Elite

20 seasons of the B.A.S.S. Century Club

Tracking the Century Club belts awarded during 20 seasons of Bassmaster Elite Series competition.

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Captions by
Craig Lamb
Breaking the century mark in a B.A.S.S. tournament is nothing new. At the 1968 Eufaula National the winning weight was 132 pounds from a creel limit of 15 bass.
But it was the Bassmaster Elite Series that brought the Century Club into the spotlight of individual angling achievements. The Club celebrates its 20th season with the 2025 Elite season.
When B.A.S.S. launched the Elite Series in 2006, it made a commitment to bringing the world’s best bass anglers to the best fishing destinations — and to do that during the best times to be there. The plan paid off sooner than planned. The historical inaugural event occurred in March on Lake Amistad on the border of Texas and Mexico. Ish Monroe simultaneously worked three patterns for prespawn, spawn and postspawn largemouth, boating three bass that weighed better than 9 pounds each over four days. His 20 best weighed 104-8, and the first Century Club entry of the Elite Series went into the books.
In 2007 at Lake Amistad the top five anglers joined the Century Club. Derek Remitz won the tournament with 111-7, while Mike Iaconelli won his first of three (2007, 2008, 2009) Century Club belts after finishing second with 103-11. 
At Amistad, Steve Kennedy is pictured with the heaviest stringer of the week weighing 36-10, anchoring his third-place overall weight of 101-10. At Amistad, Kennedy earned his first Century Club entry.
The 2007 season stood out for its marathon run of three tournaments in March, with the first in Texas at Lake Amistad and the others in California at the California Delta and then Clear Lake. It was the latter tournament that Steve Kennedy won with 122-14. That season, Kennedy earned two Century Club entries.
The Century Club kept rolling in 2008 with a record-breaking entry, not surprisingly on another Texas-Mexico border impoundment. Falcon Lake produced a winning catch of 132-8 for Paul Elias. The catch ranks as the heaviest weight of all time for the Century Club.
Remarkably, the top 12 earned Century Club status, with incredible one-day catches by Aaron Martens (42-6), Byron Velvick (41-11) and Terry Scroggins (44-4). Pictured is Martens being interviewed by Mark Zona.
The significance of the amazing fishing at that record-breaking tournament was evident with the top 12 anglers breaking the century mark. Among them was Byron Velvick, third place with 131-15. The 12th-place angler had 108-7.
Aaron Martens scored his fifth B.A.S.S. victory — the first outside of his native California — at Lake Guntersville during a May 2009 event. Martens broke the century mark with a winning weight of 107-8 on the Tennessee River impoundment. 
In 2012, Lake Okeechobee produced its first and only Century Club entry. Californian Ish Monroe won with 108-5, anchored by the tournament’s heaviest daily limit weighing 34-5.
Monroe first broke the century mark at the inaugural Elite series event in 2006 on Lake Amistad.
On Okeechobee, Monroe scored a wire-to-wire win, delivering 30 pounds to the scales on Championship Sunday.
Not surprisingly, another March event in 2013 at Falcon produced three entries, led by winner Keith Combs with 111-5. 
Rick Clunn was second with 105-6, and John Crews completed the entries in third place with 103-13. 
After a dry spell, due in part to an absence of border tournaments, Lake Fork entered the program in 2019 to produce entries for the next three years.
Brandon Cobb validated Lake Fork as the Texas premier trophy bass lake with a winning weight of 114 pounds, anchored by an 11-pound largemouth.
The Lake Fork victory would be Cobb’s second of the season. 
The Lake Fork hot streak continued in 2020, when the tournament moved from spring to November due to the COVID outbreak.
Patrick Walters won his first of three career Century Club entries with a winning weight of 104-12.
Walters also set a B.A.S.S. record for largest margin of victory by finishing 29-10 ahead of the second-place angler. 
The next two years at Lake Fork would be dominated by Lee Livesay, who gained Century Club status in 2021 with a winning weight of 112-5, and a 10-pound margin of victory over Patrick Walters. 
On Championship Sunday behind an early 9-2 largemouth, Livesay had built a 30-pound limit and then upgraded with largemouth weighing 8-4 and 7-14.
The latter bass pushed his weight over 40 pounds, landing him in third place for the heaviest five-bass limit in B.A.S.S. history.
Livesay’s hot streak on Lake Fork continued in 2022, when he won again with 113-11 at a tournament where the top four all earned Century Club status. 
Also in 2022, the Santee Cooper Lakes returned to the Century Club scene for the first time since 2006. Drew Cook’s sight fishing pattern produced a winning weight of 105-5. 
The Century Club belt turned bronze later that season when Jay Przekurat staged an all-smallmouth win on the St. Lawrence River with a winning weight of 105 pounds. Canadian Cory Johnston became the second Elite angler to earn a smallmouth-specific Century Club entry with his runner-up weight of 100-5. 
In 2023 at the St. Lawrence River, Patrick Walters earned the distinction of becoming the first Elite pro to earn Century Club belts for largemouth and smallmouth.
 
He did in the latter case by winning the tournament with an amazing all-smallmouth weight of 105 pounds.
Trey McKinney achieved just about everything possible within his 2024 Elite rookie season. At the age of 19, McKinney became the youngest Elite pro and won his second Elite tournament at Lake Fork, adding a Century Club belt to his achievements.
McKinney’s winning weight was a whopping 130-15.
Joining the Century Club were the Top 10 anglers with Cooper Gallant finishing in 10th place with 100-7.
By design, the Elite season covers the entire spawning cycle, allowing the anglers to showcase their talents across prespawn, spawn and postspawn conditions. While the anglers earn the prized Century Club status, it’s the fisheries that produce the triple-digit weights.
What will the 20th season of the Elite Series bring to the Century Club? This was the scene in February 2024 over Moonshine Bay on Lake Okeechobee, where the spawn was in full swing during a Bassmaster Open.
Scott Martin won the three-day event with 90-6. The second stop of the 2025 Elite season is at Lake Okeechobee, also in February. Will the century mark be broken then and there?
In May the Elites return to Lake Fork, where Justin Hamner caught the 2024 Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Year weighing 11-7.
Lake Fork produced Century Club entries in all five of the previous Elite Series tournaments held at the renowned trophy fishery — 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024. Will the century mark be broken there this year?

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