Top storylines heading into Elite Series home stretch

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There aren’t any anglers in the 2026 Progressive Elite Series as familiar with Santee Cooper Lakes as Patrick Walters. He grew up on the shores of Lake Marion and still calls Eutawville home. The two massive lakes provided the perfect training ground for a prospective pro angler.

In three Elite Series tournaments in his hometown, however, Walters has yet to win a blue trophy. An 11th and 19th place finish in 2020 and 2022 respectively is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but a now 32-year-old stunningly finished 75th in the 2023 event, only landing four bass on Day 1 that weighed 8-7.

A month later after that 2023 event, however, he got the monkey off his back, winning the three-day NPFL regular season event with a total of 67-3.

Could that victory be the steppingstone to notching an Elite Series Top 10 on the home pond this week? It is certainly possible.

If he can execute the gameplan to perfection this week, it will give Walters a much-needed lift in the Angler of the Year standings where he sits 28th currently following a good, but not Walters-standard 29th-place finish at Lake Murray.

Since his inaugural 2019 campaign, the three-time Elite Series champion and two-time Opens champ has never finished below 16th in the year-long competition and has claimed third twice.

Finishing the South Carolina swing on a high would no doubt give the seventh-year pro some momentum heading into the final events of the season. Smallmouth country used to be his biggest weakness, but during the 2023 Elite Series visited the St. Lawrence River, he put up a blistering 105 pounds and won. In 2024, he finished sixth and eighth at Champlain and the St. Lawrence respectively.

All of this is to say, there is still plenty of time for Walters to work his way into the Top 10 of the AOY race for the sixth time.

Here are a couple other storylines to watch for the rest of the Elite season.

McKinney’s drive to AOY

Forward-facing sonar, no FFS, rain, shine, wind, it clearly doesn’t matter what the scenario is for Trey McKinney. The kid (I guess we can still call him that) can flat out fish and he is tired of finishing second in Angler of the Year. The Illinois pro leads the AOY standings and has built a 42-point cushion over second-place Caleb Hudson.

To rewind, McKinney has finished second in AOY in his first two years as an Elite Series finishing second to Chris Johnston both times. The 2024 season, McKinney would have been a runaway AOY more than likely had he not been disqualified from the Smith Lake Elite. The past two years, we’ve watched McKinney grow up. There have certainly been fewer self-inflicted wounds, and his instincts and abilities only seem to be getting better.

Here’s a crazy stat: In 34 adult B.A.S.S. events, McKinney has only missed a check FOUR times.

McKinney will tell you smallmouth country is his greatest weakness, but there is precious little evidence that it is a true weakness. His worst finish above the Mason-Dixon as an Elite angler is 42nd at Lake Champlain his rookie year. He won St. Clair last year to vault him into the AOY race and finished third at the St. Lawrence River/Lake Ontario in 2024.

If McKinney can keep this trajectory, we can only assume that this will be the first of many season-long titles for the 21-year-old. He’s already drawn comparisons to the Kevin Vandam, who was much older than McKinney when he won his first AOY.

KVD has seven total.

Could we be looking at the next LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan discussion? Tiger Woods vs. Jack Nichlaus? It is really too early to start that conversation. Or is it?

Loberg’s under the radar season

California transplant Andrew Loberg had a disastrous start to his rookie season in 2025, but righted the ship at Lake Hartwell, nearly won at Lake Tenkiller, and rallied to qualify for the Classic. This season, the 34-year-old is leaving no doubt about the caliber of angler he is. So far in 2026, Loberg hasn’t missed a Day 3 cut and on the back of a 17th at Lake Martin and an eighth at Lake Murray, he finds himself in eighth in Angler of the Year.

It’s still a long season, and it will probably take a monumental effort to unseat McKinney, but Loberg seems comfortable in his sophomore season. Although he finished 95th in the 2024 Open at Santee Cooper, he can certainly threaten for a win this time around. The Pasquotank River has redemption written all over it given his California Delta prowess and smallmouth land hasn’t been an issue for Loberg.

Don’t be surprised if Loberg gives McKinney a run for his money.

Youth vs. experience in the new format

If you are keeping score at home, the under-30s have claimed three of the five Elite Series titles so far in 2026 while two over 40s have won the other two. The over 40s won their events during the non-FFS events while the under 30s have claimed victory at the FFS events.

That doesn’t necessarily tell the entire story, though. Outside of Guntersville where veterans dominated the Top 10, the other four events have had a nice split between veterans and relative newbies.

Two non-FFS remain on the schedule for 2026, Santee Cooper and then Lake Champlain, a notoriously ‘Scope heavy event in recent years. Will largemouth have a great impact on that event or will anglers simply find a different way to catch the smallmouth that have grown to impressive sizes?

The wild card that is the Pasquotank River

This tournament is going to make or break seasons. Multiple rivers, long runs, the potential for strong winds during those long runs and a fishery very few anglers have tackled in the early summer before.

The fishing itself should be great, especially for those who love frogging.

Can the rookie class recover?

Outside of a surging Caleb Hudson, who hasn’t stopped catching bass since he made his epic comeback at the Lake Okeechobee EQ, the 2026 Rookie Class has not made the impact many thought it would right off the bat.

Hudson is second in AOY right now. You have to go down to Fisher Anaya, who won the Lake Martin event, in 23rd to find the next rookie. Those two and Pake South are the only three currently inside the 2027 Bassmaster Classic cut. Tristan McCormick is 50th, and the other five rookies are below 70th in points. Russ Lane isn’t a rookie, but he’s back for the first time in several years and sits in 99th.

To compare, 2025 saw four rookies and the newcomer Cody Meyer inside the Classic cut after five tournaments. In 2024, EIGHT of the rookies were inside the cut after five events and Logan Parks wasn’t that far out in 49th.

Call it what you want. There are obvious FFS takes to be had. Whether they are fallacies or the truth, I guess we’ll continue to find out. But it seems to be more of a regression to the mean.

The Elite Series is hard, and being able to succeed right out of the gate like the Walters, Drew Cook, McKinney, JT Thompkins and the Tucker Smith’s of the world hadn’t been that common until they showed up.

Here’s the good news: it really isn’t that uncommon for anglers to rise from the bottom of the field at this point of the season to make the Classic. Pat Schlapper and Loberg, to name just two, did it last year. Lake Murray was the best overall event for the rookie class too, with seven finishing 55th or higher. Positive momentum goes a long way.