BAY CITY, Mich. – With one day of fishing left in the 2023 season, the closest Bally Bet Angler of the Year competition in Bass Pro Tour history has gotten tighter than ever.
Three points in the season-long standings and a single ounce on SCORETRACKER® – that’s all that separates Jacob Wheeler, Ott DeFoe and Matt Becker entering the Championship Round at Minn Kota Stage Seven Presented by Suzuki. And even though he missed out on the Top 10, Alton Jones Jr. is still mathematically alive, too, after finishing 16th.
Wheeler, the two-time defending AOY champion, will enter the Championship Round in third place after sacking up 17 pounds, 5 ounces in the Knockout Round. DeFoe and Becker both trail him by 1 ounce. Illustrating just how tight the contest is between the three anglers, it came down to the second tiebreaker to determine which of Becker and DeFoe would occupy fourth place at the end of the Knockout Round, as both posted 17-4 on the day with a 4-15 as their biggest fish.
Like leader Kevin VanDam and his closest pursuer, Dakota Ebare, Wheeler and Becker claimed their spots in the Knockout Round by targeting smallmouth in open water. Wheeler started a bit slow, at least by his standards. After catching all his weight in the first 30 minutes the last time he took the water, he had just one fish in the first hour Saturday. But he filled his limit with a flurry toward the end of the first period, then boosted his bag with a 5-pounder that he pinned with a single hook point on his Rapala PXR Mavrick jerkbait.
Becker had to be even more patient. He didn’t catch any of the fish that made up his eventual best five until nearly three hours after lines in, and he didn’t climb across the Toro Cut Line until he caught his biggest bass of the day about 30 minutes into Period 3.
DeFoe, meanwhile, stuck to his strengths and continued to fish for shallow largemouth. He caught the biggest all-largemouth bag of the 40-angler field, which was bookended by a 4-15 in the first period and a 4-14 he landed in Period 3. Both ate a hollow-body frog.
With all four anglers who came to Saginaw Bay in contention for the AOY title still mathematically in the hunt, scenarios abound for who could take home the trophy and accompanying $100,000 prize. Wheeler’s path is the most straightforward. As long as neither Becker nor DeFoe win this week, he’ll own the tiebreaker over all three of his competitors thanks to his victory at Lake Guntersville. Therefore, he’ll clinch a rare three-peat as long as he doesn’t slip to 10th place during the Championship Round and winds up no more than two spots back of DeFoe and no more than three places behind Becker.
The simplest way to accomplish that, of course, would be to maintain his current third-place position. If Wheeler does claim the title, he would become just the third angler in history to win three straight AOY crowns on a national tour, joining VanDam and Roland Martin.
DeFoe, meanwhile, needs to finish in the top six, both to stay clear of Jones and because he has to be at least three places better than Wheeler. He also needs to remain above Becker. Becker needs to stay in his current fifth place, at worst, and finish at least four places ahead of Wheeler and two better than DeFoe.
Jones will have to watch the Championship Round from the sidelines. However, he can still claim the title if Wheeler falls to 10th, DeFoe finishes eight or worse and Becker finishes sixth or worse.
Buckle up. If the season so far is any indication, look for the competition to come down to the final minutes and the winner to be determined by mere ounces.
REDCREST roster set
Somewhat surprisingly, while the top spot in the AOY standings remains very much up for grabs, the other two major points battles entering Stage Seven – qualifying for REDCREST 2024 and requalifying for the Bass Pro Tour – are both over entering the final day of the season.
The 40 anglers who will earn automatic invitations to Alabama’s Lay Lake for next year’s REDCREST have been finalized. A handful of anglers who came to Saginaw Bay on the bubble or outside the Top 40 punched their tickets thanks to their Knockout Round performances.
Ryan Salzman and Gerald Spohrer both did what they needed to do Saturday. So did Greg Vinson, who couldn’t recapture his smallmouth success from the Qualifying Round but wisely pivoted to largemouth to salvage points. Cody Meyer and Mark Daniels Jr., both of whom qualified for the Championship Round, claimed their spots, as well. Both anglers recovered from rocky starts by finishing the season with four straight Knockout Round appearances and two top-11 finishes apiece.
Terry Scroggins and Casey Ashley were near misses. At one point Saturday, Scroggins was inside the Top 40 in the virtual standings, but he ultimately slipped to 15th place in the event and 43rd in the points. Ashley, who entered the week 52nd, would have needed to finish third at Saginaw Bay to vault into the Top 40. He spent much of the day among the Top 10 but ultimately finished 11th after both he and Meyer weighed in 16-7 but Meyer won the big fish tiebreaker. Andy Montgomery, who didn’t qualify for the Knockout Round, will be the beneficiary, as he’ll finish the season 40th in the final standings.
BPT invites for 2024 clearer
The other competition that has reached its culmination is the battle for the final few invitations to fish the Bass Pro Tour in 2024. While we don’t yet know which anglers will accept their invitations, the 80 pros who will initially receive them have been decided.
The top 67 anglers in the 2023 AOY standings will all get spots back on the tour next season. Russ Lane moved into the top 67 with his solid 18th-place showing this week, bumping Dave Lefebre out.
However, Lefebre will keep his spot on the BPT roster. In addition to the top 67 anglers from this season, at least six current BPT pros will earn invitations based on average career AOY finish. Those anglers will be Wesley Strader, Shin Fukae, Matt Lee, Fred Roumbanis, David Walker and Lefebre. LeFebre will benefit from the fact that Michael Neal, who is already a member of the BPT, claimed one of the eight invitations available to the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals field, opening an extra spot from the 2023 BPT ranks.
Should any of the 80 anglers who receive an invitation decline (at least one, VanDam, has already announced that he plans to do so), Jeff Kriet would be the first angler in line to replace him, based on average career finish. Roy Hawk would be next, followed by Kelly Jordon.
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