You want close, we got close.
The top three anglers in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race are separated by one point going into the season finale. It’s the tightest three-man breakaway in recent AOY battles that have offered twists and turns into the final days.
Trey McKinney, runner-up the past two years to Canada’s Chris Johnston, leads this year’s AOY race with 635 points. Drew Cook is one point back at 634, and Johnston’s older brother, Cory, is third with 633 points.
Just last year, McKinney and Chris Johnston went into the finale at the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, Wis., tied with 690 points. Kyoya Fujita was 40 points back at 650.
After Day 1, Chris Johnston (54th) grabbed a three-point advantage on McKinney (57th) while Kyoya Fujita (22nd) cut into his deficit. Chris Johnston took control on Day 2 with 16 pounds, 8 ounces, jumping to 21st, yet McKinney stayed alive by narrowly making the cut in 49th by 5 ounces.
McKinney just needed to finish tied with Chris Johnston as he held the full-field weight tiebreaker, but he could only rise to 26th on Day 3. Chris Johnston finished 18th to total 777 points, eight ahead of McKinney. Fujita, who finished sixth at La Crosse, was third with 749.
The 2024 race was more convoluted, with the top 10 separated by 50 points heading into the St. Lawrence finale. Justin Hamner, who was trying to become the third angler to win a Classic and AOY in the same year, led with 671 points. The pursuers were Chris Johnston (658), Jacob Foutz (652), JT Thompkins (634), McKinney (633), Jay Przekurat (633), Cory Johnston (630) and Cody Huff (628).
Behind a start in seventh place, Tennessee’s Jacob Foutz took over the AOY lead, two points ahead of Chris Johnston and three up on Hamner. After Day 2, Foutz increased his lead to 14 on Cory Johnston and 15 on McKinney while Chris Johnston, who had fallen to 31st, was 16 points back. Hamner missed the cut and fell out of the race.
Day 3 saw a giant jumble. Tying the best limit at the St. Lawrence, Chris Johnston caught 29-5 to catapult to fourth, a 27-point swing. Combined with Foutz’s fall to 35th, Chris Johnston earned the first AOY for Canada, ending with 758 points. McKinney finished third in the event, 24 points back in AOY.
Kyle Welcher won the 2023 AOY by 24 points over Brandon Cobb, who led AOY after four events that year. The race turned with an 84-point swing at the Sabine River, when Welcher finished seventh and Cobb 91st.
Cobb regained a one-point lead after Lake St. Clair but at Lake Champlain fell six back of Welcher as they headed into the St. Lawrence finale. Welcher went for it in the rough waters of Lake Ontario and, despite having to borrow a boat on Championship Sunday, finished fifth to earn a 752 to 728 AOY margin over Cobb.
In 2022, Brandon Palaniuk was seemingly breezing to his second AOY, up 41 points heading into Lake Oahe, where he lost ground with a 66th. Brandon Lester was 37 points back and Chris Johnston 46 with the Mississippi River finale looming.
Palaniuk struggled on Day 2 at La Crosse, even losing the AOY lead on BassTrakk before two late catches. A 1-4 in his last half hour put him inside the cut. Palaniuk climbed to 25th on Day 3, finishing with 723 points, 16 ahead of Brandon Lester, in becoming just the 12th angler to win multiple AOY titles.
Seth Feider blew doors in 2021, recording four Top 10s and never finishing below 29th to accumulate 787 points, 61 more than Chris Johnston.
Clark Wendlandt, who had led AOY much of 2020, went into the Lake Fork finale 16 points back of new leader David Mullins and Austin Felix 11 ahead of him. After Day 1, Wendlandt regained the AOY lead in the event rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Felix fell out of contention at 68th, and Mullins finished 47th to total 677 AOY points. Wendlandt fished Day 3 needing to finish 31st or better, but it got razor thin. Wendlandt fell from his Day 2 19th-place standing and, at one point, was 30th.
A late fourth fish gave Wendlandt 7-4, moving him to 28th and securing a narrow AOY victory, 680 to 677. Wendlandt, who was 54, became the oldest AOY by eight years. Gerald Swindle was 46 in 2016 when he took that record from Roland Martin, who won his ninth and final AOY at 45 years old in 1985.
The 2019 race finished with four anglers just 10 points apart. Scott Canterbury was up by nine going into the AOY Championship on Lake St. Clair. With the AOY leaderboard updating live with BASSTrakk, Canterbury lost the lead several times, but he pulled out the closest point race in history by climbing to 14th.
Canterbury won with 848 points. Stetson Blaylock, second at St. Clair, and Cory Johnston each had 840 points, and Chris Zaldain had 838.
Back to this year’s race. Cory Johnston of Peterborough, Ontario, has the benefit of fishing on his home waters where he’s been runner-up twice and won three times. In the 2024 St. Lawrence Elite, he made a long run from Waddington to Lake Ontario. Despite a Bassmaster LIVE camera capturing him getting seasick, he rallied past leader Robert Gee to win with 102-0.
McKinney, who improved from 88th in the 2023 St. Lawrence Open to third in the 2024 Elite, spent time before the off limits scouting the fishery. (He’s showing off a 6-8 caught there in the photo above). At 21, McKinney could become the youngest AOY winner, eclipsing Kevin VanDam, who was 24 when he won his first of seven titles in 1992.
There’s also a tight battle for Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Rookie of the Year. Caleb Hudson leads Fisher Anaya 538 points to 526. Anaya was 91 points back three events ago.