be super tight.
Watching how these things progress is making every fish a critical component to who actually wins the AOY title, which is the way it should be at the end of the day.
As an example: Steve Kennedy weighed only two fish for 2-9 on Day Two. If he could have added a single 12-inch keeper to his creel, he would be one place higher in the overall standings, a second keeper of the same size and he’s back in fourth place.
That’s an easy example that makes some assumptions; all the guys above him could have or might have had the opportunity to make those kind of short moves in tourneys past. But what it serves to show, is just how important every fish is and will be in the next two days of this event and even more so when the Elite anglers get to the Arkansas River, where the toughness factor, following an abnormal flood, will be ratcheted up a bit.
Either way, the moves, or shall we say “bombs” that are dropping daily makes this AOY race not only fun to watch but exciting as well.