Ah, to be young and fishing. That was a winning combination in 2023 Bassmaster competitions, and Mark Zona explains why younger anglers are showing out.
The “Year of the Rookie” was bantered about during the Bassmaster Elite Series season in which four of the nine titles went to first-year anglers. In the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens, the average age of those advancing to the Elites was almost five years younger than the previous season.
“This applies to the Elite Series and the Opens,” Zona, long-time analyst on Bassmaster LIVE, said in detailing the top four factors. “I’ve thought about this a lot the last year, and I think you can credit several things.”
“No. 1, I think high school and college fishing has really, really prepared a lot of the anglers who are excelling. You can look at the Patrick Walters of the world, the Jordan Lees, Drew Cook, across the board. They came out of college ready to play.”
Attending the school of legendary Larry Nixon, Joey Cifuentes won at Lake Seminole in February and Lake St. Clair in July en route to the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Rookie of the Year title. He was joined by rookie winners Will Davis Jr., 30, at Lay Lake and Japanese phenom Kyoya Fujita at Lake Champlain.
They helped lower the average age of 2023 Elite winners, plus the Classic, from 2022. Despite Jay Przekurat becoming the youngest Elite winner in 2022 at 23 years old, the 10 winners that year had an average age of 38.7.
In 2023, the average age of winners was 32.1, with Fujita the youngest at 26 and Classic champ Jeff Gustafson the oldest at 40. A rookie in name mostly, Cifuentes, 34, tied Sabine winner Brock Mosley and Lake Murray champ Drew Benton as oldest Elite champs. Tyler Rivet was 28 when he won the season opener at Okeechobee, while Santee Cooper champ Luke Palmer was 32, and Patrick Walters 29 when he took the St. Lawrence title.
“No. 2, and this is a big one,” Zona continued on successful youth. “The information highway, of just fishing in general, learning techniques, learning how to read water, it’s unbelievable. You can get on the internet and learn just by watching.
“You can watch Bassmaster LIVE for a season and really take away how to dissect a body of water, how the game is played every single minute, with the people who are performing. The information highway is so much greater now than it was 20 years ago, for everything.”
The six-year drop in Elite winners’ average ages from 2022 was almost equaled by the nine Elite Qualifiers. In 2023, the 11 Elite rookies, which included Davis, the B.A.S.S. Nation champ, averaged just above 30 years old. For the 2024 Elites, the 10 incoming rookies have an average age of 24.8, more than five years younger.
The top three EQ finishers, JT Thompkins, 21; John Garrett, 27; and Trey McKinney, 18, ran away in the point standings. Others under 30 who jumped up in class are Robert Gee, 24; Tyler Williams, 21; Wesley Gore, 23; Logan Parks, 25; and Kyle Patrick, 26. B.A.S.S. Nation qualifier Tim Dube is 29. Ben Milliken is old man of the group at 34.
“Three, I think this is obvious,” Zona said. “Everybody reading this knows this — younger people are just all-around better with their electronics. To me that’s the most obvious. I get 20-year-olds in my boat who are better with it than I am.”
McKinney, of Carbondale, Ill., is the youngest to ever reach the Elites, besting Bradley Roy, who was 19 when he made the circuit in 2010. McKinney, who turns 19 on Feb. 25, Championship Sunday for his first Elite at Toledo Bend, will have four seasons to try to take over as youngest Elite Series winner from Przekurat, who was 23 when he won at the St. Lawrence River in 2022.
“Lastly, there’s just natural, God-given talent,” Zona said. “I think those four things apply to what you are currently seeing on the Elite Series, on the Opens, across the board. In my opinion, those are the four biggest factors.”
To continue the theme, the 2024 Classic will have the youngest competitor ever. When Aaron Yavorsky won the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Team Championship Classic Fish-Off on Dec. 9, the 17-year-old from Palm Harbor, Fla., passed the handful of teenagers who have fished Classics.
Soon after Yavorsky turns 18 on March 15, he will compete on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake in the March 22-24 Classic. The previous youngest in a Classic was New York’s David Brind, who was 18 when he qualified through the then B.A.S.S. Federation for the 1979 Lake Texoma Classic.
Seven Elite rookies make Classic
With a little help from double qualifiers, there will be seven 2023 Elite rookies in the field of 56 for the 2024 Classic. There were only two rookies who advanced to the 2023 Classic via the AOY standings, while six rookies fished the 2022 Classic.
In his season analysis, Pete Robbins noted that nine of the top 10 in the Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings were 36 or younger, with five under 29, including 2023 AOY Kyle Welcher, who turns 30 on Feb. 12. Bryan Schmitt in eighth was the oldest at 42, moving the average age up to 31.4, which was about a year older than the top 10 in the ROY race.
Excelling at electronics
Prowess with forward-facing sonar can take some credit, and the people at B.A.S.S. formed a committee to monitor the technology’s use in competition. While some have called for a ban, Zona said it’s not going anywhere, but the study might determine limits on number of transducers allowed.
“It’s where we’re at. I’m all for technology,” Zona said. “Bassmaster was founded on teaching people how to catch more fish — that technology does that. So getting rid of it, in my opinion, taking it out of the equation, goes against what I’ve always thought is the message of Bassmaster.
“I do believe there should be a limit how far the anglers can go. Am I with the anglers putting seven different transducers on the boat? I’m not. There has to be a limit somewhere.”
Hack attacks active money lead
Greg Hackney, who earned more than $115,000 through the Elite, Classic and Opens in 2023, took over the active money lead in B.A.S.S. from Mike Iaconelli. Ike came into the season ahead by about $30,000, but he missed the final four two-day cuts.
Iaconelli begins 2024 second with $2.78 million in earnings while Hackney, who enjoyed a $10,000 bonus for taking 20th in AOY, stands first with $2.82 million.
With his second-place finish at Wheeler Lake, Brandon Palaniuk earned $25,000 and became the sixth active Bassmaster to join the $2 million club. Palaniuk has reached that mark in 153 B.A.S.S. entries. Jason Christie stands next on the list, about $67,000 from $2 million in just 113 entries.
With his $100,000 win in the season finale at St. Lawrence and $30,000 bonus for placing third in AOY, Patrick Walters jumped into millionaire club. It came in his 77th entry, and he won’t turn 30 until Aug. 30.
Century belt streak kept alive
Walters and three others caught more than 100 pounds in the season finale, helping tie the longest streak of seasons in which a Bassmaster Century Club belt has been awarded.
The Elites, which proclaimed to put the best anglers on the best fisheries at the best times, kicked off in 2006 with Ish Monroe’s 104-8 victory at Lake Amistad, opening a stretch of five consecutive years in which anglers topped the milestone. It ended in 2011.
Lake Fork in 2019 began the current streak when Brandon Cobb won with 114-0. Walters kept it going in 2020 with 102-5 at Fork, then Lee Livesay won back-to-back on Fork with 112-5 in 2021 and 113-11 in 2022. Also in 2022, Drew Cook (105-5) and Caleb Kuphall (103-1) earned belts at Santee Cooper and Jay Przekurat (102-9) and Cory Johnston (100-5) became the first to hit the mark with smallmouth.
Walters (105-0), Chris Johnston (103-12), Kyoya Fujita (102-5) and Taku Ito (101-7) kept alive the current streak at the St. Lawrence. Walters was proud to be the only one to do it at both largemouth and smallmouth fisheries.
The chances are good to set the longest streak this season with 100-pound possibilities at the season opening event at Toledo Bend and the following week at Lake Fork. There’s always a chance in Florida, with April events at the Harris Chain and St. Johns Rivers, and of course, again at the season-ending tournament on the St. Lawrence.