AOY race heats up after five tournaments

Five tournaments into a nine-tournament season, this is where the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race begins to get interesting. Last year’s AOY race serves as a good example.

Below is a comparison of how the top 10 looked after five events in 2023, and how the AOY top 10 finished:

As you can see, not only did Kyle Welcher jump from fifth place into the AOY lead, but he was one of only four anglers who were still in the top 10 at season’s end. Cobb finished second, Drew Cook was fourth and Tyler Rivet finished ninth. In other words, there’s going to be a whole lot of shaking in the standings over these final four events.

Current AOY leader Trey McKinney is well aware of the challenge facing him. The 19-year-old rookie from Carbondale, Ill., has accumulated 478 points with a start similar to Brandon Cobb’s a year ago. Cobb posted finishes of third, 20th, sixth, fourth and seventh in the first five 2023 tournaments. McKinney placed 12th, first, sixth, 17th and sixth this year. He expects this current hot streak is likely to hit a speed bump.

“I know it’s coming at some point,” said McKinney after finishing sixth at Lake Murray. “If I had to bet where it’s coming, it will be at Smith, Champlain or the St. Lawrence. Wheeler, I like it. But I’m way out of my comfort zone when we go up north, and Smith is a wild card.”

This is how the Elite Season closes: June 13-16 at Alabama’s Wheeler Lake, June 27-30 at Alabama’s Smith Lake, August 8-11 at New York’s Lake Champlain and August 15-18 at New York’s St. Lawrence River.

Two-time Bassmaster Classic champion and Alabama native Jordan Lee is second place in AOY, 30 points behind McKinney. No one will be surprised if 32-year-old Lee is leading AOY after the next two tournaments in his home state. As McKinney noted, Smith Lake has the potential to shake up the standings before the Northern Swing.

“Smith is going to be a wild card,” Jordan told Bassmaster.com’s Mike Suchan recently. “If I can figure out something there, that’s going to be the tournament that could shake things up. It’s just such a unique lake. You don’t ever know what’s going to happen or who’s going to catch them. That’s definitely the lake that’s going to throw guys off just a hair.

“Not that I have any secret holes or know exactly what to do. It is not an easy lake to fish. That’s kind of my tournament I’m circling. It’s going to be the most interesting tournament of the year.”

Then comes the Northern Swing where brothers Chris and Cory Johnston will be among the favorites. They are lurking in third and fourth place in the current AOY standings. Chris is 55 points behind McKinney and Cory is 63 points back.

Patrick Walters is coming off a win at Lake Murray. He’s currently in 11th place in the AOY standings, 117 points behind McKinney. Walters closed last season with finishes of seventh at Lake Champlain and first at the St. Lawrence River to place third in the final AOY standings. The 29-year-old South Carolina angler has finished in the top five in the final AOY standings each of the last four years. It would shock no one if Walters claimed the championship this year.

Finally, it should be noted that every AOY race plays out a bit differently. Welcher won it last year with consistency. He was one of only two anglers to make every Day 2/Top 50 cut. He had highs of fifth at the St. Lawrence River, when he clinched the title, and seventh at the Sabine River. His lows were 44th at Lake St. Clair and 41st at Santee Cooper Lakes. Welcher’s average finish was 21.4. (Stetson Blaylock was the other angler to make all nine Top 50 cuts, and he finished 10th overall.)

Brandon Palaniuk was the AOY champ in 2022. He posted three Top 10s – third at Santee Cooper Lakes, second at Lake Fork and seventh at Pickwick Lake. His low was 66th at Lake Oahe. His average finish over the nine-event season was 22.67.