For the third straight tournament, Kyle Welcher and Brandon Cobb have swapped the No. 1 position in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings. It sets up a classic finish at this week’s Minn Kota Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River, where Welcher will begin with a six-point lead over Cobb. Drew Cook has moved into third place, 30 points back. Jay Przekurat, who won last year at the St. Lawrence, is only 39 points out, in fourth place.
The ups-and-downs from day to day in the course of each tournament are stories within themselves, especially for Welcher, 30, from Opelika, Ala. He was in 60th place after Day 1 at Lake Champlain. The postponement on Day 2 gave him time to put that disappointment behind him and get his head together.
“I just made a small adjustment and righted my mind on the off day,” he said. “Getting my butt kicked and then having an off day was probably the best thing that could have happened. I got everything dialed in and got my mind right.”
Welcher rallied from his 16-pound, 9-ounce Day 1 and jumped into 34th place on Day 2 with 21-0. He moved up to 25th on Day 3 with 20-2.
“In my entire career, I’ve always had better Day 2s,” he said. “If you take all my tournaments, Day 2 is better than Day 1 like 75% of the time.”
Meanwhile, Cobb struggled on Day 3 and fell from 18th place to finish 32nd. By the way, AOY points are determined only by the final standings, not the day-to-day variables. But those daily calculations during a tournament add to the drama.
All the goings on at Champlain set up an exciting finish for the AOY Championship title. Cook, who was fifth in the AOY rankings, 44 points out of first after St. Clair, is definitely within striking distance now, as is Przekurat.
The delay at Champlain shortened practice for St. Lawrence to two days – Tuesday and Wednesday – to make it fair for the 10 finalists competing at Champlain on Monday.
Let Cobb explain what’s going through his head as he considers whether to stay in the St. Lawrence River or venture into Lake Ontario, where both Przekurat and second-place Cory Johnston topped the 100-pound mark with smallmouth bass a year ago.
“St. Lawrence always worries me, and having only two days of practice because of the delay makes me worry a little more,” said Cobb, 33, from Greenwood, S.C. “With only two days of practice, you’re going to have to commit to either the river or the lake. The lake is where you need to be, but if the wind blows, you can’t get there on your stuff. So it’s kind of a nerve-racking practice. You might spend two days practicing on stuff you never get to make a cast on.
“You can always fish the river. But if you win the river, and we’re able to fish the lake, you’re probably going to finish 30th. That’s the just the facts of it. Our guys are so good and there will be so many big bags in the lake, it’s hard not to do it. To win AOY, you’ll have to finish top 20, maybe Top 10. I feel like I’ve got to commit to the lake.”
The weather forecast between now and Thursday – Day 1 at the St. Lawrence – could change some game plans.
The other big story that will be decided this week is Bassmaster Classic qualifications. The magic number is 41, where Brandon Lester sits in the AOY standings now. Anyone 10 places inside and outside Lester’s 464 AOY points is subject to elation or heartbreak at the St. Lawrence River.
