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Hydrowave Replay: One Shot at a Second Chance
Everyone has that one tournament that they would like a “Do Over”. It’s the one that you barely missed the technique or just dialed it in too late. It’s the one that you would give anything to Do It All Over. It haunts you today and will haunt you for life. Not in a negative way but in a way that its hard not to revisit. There is always the one that sticks out most.
If you are an Elite Series Angler you can pretty much multiply that emotion by 1000. I posed that question to Mike McClelland recently and he immediately had the answer. Its weird, but they all seem to have it on the tip of their tongue.
Mike’s event that he would most like to do over is the Bassmaster Elite Series 2008 Empire Chase on Lake Erie. This one bothered him most because it affected the entire outcome of his year and goals that he had set as a kid. In Mike’s case, it was actually indecision that got the best of him and the event.
“As an angler, we all basically have the three same goals. Winning and event, winning the Bassmaster Classic and winning Angler of the Year. Going into the event I was positioned to win the Angler of the Year race with only two tournaments remaining. It was basically between myself, KVD and Todd Faircloth.
Things were going my way and I was executing as planned. I made the day three cut and felt good. The weather changed and the wind started blowing hard in a different direction. I had two primary areas. The first was close but it did not contain the quality fish it would take to do well. The second was about twenty miles. No big deal unless you are on Erie in a 20mph wind. The morning of day three I made the decision that it was not favorable to move around much and chose to stay close. I was certain that if I pushed the area I would get a couple of big bites. That did not happen.
I’m not sure what made me choose to stay close. It’s a toss up between being content in where I was in the tournament, and flat out not using my head and remembering whom I was fishing against.
Almost everyone chose to make long runs and almost everyone caught them better but me. KVD and Faircloth made big moves that day with KVD finishing 18th and Faircloth finishing 6th. I wound up in 47th place and took myself out of contention for the AOY race.
My biggest regret was underestimating the value of 20 or 30 AOY points. I went on to finish 11th at the final event on Oneida and finish 3rd in AOY. It’s amazing but that one decision on that one morning back in 2008 stands between me and one of my top three fishing goals. Its safe to say that when you want something bad enough you will do whatever it takes to get it. If I could do it over you can bet your rear that I am making that 20 mile run no matter what the conditions are.”
New 2015 Elite Series Field Set With Fresh And Familiar Faces
The 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series field is set with a total of 113 anglers from across the world, including 13 Elite Series newcomers and a host of veteran anglers ready to take on new waters in the 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series season. Photo by B.A.S.S.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series field is now set with a mixture of well-known veteran pros and young up-and-comers ready to zig-zag the country, vying for thousands of dollars and the coveted Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.
Topping the 113-angler field is Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., who won the 2014 A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite Series event on New York’s Cayuga Lake en route to capturing the 2014 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year title. The remainder of last year’s Top 5 points earners is also returning with four-time B.A.S.S. tournament winner Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas; three-time winner Jacob Powroznik of Port Haywood, Va.; six-time winner Aaron Martens of Leeds, Ala.; and five-time winner Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark.
There will be 13 newcomers to the Elite Series field, including Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., who qualified by finishing seventh in the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Northern Opens standings. Though he has yet to win a B.A.S.S. event, Ehrler has enjoyed success on the FLW Tour with eight victories, 33 career Top 10 finishes and more than $2.2 million in earnings during a decade-long career.
The field will feature a dozen former Classic winners, including Davis, Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo., Paul Elias of Laurel, Miss.; Davy Hite of Ninety Six, S.C.; Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich.; Michael Iaconelli of Runnemede, N.J.; Takahiro Omori of Emory, Texas; Boyd Duckett of Demopolis, Ala.; Alton Jones of Lorena, Texas; Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif.; Cliff Pace of Petal, Miss.; and 2014 winner Randy Howell of Springville, Ala.
The Elite Series will begin March 19-22 with a trip to the Sabine River in Orange, Texas. The trail will then set a demanding pace for the anglers with trips to Alabama’s Lake Guntersville on April 9-12, California’s Sacramento River on April 30-May 3, Arizona’s Lake Havasu on May 7-10, Tennessee’s Kentucky Lake for BASSfest on June 3-7, New York’s St. Lawrence River on July 30-Aug. 2, Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay on Aug. 13-16, Michigan’s Lake St. Clair on Aug. 27-30 and Wisconsin’s Sturgeon Bay for the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship on Sept. 17-20.
Standard Elite Series events will feature a total purse of $638,000, with $100,000 going to the winner and at least $10,000 going to anyone who finishes 50th or better. BASSfest will offer a total purse of $850,000 with a $100,000 winner’s payout, $60,000 for second place and at least $10,000 for any angler who places 60th or better.
The Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Championship will have a whopping total purse of $1 million, with the winner pocketing $100,000, the second-place angler earning $55,000 and third place paying $45,000. The remainder of the Top 50 pros in the AOY points standings will share in the rest of the championship payout.
Last year’s Elite Series, which featured the first-ever BASSfest in Dayton, Tenn., and the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship in Escanaba, Mich., set a new attendance record by drawing 128,600 fishing fans.
The list of 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series qualifiers is below:
Randy Allen
Casey Ashley
Scott Ashmore
Josh Bertrand
Tommy Biffle
Stephen Browning
Brandon Card
Brent Chapman
Hank Cherry
Jason Christie
Rick Clunn
Keith Combs
Brandon Coulter
John Crews
Cliff Crochet
Mark Davis
Ott DeFoe
Kurt Dove
Boyd Duckett
Brent Ehrler
James Elam
Paul Elias
Edwin Evers
Todd Faircloth
Seth Feider
Micah Frazier
Shaw Grigsby
Greg Hackney
Charlie Hartley
Kevin Hawk
Matt Herren
Kenyon Hill
Brett Hite
Davy Hite
Timmy Horton
Randy Howell
Michael Iaconelli
Ken Iyobe
Kelley Jaye
Carl Jocumsen
Alton Jones
Kelly Jordon
Steve Kennedy
Mike Kernan
Kotaro Kiriyama
Gary Klein
Koby Kreiger
Jeff Kriet
Bobby Lane
Chris Lane
Russ Lane
Kevin Ledoux
Jordan Lee
Matt Lee
Brandon Lester
Jared Lintner
Stephen Longobardi
Bill Lowen
Justin Lucas
Aaron Martens
Billy McCaghren
Mike McClelland
Mark Menendez
Jared Miller
Yusuke Miyazaki
Ish Monroe
Andy Montgomery
Chad Morgenthaler
Paul Mueller
David Mullins
John Murray
Britt Myers
James Niggemeyer
Takahiro Omori
Cliff Pace
Brandon Palaniuk
Chad Pipkens
Clifford Pirch
Keith Poche
Jacob Powroznik
Cliff Prince
Matt Reed
Skeet Reese
Derek Remitz
Marty Robinson
Dean Rojas
Scott Rook
Fred Roumbanis
Zell Rowland
Bradley Roy
Joseph Sancho
Casey Scanlon
Bernie Schultz
Terry Scroggins
Morizo Shimizu
Kevin Short
Fletcher Shryock
Dave Smith
Brian Snowden
Gerald Swindle
Randall Tharp
Dennis Tietje
J Todd Tucker
Jonathon VanDam
Kevin VanDam
Byron Velvick
Greg Vinson
David Walker
Nate Wellman
David Williams
Jason Williamson
Boo Woods
Chris Zaldain
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 500,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2), social media programs and events. For more than 45 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.
The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series presented by Allstate, Old Milwaukee B.A.S.S. Nation events, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series, Bassmaster High School Series presented by Carhartt, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by Diet Mountain Dew and GoPro.
“One Boat Christmas Parade”
The Swindles and Shryocks would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas
Pro Tips – How to fish a Swimbait Deep – What you need to know to catch Big Bass
How to properly fish a swimbait deep for bass. Watch FLW & BASS Master Pro Jacob Wheeler show you the important details of this technique. Fishing swim baits deep for bass is a deadly technique for catching big bass in the summer time. Please share this fishing tutorial video with some of your fishing friends.
presented by the Scott Martin Challenge
Keep up with Jacob on his Facebook page
Keep up with Scott here.
Team Livingston Year in Review: From Bassmaster Classic win to Rookie of the Year, 2014 was a year to remember
It was a quiet moment that nobody noticed. Day 3 – Championship Sunday – at the 2014 Bassmaster Classic on Lake Guntersville, Alabama. Team Livingston pro Randy Howell sat in the driver’s seat of his King’s Home Triton before takeoff, nonchalantly munching on a banana, apparently without a care in the world.
Entering the day, Howell was 9 pounds back of leader Edwin Evers, in 11th place, with very little chance to win, so maybe it was no surprise when he laughed it off when somebody asked him: “Hey Randy, aren’t bananas bad luck on a boat?”
“Naw, man, I try to eat two bananas a day,” Howell said. “Maybe the potassium and good nutrients in this banana will help me make a comeback and win the Classic.”
It turned out, of course, that Howell would indeed make a comeback for the ages, dropping 29.2 pounds of Tennessee River largemouth on the scales at BJCC Arena in Birmingham and earning the Classic title by 1 pound over Paul Mueller.
Howell’s banana, though, had nothing to do with his Championship Sunday charge. The amiable Alabamian made Classic history because of a snap decision to fish a different piece of water then he had originally intended that day, and because of a bright-red crawdad-imitating bait that he had never even thrown before. That bait, a prototype medium-diving crankbait that would eventually become the Howeller Dream Master Classic (DMC), was the catalyst for perhaps the most memorable, successful year in the history of Team Livingston.
Once all was said and done on the 2014 Bassmaster Elite Series and FLW Tour seasons, Livingston pros had claimed the Classic title, the FLW Tour Angler of the Year, the Toyota Bassmaster Rookie of the Year, the Carhartt Big Bass, and 28 Top-30 finishes. Here are the highlights:
ANDY MORGAN REPEATS AS FLW ANGLER OF THE YEAR
Just how good was Andy Morgan’s 2014 season? Simply put, the best in FLW Tour history.
Morgan, who entered the season as the defending Angler of the Year, made it two in a row by racking up a tour-record 1,132 points and finishing no lower than 22nd in the seven FLW events he fished. Morgan frequently joked about the neck-and-neck competition between himself and eventual second-place finisher Cody Meyer, but it was Meyer who perhaps best summed up how dominant Morgan was in 2014 (and over the course of his career).
“Andy Morgan is the GOAT: the Greatest of All Time,” Meyer said repeatedly throughout the season. “There’s never been a better angler on the FLW Tour, and there probably never will be.”
JACOB POWROZNIK IS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR, ALMOST AOY
Elite Series newcomer Jacob Powroznik easily won the Elite Series Rookie of the Year award with 723 points – his nearest competitor was Justin Lucas with 638 – but “J-Proz” nearly snuck past Greg Hackney (741) and Todd Faircloth (727) in the Angler of the Year race, too. Powroznik earned a 2015 Classic berth with a victory at Toledo Bend Reservoir in Louisiana (May 1-4), finished fifth at Lake Cayuga in Upstate New York (Aug. 21-24), and weighed in the heaviest three-day limits at the Angler of the Year Championship on the Bays de Noc in Michigan (Sept. 18-22)
“Powroznik has been a force on the FLW Tour for years, it really wasn’t much of a surprise that he did so well on the Elite Series,” said two-time Elite Series AOY Aaron Martens.
HANK CHERRY FINDS BIGGEST BASS OF ELITE SEASON
Hank Cherry zigged when everybody else zagged at BASSFest on Lake Chickamauga, Tennessee (June 10-12). Instead of yo-yoing hair jigs on the deep-offshore community ledges on this impoundment of the Tennessee River as most of the rest of the field did, Cherry stuck to the shallows. The result: a 10-pound, 11-ounce behemoth on Day 2 that ended up being the biggest bass weighed in on the Elite Series schedule for 2014.
“That fish was just one of several big fish I saw shallow that week,” Cherry admitted. “I’m not exactly sure why all those fish were there, but that big fish was up on a bed. Just the way that tournament set up, I felt like I was a couple of bites away from maybe winning that event.”
BLAYLOCK BLASTS THE RECORD
They say there’s no shame in second place, and Stetson Blaylock’s jaw-dropping performance at the May 9-11 Toyota Texas Bass Classic on Lake Fork, Texas proves why. Throughout the course of three record-setting days, Blaylock hammered big bass after big bass after big bass on deep-diving crankbaits (a sunrise chartreuse Dive Master 20 among them), to the tune of 102 pounds, 12 ounces. That easily eclipsed the previous three-day record of 85 pounds, but unfortunately for Blaylock, Texas native Keith Combs wrapped up his third TTBC title with an unheard-of 110 pounds.
“Keith just has that Texas deal figured out, but I’m pretty proud of that tournament,” Blaylock said. “I caught so many fish that went 6, 7, 8 pounds, I can’t even describe it. I would’ve liked to have won that thing, but, man, almost 103 pounds? I’ll never, ever forget that.”
VELVICK’S COMEBACK
After taking the 2013 Elite season off on a medical exemption to rehab after back surgery, Byron Velvick jumped right back into the mix of competition with a ninth-place finish in the first tournament of the year (at Lake Seminole in southern Georgia), thanks mostly to the Electronic Baitfish Sounds (EBS) Technology™ of a “55 Chevy red” Dive Master 14 (red craw). Velvick finished strong with another Top 10 at the Delaware River tournament in Philadelphia in August, capping off a season in which the 15-year B.A.S.S.-tour veteran completely rearranged the way he approached tournaments.
“I really had to relearn the way I fished a four-day tournament, because I had to pay attention to what my body was telling me,” Velvick said. “I couldn’t really grind and grind and grind like I had in the past, and that new approach really allowed me to approach each day with a fresh mind. I really let my gear work for me, too: that ‘55 Chevy Red’ DM 14 was a key bait for me all year.”
CHAPMAN CRANKS IT UP FOR 2015
B.A.S.S.’s 2012 Angler of the Year has good reason to look forward to 2015: the schedule is loaded with fisheries that perfectly suit his crankbait prowess, and he finished the 2014 season with a Top 10 finish thanks to a fierce crankbait bite on Lake Cayuga. Chapman hit Cayuga’s grassy flats hard with a Dive Master 14 and Dive Master 20 in XXX Shad, and racked up his 32nd Top-10 finish.
It’s a performance that Chapman views as a springboard to the 2015 Elite season.
“I’m excited about finishing strong, and even more excited about how much a squarebill and deep-diving crankbait will come into play in 2015,” Chapman said. “It’s no secret that I like to crank, so the fact that we’re fishing fisheries like the Sabine River and Guntersville and the California Delta – places where EBS Technology™ and crankbaits in general will make a big difference – is something to look forward to.”
KRIET A CONSISTENT PLAYER
Jeff Kriet was a study in consistency in 2014, finishing in the money in six of the last eight events he fished, and logging the 18th and 19th Top 10 finishes of his career. Kriet was one of only a handful of anglers who sorted out a tricky, mercurial early-spring crankbait pattern on Table Rock Lake in Missouri (April 3-6) – Kriet finished seventh with 59.5 pounds, only 1.5 pounds out of first place – followed that up with a Top 10 in the Central Open on the Red River in Louisiana, and put together a Top 20 on the Delaware River.
Kriet was one of three Team Livingston anglers who qualified for the Angler of the Year Championship in Escanaba, MI.
THE CHAMP’S SEASON
Which brings us back around to Howell. Following the post-Classic whirlwind of media and special events following his Guntersville miracle and the creation of the Howeller DMC, Howell registered five Top 30 finishes during his Elite season, including a Top 10 on the St. John’s River in Florida (Howell was seventh with 71.12 pounds).
It was one of Howell’s more consistent seasons in his 21-year career and one of the best post-Classic-winning seasons in recent memory.
“It’s hard to try to describe what my year was like in 2014,” Howell said. “It was special and memorable for so many different reasons, but one that I’m really proud of, and blessed to be a part of.”