Patrick Walters had caught a five-bass limit every day this season, until Saturday. While there are still three tournaments remaining in the 2021 Elite Series season, the Angler of the Year race finally opened up somewhat after Walters caught only four keepers Saturday. He missed the Day 2 cut to the top 48 anglers by 3 ounces, finishing 49th. His AOY points through six events are now final at 484.
Seth Feider, who led Walters by only 4 points entering this tournament, moved up from 15th place on Day 1 to 10th place on Day 2 at Neely Henry. If Feider finishes there, he would have 527 AOY points, and a 43-point lead over second-place Walters. Obviously, Feider has to catch them again Sunday and make Monday’s top 10 championship to leave here with that big a lead. For every place Feider finishes higher than 10th in the final standings his lead will increase by one point, and for every place he falls lower than 10th it will decrease by a point.
Dating back to last season, including his 2020 season-ending victory at Lake Fork, Walters had caught a limit 22 days in a row, according to Ronnie Moore of the B.A.S.S. staff. Jason Christie now holds the current streak of 17 limits in a row, which began after he failed to catch five keepers on the first day at the St. Johns River this year.