The third competition day of the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite at Cayuga Lake is the most important day of the season for the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.
After Day 1, when Greg Hackney inadvertently entered an off-limits area, every day henceforth for the rest of the season suddenly has a more ominous weight to it.
They could all become the most important day of the season.
As it sits now, Gerald Swindle is in the driver’s seat of the race, replacing Hackney in a big way.
The points look like this:
1 Gerald Swindle 638
2 Jacob Powroznik 593 minus 45 points
3 Keith Combs 590 minus 48 points
4 Greg Hackney 576 minus 62 points
5 Randall Tharp 564 minus 74 points
Coming into this event, Hackney sported a 30-point plus lead over Swindle and looked poised to drive comfortably into his second title in three years.
Then the fickle, often unexplainable, sometimes-screwy-but-always-compelling world of tournament bass fishing created yet another unexplainable, screwy and compelling moment: As in Greg Hackney fishing into a small section of docks that had been placed off limits.
Today, Hackney is some 62 points behind Swindle, who consequently owns the biggest lead in AOY points of the season thus far, a whopping 45 points over Jacob Powroznik, who until a day ago was an afterthought in this race.
Now everything has changed. One would think it’s become Swindle’s title to win or lose. Swindle made a case for winning today when he responded in a big way by rocketing up the standings from 44th into 15th place going into Day 3. A big part of the importance of the next eight hours of fishing revolves around just where Swindle will finish this event. He grabbed 30 points on Day 2.
Another strong day and perhaps a Top 12, and Swindle virtually closes the door on Hackney and begins pushing Powroznik and Combs closer to the door as well.
Or does it?
If Day 1 taught us anything, it was once again how unexplainable, screwy and compelling bass fishing really is. It’s obvious anything can and often (or at least more than you think) will happen. Does anyone recall Edwin Evers giving up a 30-plus point lead in the final event of 2013?
Gary Klein, who has won a couple of AOY titles of his own and lost a few as well in his almost 40-year career doesn’t mind reminding anyone in all too familiar words, “It’s not over until it’s over. You have to play every day until the very end.”
“We are much more aware of it today than we were in the past,” Klein said. “There’s just so much more attention to our sport.”
He has seen many year-end titles hinge on a single fish caught in the waning hours of the final day of the final event of the year, caught by an angler no one thought was a factor. Mark Davis won one of his AOY titles that way in the 1990s. He’s seen smart anglers make mistakes, including himself when he was stuck in a lock in 1987 with the winning stringer of fish on the final day of that year’s Classic.
“The worst thing a tournament angler can ever do is think he knows what tomorrow will really be like,” Klein said. “Every day is different. Every day holds the potential for disaster or the potential for a championship. From here on out, if you are chasing the AOY title, those days become even more critical.”
With two more days to go in this event – eight left in the regular season and then another four in the AOY Championship – Klein can point to many times when the ball has been dropped, mistakes made and things just happened in unexplainable, screwy and compelling ways.
Chalk up another one of those days from Cayuga.