The 10 biggest stories of 2016

In 2016, Bassmaster.com published approximately 1,850 news articles as of Dec. 7. Some of these were as simple as announcing a new Humminbird unit, to announcing the location of the 2017 Classic. We thought it would be interesting to see which stories got the most attention. The following stories are the top 10 in Unique Visitors, which is a way websites count how many individuals view a piece of content. This means that these may not be the “best” ten stories, but they are the ten stories that got the most attention. Click on each headline to see the full story.

10.Hamilton thriving in aluminum boat
This list has a few surprises, and this is one of them. Skylar Hamilton winning in an aluminum boat reminded everyone of a simple factâ
“It’s not the boat that wins tournaments. It’s the guy in the boat!” according to Bill Henney in the comments below the story.

9.Swindle seals the deal
No surprise here. Gerald Swindle capturing his second Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year in 2016 was one of the biggest stories of the year.

8.Alex Robbins of Humboldt State University killed in boating accident
Not all big stories are good news. The unfortunate loss of a college angler broke a lot of hearts and reminded us to value every moment.

7.Swindles experience major health scare
Gerald Swindle did not have long to celebrate his AOY win without a major health scare. After undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Sept. 26, Swindle suffered compartment syndrome in his thigh and needed an emergency fasciotomy. He had three more surgeries before recovering.

6.KVD doubles down
Kevin VanDam’s second win of the season at Cayuga Lake is a bit of surprise to make this list because his win earlier in the year at Toledo Bend captured the largest amount of Bassmaster LIVE viewership ever for an Elite event. Perhaps the fact an even bigger story was unfolding on Cayuga helped this one to number 6 on the list.

5.Ashley rescued after midnight from sandbar at La Crosse
Casey Ashley had a bad practice at Mississippi River, and the story of his late night rescue was a compelling account of how no matter how careful you are, Mother Nature is the boss.

4.E-Squared away
Didn’t you think this would be #1? Edwin Evers winning the GEICO Bassmaster Classic in his home state, in a dramatic flurry of fish catches on Championship Sunday. It has all the ingredients to be the biggest story of the year, and in some ways it was.

3.Houston lands the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic
Usually announcing the next year’s Classic location is a big deal, but not this big. But for 2017, B.A.S.S. is going big. Real big. Houston is the fourth largest city in America and next year in the span of two months it will host a Super Bowl and a Bassmaster Classic. That’s big news.

2.Anglers react to Hackney’s first round DQ
This one surprised the staff here at bassmaster.com. The story of the runaway Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year being disqualified for fishing in a manmade dock at Cayuga was certainly a huge event. But this story, this was merely a follow-up after talking to some of the other competitors. It did provide new details about the event, and at the time those were very much welcome by bass fishing fans.

1.Greg Hackney’s first day catch disqualified
The announcement by B.A.S.S. that Greg Hackney had fished in an off-limits area and lost his Day 1 catch rocked the bass fishing world, spawning countless comments, columns and consternation. Greg Hackney finished 5th in the Angler of the Year race.