PIERRE, S.D. — Diverse. That one word best describes the remaining four events on tap for the 2018 edition of the Bassmaster Elite Series.
Diverse, as in each playing field is different in many ways. Different as in a lake in the Great Plains, a tidal fishery on the East Coast and a waterway connecting the Great Lakes. Each of those fisheries pose a unique set of challenges going into the homestretch for the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year race. Finally, that race ends on a highland lake located in the Appalachian Mountains.
“Challenging, for sure, but I’m looking forward to the variety,” said Brent Chapman, the current leader with 544 points. “It’ll definitely help level the playing field.”
Whomever wins the 2018 AOY title will have mastered his game at the top level, after the schedule was plenty challenging until now.
This week the 107 pros compete on Lake Oahe, the nation’s fourth largest reservoir at 370,000 surface acres, 2,250 miles of shoreline and stretching 231 miles from end to end. Most notable of all, none of the 107 pros has ever competed here, much less had time to scout the massive lake before the competition begins on Thursday.
Maybe even more notable is how the new No-Location/No-Information rule pans out on the alien fishery. That rule prohibits the gathering of waypoints or fishing locations from any source that is not publicly available, among other stipulations.
Equally as massive as the lake is the smallmouth population, which marks another first on the 2018 schedule. This event marks the beginning of a three-tournament sprint through some of the nation’s best smallmouth waters.
Reports from practice indicate the lake offers not only quantity, and quality smallmouth for the taking. Expect a significant shift in the AOY standings as anglers whose skill sets skew more toward smallmouth, and fishing in deeper water, climb in the standings.
Next on the schedule will be the upper Chesapeake Bay, where the pros will compete July 26-29. The tournament is sooner than the last visit, when Aaron Martens won with 70 pounds, 2 ounces, during early August in 2015.
How the tidal game plays out on the tidal largemouth fishery will be a key to watch. So will the launch location. Previously, the tournament was held out of Havre de Grace, near the mouth of the Susquehanna River. The tournament moves south to Edgewood, Md., located between the Gunpowder and Bush rivers.
Another shift in strategies—and the AOY standings—will occur at the final regular season stop in New York. The St. Lawrence River and Seaway are the tournament waters, where last year Kevin VanDam scored his 24th win in late July, with a winning weight surpassing 90 pounds. This time the tournament is Aug. 23-26, which should not change anything at all about the fishing strategies. As before, Lake Ontario will be off limits.
If there is ground to be made up this will be the place to make a final run at the title, or making the cut to the AOY championship. KVD’s sacked a limit weighing 23-12 on the final day, and the 20-pound weight set the benchmark for daily success.
After that final regular event of the season the last Elite Series tournament of the year ends on a high note. The AOY Championship will mark the first time for a professional Bassmaster tournament to be held on Lake Chatuge, a 7,500-acre Tennessee Valley Authority impoundment, but it hosted Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Championship tournaments in 2013 and 2014.
So how will the pros attack this challenger of a sprint toward the finish?
“One day at a time, one event at a time,” said Chapman.