Early evidence points to one of the most competitive seasons ever for the Bassmaster Elite Series Rookie of the Year title, sponsored by Dakota Lithium Batteries. Through four tournaments, five rookies have held or shared first place in ROY points.
Thirty-two-year-old Bryant Smith of Roseville, Calif., is the latest leader. When he saw the 2023 schedule, Smith knew the back-to-back tournaments in South Carolina – first at Lake Murray, then at Santee Cooper Lakes – would be a challenge. The first event offered a challenge to succeed on a blueback herring lake where he felt comfortable, as he had when he finished second at South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell last year in a Southern Open that helped him qualify for the Elite Series. The second one offered a challenge to be competitive on a massive body of water where he had no previous tournament experience.
Smith finished 12th at Murray and seventh at Santee Cooper. Making his first Elite Series Top 10 vaulted Smith from fifth to first in ROY points, but just barely. Smith has 300 Bassmaster Angler of the Year points, one more than second-place David Gaston. Interestingly, Smith and Gaston have improved their finishes each tournament this season. Smith was 58th at Lake Okeechobee and 43rd at Lake Seminole before Murray. Gaston, a 26-year-old rookie from Sylacauga, Ala., has finishes of 44th, 34th, 31st and 12th – making every Top 50 cut. Smith and Gaston rank 11th and 12th, respectively, in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race.
Most importantly for Smith, he learned something about himself at Santee Cooper. After being in second place with a bag of 26 pounds, 15 ounces on Day 1, he didn’t have a keeper in his livewell at 1 p.m. on Day 2.
“That could have gone really bad,” Smith said. “But I wasn’t really nervous about it. I knew what to expect going into this. I knew I wasn’t getting a lot of bites. I figured they would come eventually. I got enough to make it to the next day. That’s always the goal.”
Smith landed only three bass weighing 9-10 on Day 2, but that was enough to keep him in 10th place. He fell one fish short of a limit on Day 3, but those four bass totaled 18 pounds, qualifying him in eighth place for his first Elite Series Day 4 and Top 10.
“I learned that I need to have a lot of confidence in myself,” Smith said. “That’s the biggest thing. I learned that I can compete with these guys. That was always my biggest question coming into this season. Being in the Elites the first time, you don’t know how you stack up against these guys. It was a big confidence boost.
“That second day was a test for me to keep my composure. I’m known to have a real good spinout every once in a while. That one could have gone off the tracks really bad. But I kept my head together. I knew that all you need to do is just set the hook a few times on this place, and you run into the right ones.”
To review the five ROY leaders through four tournaments this season, they were as follows: Logan Latuso after a fourth-place finish at Lake Okeechobee, Joey Cifuentes III after his win at Lake Seminole, Will Davis Jr. and Kyoya Fujita after Lake Murray and now Smith.
Editor’s note: Full Rookie of the Year standings.