With apologies in advance to the Elite Series pros jockeying for the AOY title and Bassmaster Classic spots, right now the tensest races in professional fishing are one notch down: at the Bassmaster Open level.
Photo courtesy of BASS
At a time of year when we’re normally winding things down, there’s plenty of fishing left to go – three Eastern Opens and two Central Opens, so nothing is set in stone, but there are lots of anglers who have to make something happen in those remaining derbies or else effectively put their competitive careers on hold for a while. Those include pros like Scott Martin, Brian Latimer and Andrew Upshaw who made very public departures from FLW in order to try to qualify for the Elites.
What color is their parachute? YouTube, I suppose.
Right now Martin is in 9th in the overall “Super Open” category (those pros fishing all tournaments on both sides will have additional chances to make the big show). Veteran FLW pro and former B.A.S.S. winner Randy Blaukat is in 5th. In the Easterns, Martin is 5th. Other than that, it’s mostly Elites, Opens pros and BPTers at the top. As noted above, it’s still early in the campaign, and a lot could change, but some of those dudes need to be feeling a little pinch in the shorts. Don’t make it back to a “tour” in ’21 and you lose a year of credential-building.
The Opens are a brutal deal – in just four events, if you have one bad day on either the first or second day of competition, you’ve likely crapped the bed for the season. That’s why it’s so critical for those who want a tour spot to fish all eight. It increases their mathematical chances substantially – particularly as other competitors drop for competition-based or other reasons.
And don’t look now, but Jason Christie and Greg Hackney are also currently positioned to return to their former tour home. I have not talked to either, so I have no idea if they’re trying to make it back, or just competing as much as they can, but there exists a very real possibility at year’s end that some choices will have to be made. At least those two can assumedly go back to BPT whether or not they make the Elites – lots of those other guys are all-in on the Opens.
