Stephen Browning believes this year presents his best chance to return to the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series.
“Simply because of a coin flip, I honestly think that I really have the best opportunity that I will have,” the 60-year-old veteran angler from Hot Springs, Ark., said.
Browning was thrilled with the outcome of coin tosses to determine which Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers presented by Bass Pro Shops would allow forward-facing sonar and which would not.
On Bassmaster LIVE during the St. Lawrence River Elite broadcast, analyst Mark Zona’s first toss set no FFS for the Sept. 23-25 Lake Norfork EQ, subsequently meaning it will be allowed at Toledo Bend Oct. 21-23. The B.A.S.S. on the coin shield came up again on Zona’s second flip, prohibiting FFS for the Lake Guntersville finale Nov. 11-13.
Browning, who’s won four Bassmaster tournaments and qualified for 10 Bassmaster Classics, said the outcome is the best he could have hoped.
“I actually texted Zona after it was over and said, ‘Good flipping.’” Browning said. “I really and truly wanted Norfork non-scoping because I honestly think it’s going to be a test. It’s going to be horrible. There’s no doubt in my mind it’s going to be horrible.”
Norfork will be held before cooling water ignites the fall transition bite. A front arrives during practice, yet only dropping daily high temperatures from the 90s to the low 80s. Launches on the three competition days should be in the 60s, with no high winds or rain in the forecast.
Expect a grind, Browning said, with limits hard to come by and fish at their leanest. Catching five bass that average 2 1/2 pounds could put an angler in the Top 10, maybe even win.
“I’m telling you straight up, 13 pounds a day will put you in the game,” Browning said.
October can be a prime time on Toledo Bend Reservoir, with bass moving shallow and biting aggressively, so sonar might not be that much of advantage.
“Toledo Bend, I feel like a man can compete with or without it,” Browing said. “I feel like you can have a good tournament without it.”
November in Guntersville offers one of the lake’s prime fishing windows, with the pre‑winter, feed‑up mode potentially producing trophy limits if conditions are stable.
“At Guntersville, let’s giddy up and go,” Browning said. “I feel good, I really do.”
Browning is among the dozen former Elites hoping to finish among the Top 10 in points in the EQ events for a return engagement on the Elite Series. Fishing all eight Opens, Browning finished 20th in points, which included a runner-up finish in the opener on the Kissimmee Chain.
During his 2025 Open season, Browning nearly qualified for an 11th Classic, but Trey Schroeder’s surprising Day 3 weight edged him by a half pound in the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Open. Browning went on to finish among the Top 50 in the Opens to advance to the EQs, but his pursuit of Elite requalification pretty much ended on Day 1 on Lake Champlain, when he started 95th out of 105 competitors.
In last year’s Norfork Open, Browning finished fifth in the event reduced by weather to a one-day shootout. He’s holding out hope his years of wisdom will help him get to a great start in his 303rd B.A.S.S. tournament and see him through in entry No. 305. (See how the coin flip shapes the EQs).
“Experience is either going to be a big advantage or a disadvantage,” he said. “My biggest thing is I don’t want to overthink it, just go fishing. If I just go fishing in all three events, I think we’re going to be OK in the end.”
There are 122 anglers who qualified for the three-event EQ sprint through eight TurtleBox Bassmaster Opens. Brock Bila of Republic, Mo., was the overall Opens Angler of the Year, leading the 48 anglers who fished each of four events in Division 1 and Division 2.
Cody Stahl of Barnsville, Ga., won the season opener on the Kissimmee Chain by a record margin of 21-14 and subsequently won the points title in Division 1. Brody Robison of Dawson, Ala., was the Division 2 AOY after a fourth-place finish and two more better than 14th.
Besides Browning. the former Elites who qualified for the EQs are Darold Gleason, Charlie Hartley, Brett Hite, Jonathan Kelley, Mike McClelland, Garrett Paquette, Chad Pipkens, Fred Roumbanis, Casey Scanlon, Jonathon VanDam and Alex Wetherell.
There are seven current Elites who entered the EQs to either earn a Classic berth with a victory or requalify for the series. They are Randy Howell, Luke Palmer, John Cox, Beau Browning, Kenta Kimura, Blake Capps and Mark Menendez.
Current Elites Emil Wagner and Kyoya Fujita have entered the Norfork EQ, while Jordan Lee, Bryan Schmitt, Nick Trim and Wes Logan are signed up to compete at Lake Guntersville.
Last year’s EQ tournaments produced compelling competition and some productive Elite rookies. Just days from his 20th birthday, Fisher Anaya won the inaugural EQ AOY, posting finishes of 19th, fifth and third to total 264 points. He continued his heater in winning the Team Classic berth. As the third youngest to fish the Elites, he won on Lake Martin in his second Elite tournament.
Anaya battled Caleb Hudson for the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Rookie of the Year title. Hudson, who won the final 2025 EQ at Lake Okeechobee to climb from 20th to seventh and make the Elites, had three Top 10s in Elite competition. The race went down to the final day of the season, with Hudson winning ROY, 621 points to 619.
The only other 2026 rookie to qualify for the Classic via the points was Pake South, however, the Texan’s greatest success came with two Opens titles. He set the all-time, three-day Bassmaster weight record with 96-15 on Sam Rayburn, Feb. 19-21, then won at Alabama’s Lake Eufaula with 84-1. Neither victory put him in the Classic, but he earned a berth by finishing 20th in the Elite standings.
The 10 EQ anglers who advance to the 2027 Elite Series will likely need three top 25 finishes. Brock Reinkemeyer, the 10th and final angler to make the 2026 Elites, posted finishes of 27th at Lake Champlain, 13th at Wheeler and 29th at Okeechobee last year to finish with 222 points.
It was such a tight leaderboard that Reinkemeyer, tied for the 10th position after Day 2, left Okeechobee for his 22-hour ride home to Warsaw, Mo. He thought he missed the boat but only missed out on the party.
Matt Messer and Aaron Jagdfeld went into the Okeechobee finale 1-2 in the standings, suffered horrific first days before rallying to Elite status.
“I’ve known Matt for few years now and he’s a really good guy,” Jagdfeld said, “and to be able to share that moment in time, that we both made comebacks, was really cool.”
Come November, Browning is among those hoping to say the three-event sprint was really cool.
