DETROIT, Mich. — It’s both the best of times and the worst of times for Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year leader Scott Canterbury. Over the next three days he has the best chance to win the coveted Elite Series AOY title at Lake St. Clair and the $100,000 check that goes with the season-long accomplishment.
The Alabama pro enters this event with a 9-point lead over Chris Zaldain, 14 points over Cory Johnston and 20 points over Stetson Blaylock. Canterbury can’t help but feel that all the pressure is on him to hang on to that No. 1 AOY spot that he’s had since finishing third at the St. Lawrence River on August 18th. Only if Canterbury fails do those other contenders have a chance to catch him.
But here’s the other side of that coin: It’s difficult to make up ground on the year-end leader in this 50-man tournament. Advantage Canterbury, big time.
“I think Scott Canterbury is probably going to win (AOY) because it is so hard to make a move in this tournament,” said Keith Combs, who has been in contention for an AOY title before. “He has a 9-point lead (over second-place). It doesn’t seem like much, and in a regular season event that’s nothing. But here, it’s a big deal.”
A single point is awarded for each place in the standings, descending from 100 for first place to 51 points for 50th place. So, for example, even if Zaldain wins the tournament and earns 100 points, if Canterbury finishes 9th, he’d earn 92 points and would finish with a 1-point margin over Zaldain. It gets more complicated for Cory Johnston, who needs to finish not only 15 spots higher than Canterbury but also six places higher than Zaldain.
Chris Zaldain is not only closest to Canterbury in the points race, but he’s also the hottest Elite Series angler since the long mid-summer break ended. Zaldain finished 9th at the St. Lawrence River on Aug. 18th, 3rd at Cayuga Lake on Aug. 25th and 2nd at Lake Tenkiller on Sept. 22nd. None of the other contenders fished all four days of those three events.
Zaldain is taking a unique to approach to this competition. His goal is to defend his second-place ranking and see where that leaves him.
“Cory Johnston is a smallmouth guy,” Zaldain said. “He will catch them here. Instead of saying, oh, I’m going to go out there and beat Canterbury, that’s not in my control. What I can control is making sure nobody passes me. Hopefully that second-place spot turns into first place naturally.”
Day 1 of the tournament is going to set the stage in a big way. Strong winds during the three-day practice period have made it tough for anyone to move around the lake and develop a game plan.
“If Canterbury comes in with 15 or 16 pounds (Sunday), there’s a chance (for someone to catch him),” Zaldain said. “And that could easily happen. If he comes in with 20-pounds-plus, it’s going to be tough.”
Johnston seemed like the most confident of the contenders Saturday. The Canadian pro has experience on Lake St. Clair, but more importantly he has extensive knowledge of Great Lakes smallmouth bass. And he seemed to see enough of Lake St. Clair in practice, as difficult as it was to move around, to have put together a solid plan.
“It was a slow process, but I did cover a lot of water,” Johnston said. “I think I know where they live. It’s going to be one of those tournaments where you have to re-find them every day. They’re going to move a lot.
“It’s going to take a little bit of luck, I think, on my side. But if I do my job and go out and catch 22 pounds a day, we’ll see where the chips fall. I need to do my job, but I need other guys to catch them as well to get in between me and Canterbury and Zaldain.”