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Sacramento,
Ca. – 2007 was without question an amazing year for the Bassmaster Elite Series. The season was full of intrigue, challenges and intense races that came down to the last event at Lake Toho. Boyd Duckett became the first angler to win the Bassmaster Classic in his home state and won the Bassmaster Legends at Lake Dardenelle. Skeet Reese bested Kevin VanDam to claim the Angler of the Year title and earned his first Elite Series win at the Potomac River.
Derek Remitz and Casey Ashley each won an Elite Series Tournament and battled to the end for the Rookie of the Year award with Matthew Sphar; Remitz eventually won. Fred Roumbanis won the first major of the year, earned $250,000 and eventually was named the Horizon Award winner. Peter Thliveros won the Bassmaster Memorial for the second year in a row.
Mike McClelland won his second Elite Series tournament at Clark’s Hill, and then VanDam became the first Elite Series Angler to win two Elite Series tournaments in the same season by besting the field at Lake Guntersville, and Grand Lake.
To go along with all of these major accomplishments, five anglers reached career milestones in 2007 by earning their place in the BASS Millionaires Club; Alton Jones, Aaron Martens, Edwin Evers, Kelly Jordon and the aforementioned Reese.
With the dawn of the 2008 Elite Series season looming, The BASS ZONE began digging to see who had milestones ahead of them, and here is what we found.
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The Next Millionaire
When his blastoff number is called at the Lake Hartwell Classic, Timmy Horton will have earned a guaranteed $10,000 and will become the 23rd member of the BASS Millionaires club. His current career earnings totals $995,637.30
Good Bets
There are three more Elite Series pros who should earn their place in the millionaires club along with Horton if they have the kind of seasons they are accustomed to having.
With $969,772.50 in earnings to his credit, Duckett is the next in line to make the seven figure mark. If he continues to cash checks at the pace he ended the 2007 season with; short of winning an event, he could be over the threshold sometime in April. |
Terry Scroggins is a fishing machine, and while he would have been almost a lock to break the mark this season, his record in the Bassmaster Opens adds to his earning potential, at $935,121.30 he gives himself more chances to earn with each entry.
Greg Hackney’s $923,700 puts him squarely in position to make a run at the million dollar mark by midseason. With a per tournament earnings that average more than $14,000, Hackney’s a fairly safe bet to reach that milestone this year.
A Good Chance
Outside of his win at the Bassmaster Legends in 2006 Scott Rook has been a steady performer in his 113 entries on the Bassmaster Tour. His consistency has earned him $895,335.30 which gives him a decent outside shot at breaking the mark in 2008.
Dean Rojas has a propensity to shine on the biggest stages, and while he shined in the majors over the last two seasons, he doesn’t have those to get up for in 2008. His $888,862.80 in career earnings also gives him an outside shot at jumping into the million dollar club if he has the kind of season he is capable of. |
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Long Shots
Either of these Elite Series pros have an outside shot at jumping into the BASS Millionaire Club if they were to win a tournament and fish consistently as they are capable of doing. Since this is the Bassmaster Elite Series, any of these anglers could win any of the events, so any one of them to reach that level is a possibility.
Brent Chapman - $787,275
Gerald Swindle - $784,250
Ken Cook - $752, 458.20
Mike McClelland - $746,514
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Elite Series Exemption
With the announcement last season that BASS would be doing a way with the wildcard tournament, Elite Series pros can, with a bad season, find himself not being able to fish the Elite Series in 2009. BASS has set up some exemptions to allow long service pros the chance to get in based on past excellence.
Those exemptions include three items, winning a Bassmaster Classic, an angler of the year title or qualifying for 10 Bassmaster Classics; and they may earn one for each. Each angler may use an exemption only one time, so a Classic Champion could use his exemption one year, and not have another safety net if he had not yet earned a second exemption. |
Assuming the fact that they will be fishing the 2008 Classic at Lake Hartwell, the following Elite Series pros can earn their Classic exemptions by qualifying for the 2009 Classic. Some of them have already earned exemptions for being a Classic Champion or Angler of the Year. (The exception to this list is that Mike Wurm will have earned his 10 year exemption at Lake Hartwell).
Timmy Horton
Mike Iaconelli
Aaron Martens
Skeet Reese
Gerald Swindle
Kevin Wirth
Mike Wurm (At Lake Hartwell this year)
Of course the winner of the 2008 Bassmaster Classic will earn an exemption for his victory if he is not already a Classic Champion.
All of these accomplishments are on the horizon as the 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule embarks for what should be an entertaining journey. Of course, BASS ZONE .com will be on location to be the frame as the whole picture comes into focus; Stay Tuned…
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