Drama will unfold at both ends of the 50-man field during this week’s Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship on Bays de Noc out of Escanaba, Mich.
While top several anglers in the points race vie for the coveted Toyota Angler of the Year title, the bottom 20 or so will battle it out for berths to the 2015 Bassmaster Classic.
“There will be some moving,” angler Cliff Pirch said. “I haven’t had time to calculate it; I just know my position. I’m in 38th place, so basically I’ve got to either stay there or move up.
“There’s no room for me to fall. I gotta catch fish is the bottom line. It’s important. I gotta get in the Classic.”
Up until last weekend, Pirch was the last man into the 56-man Classic field via the points standings. Alton Jones in 39th took over that spot after the Bass Pro Shops Central Open presented by Allstate in Muskogee, Okla., as winner Mark Tyler hadn’t fished all of the Central Opens. The Classic spot reserved for the Open winner went unfilled and moved over to the next in line in the Elite points list.
Contacted on the water during Tuesday’s practice, Jones said he has crunched the numbers but is doing his best to keep his mind off the numbers and on fishing instead.
“This is a real important week for me,” said Jones, hoping to return to Lake Hartwell where he won the 2008 Classic. “I’m just spending daylight to dark, as long as I can, trying to find every single fish I can, trying to find some better than average quality fish. It’s always fun fishing for smallmouth.
“I think about the points in the morning when I get up and when I go to bed, but during the day I really try not to focus on it. I try to go out and have fun and focus on finding that next bass.”
Jones is actually tied in the season-long points race at 475 with Cliff Prince, but Jones holds the tiebreaker, which is cumulative weight on the first two days of each Elite tournament, excluding BASSfest. It’s unlikely they’d remain tied, but Jones’ 207 pounds, 13 ounces easily tops Prince’s 193-12.
An example of the movement possible at Escanaba would be if 50th place Terry Scroggins at 458 points adds the winner’s 100 points, he could climb over 31st place Bobby Lane’s 506 points, if Lane were to finish last and earn 51 points. Points awarded go down one for each place to 51 for finishing 50th this week.
Of course, a Classic berth would still depend on all how all the others in between them fare, but it does create the possibility of a tremendous fall from grace or a climb to greatness. So there will be pressure for these bubble boys.
“Those close to my position, we all have the same goal, and that’s to go out of there with a Classic berth. That’s the main thing,” Jones said. “During my time on the water, I’m trying not to think about that at all, because if you do the other thing, which is find and catch fish, points and qualifications take care of themselves.
“If I don’t catch them, I don’t deserve to get in. You got to go work hard, and I trust the Lord for the results, whatever that is.”
Pirch is coming off a great week after winning the U.S. Open on Lake Mead, but he’s not so sure about the notion of momentum in bass fishing.
“You’d like to say that, but it’s two whole different ballgames,” Pirch said. “It just flat comes down to catching them twice, and it’s a little bit different deal here. I’d like to ride the momentum.
“Definitely, when you’re fishing better, you’re fishing better. But it doesn’t necessarily mean you have two great ones in a row, or four or five great ones in a row. I’ve seen it go both ways, but I’d like for it to stay hot.”
Both Jones and Pirch agree the wind and waves on this northern end of Lake Michigan will make the area, as they say, “fish small.”
“The wind’s been blowing, the waves have been big, and it’s not easy to get around,” Pirch said. “It just piles everybody up on the few places you can fish.
“I was just fishing an area and saw Hackney and Todd Faircloth pull in, and what do you do if they’re going for the Angler of the Year race and I’m trying to stay inside the cut? I don’t want to hamper them, but I got to make sure I catch them, too. So it’s going to be tough.”
What will you do if that situation arises?
“Good question. I don’t know yet,” he said. “I’m not going to pull up on them, but I’m not going to vacate where I want to fish either. The wind has made only a few areas fishable.”
Let the drama begin. It will start to unfold Thursday and fishing continues Friday before Saturday’s day off for Bassmaster University. The full field finishes the season on Sunday.
Then the first man out will be hoping the results of the final Southern Open on Oct. 2-4 leads to his qualification.
The Classic qualification picture
Elite winners
1. Brett Hite, Seminole
2. Chris Lane, St. Johns
3. Mike McClelland, Table Rock
4. Jacob Powroznik, Toledo Bend
5. Jason Christie, Dardanelle
6. Jacob Wheeler, BASSfest
7. Mike Iaconelli, Delaware River
8. Greg Hackney, Cayuga
9. Cliff Pace, 2013 Classic champion
10. Randy Howell, 2014 Classic champion
11. Van Soles, Southern Open champ
12. David Kilgore, Southern Open champ
13. Southern Open 3, Oct. 2-4
14. Andrew Young, Central Open champ
15. Stephen Browning, Central Open champ
16. Ott DeFoe, Northern Open champ
17. Shin Fukae, Northern Open champ
18. Chad Pipkens, Northern Open champ
19-24 Federation Division Champs (6 berths), to be held Nov. 6-8
25. Brett Prueutt, Bassmaster College Champ
26. Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Champ, Dec. 9-13
Current AOY points qualifiers (before Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship)
27. Aaron Martens
28. Todd Faircloth
29. Keith Combs
30. Mark Davis
31. Jared Lintner
32. Skeet Reese
33. Dean Rojas
34. Casey Ashley
35. Matt Herren
36. Chad Morgenthaler
37. John Crews
38. Gerald Swindle
39. Edwin Evers
40. Justin Lucas
41. Randall Tharp
42. Paul Elias
43. Scott Rook
44. Cliff Crochet
45. Morizo Shimizu
46. Brandon Palaniuk
47. David Walker
48. Bill Lowen
49. James Niggemeyer
50. Bobby Lane
51. Brandon Lester
52. Kevin Short
53. Bernie Schultz
54. Takahiro Omori
55. Cliff Pirch
56. Alton Jones