The final stretch of the 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series is fast approaching and so much is left to be decided. The Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race is tight with Alabama’s Kyle Welcher leading the way with 511 points. South Carolina pro Brandon Cobb is second with 499 points, John Cox is third with 483 points and much of the top 10 is still within striking distance.
Even tighter is the battle for spots in the 2024 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Toyota. As it stands, Clark Wendlandt is 40th in points and would be the last man in.
Unlike last year when Brandon Lester, Kenta Kimura and Lee Livesay all double qualified for the Classic with victories in St. Croix Bassmaster Opens competition, the Elite Field has not benefited from a double qualifier from the five Opens winners so far in 2023.
With four Opens to go, that could change, but the Elite anglers not in the Classic will need to make up some ground to ensure they are at Grand Lake in March. Throw in the “win and in” format for the 2023 Minn Kota Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River, and there is a recipe for a truly exciting end to an already compelling season.
Here are a couple of my predictions to keep an eye on as anglers prepare for the Northern Swing.
Palaniuk wins an event
With two second-place finishes this year, a particularly disappointing one at the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Lay Lake immediately followed by a runner-up finish in an Open at Wheeler Lake, it wouldn’t be all that shocking to see Brandon Palaniuk seal the deal late in the season. The reigning Bassmaster Angler of the Year has victories and multiple Top 10s at both the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain as well as a top five at Lake St. Clair in 2015.
It’s hard to say which one he will win, but Palaniuk is not ending 2023 without his sixth Elite Series title.
Przekurat climbs into top three in AOY race
Coming off a Bassmaster Rookie of the Year title in 2022, Jay Przekurat finds himself in 10th place in the Angler of the Year standings with six events completed. The final three events are right in his wheelhouse. He has made several trips to St. Clair, won the St. Lawrence River event last season with a historic 102-9 four-day total of smallmouth and Champlain provides him the opportunity to fish for both smallmouth and largemouth like he often does in his home state of Wisconsin.
Przekurat would most likely need some help from his competitors to win AOY, but the lineup of fisheries will give the now 24-year-old a chance to make a big move.
Feider finally gets his Champlain victory
Seth Feider has come so close to winning at Champlain, notching second-place finishes during the 2017 and 2020 Elite tournaments before finishing fourth in 2021. On a fishery where the leaderboard is always so tight, Feider always finds a way to catch a bigger-than-average bag, and this year he will leave upstate New York with a trophy and momentum for the 2024 season.
Ito, Cory Johnston sneak into Classic cut
No one will be happier to return to “Smallmouth Disneyland” than Japanese pro Taku Ito, who has not had a great 2023 campaign. Although he is sitting 81st right now in the standings, the points are very tight from 40th on down. That is good for Ito, who has never missed a Day 3 cut at a true northern smallmouth event and has five Top 10s and a victory on these types of fisheries.
Cory Johnston has also struggled some in 2023 and is 59th in points currently. But his mountain isn’t quite as high as Ito’s. He’ll benefit from one tournament on his home waters of the St. Lawrence River, a tournament he’ll be amped up for after catching 100 pounds of smallmouth last season only to finish second.
Gallant wins ROY
This is a particularly hot take given how well the five anglers in front of him in the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Rookie of the Year standings are fishing in 2023, but Cooper Gallant is a brown fish guru and his favorite fishery is none other than Lake Ontario, which will be featured in the final stop of the Northern Swing.
He finished fourth at the 2021 Bassmaster Open at the St. Lawrence River, an event that allowed anglers to go to Ontario as well.
He’s got a mountain to climb, but don’t count the 25-year-old out in smallmouth land.
