2024 Bassmaster Elite Series Season Preview

On this episode of Bassmaster TV, hosts Tommy Sanders and Ronnie Moore get you ready for the 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series season with the lakes and characters to keep an eye on this year.

#bassmaster #fishing #eliteseries

Hey welcome to the Bass Masters that’s Ronnie Moore I’m Tommy Sanders we are with you here and we are getting closer ever closer to that magic time when we start the 2024 season the bassm Elite Series Ronnie I think uh we need to do a preview we need to do a little more

Indepth preview of what’s coming up during the year first let’s talk about 2023 and that great schedule took us all the way from okobe up to the St Lawrence we got the best of South Carolina we got back to the Sabine some good Alabama stuff as well it was a good season it

Was a good schedule yeah and it made for a great angler of the year and Rookie of the Year race when you’re thinking about what Brandon Cobb and Kyle welchire all the way up until basically the final day of the season they were battling it out

For aoi then you’ve got Joey sentes and kyya feta battling out for Rookie of the Year until the final day of the season the schedule provided a lot of twists and turns we think about it’s the technological Revolution you know technology took over the sport of bass

Fishing the last few years rookies took over 100 new guys a younger generation but we saw two Anglers last year Brandon Cobb and Kyle welchire two guys who would not stake a claim as being technological gurus yet they learned what their weakness was they made that a

Strength and Kyle welcher got the best of Brandon cob at the end of the season but two fantastic events I think uh welcher and STS and block were the only Anglers to make all nine day three cuts and fish most of the season so what a

Phenomenal year like you said it took us everywhere we broke the century mark we broke the Smallmouth records that was something we expected and it happen it’s going to be hard to top and 2024 but it’s time to get on to 2024 let’s take a look at this season starting out in

Texas how do you sort of break this season as we look at the schedule how do you break it down well when you look at Louisiana and Texas to start off the first two weeks of the Season that is late February early March so it could be

Warm in those regions of the country or very cool but for Toledo bin and Lake Fork big bass those are both Century Club opportunities we kind of look at the schedule immediately Tommy and we put little asterisks beside Lakes we think could break 100 lb Toledo Bend is

On a a rise we saw that in the open opens last year when they fish there in April huge weight 77 plus pounds for 3 Days of fishing on Pace for 100 lb so we could see that this time of the year it’s still conducive it’s cold but there

Has been the opportunity for grass growth so Toledo Bank could produce a 100 so could Lake Fork and really the thing is is those are the first two that are predominantly and most likely the only ones that are pre-spawn events we normally start out in Florida where the

Spawn is lingering these could be pre-spawn events so we’ll see some counta I would say that yeah for sure you’re going to see some supended fish and you’re also going to see those colder water temps even if fish are making their way to the bank most of

Them are still going to be in that pre-spawn phase so Toledo B better than in past years like Fort Bountiful as usual yeah that yeah that one’s build correctly always Florida a different time to go to Florida going to St John’s river once again and the Harris chain

But it’s later in the season so what are the Dynamics of that one thing I think of when I think of Florida in April is stability every time we go there in January or February everyone wants to go there everywhere everywhere else in the country is frozen you want to go to

Florida to start your season but when you do that the opportunity for a cold front uh for the moon to affect it as well you could have a moon phase coming in but a cold front hit and all these fish are stunted they’re not on the B

They’re not on the bank they’re they’re in between so it kind of creates an inst instable tournament atmosphere so April tells me we’ve had enough phases and spawns of or waves of Spawn that now Anglers will be able to sight fish they’ll be able to just go fishing and

They’ll also be some deep fish that may be spawn in February that are now offshore then we go to South Carolina I Eaves drop on a lot of your podcasts Ronnie and you have said this and I agree with you I think the best Tournament of the year last year was

Lake Murray Lake Murray is one that you’re going to catch numbers and they were all big ones Tommy it is interesting it’s I believe it’s the only blue back uh Herring lake that is all Largemouth no spot abass like we see the laners the hewells the Smith Lakes they

Have spot abass and Largemouth Murray has just large mouth and they’re blue bag Herring feeders so these fish Chase and eat every every single day of the year you could go there in February and it would be a good tournament and going there in May that just provides more

Opportunity for uh some different regions of the lake to factor we had some sight fish in April last year at Lake Murray this year maybe still some sight fish in May but most likely the tail end of that we’re going to see those points play with top water all

Those things we the double that we saw by Brandon cob on a jerk bait those blueback hering patterns that a lot of our top 10 employed they will definitely come into fruition for most of people’s game plans and it’s early but you could see some of those deeper cane piles that

We see factor in late June July August those could be a place where fish are already making their way out to we got to get the Tennessee River in and we are at Lake Wheeler where we haven’t been in a good while wheeler is kind of I’ll say

It the redheaded stepchild for the Tennessee River it’s the one that gets all the Flack it’s because it’s between a couple huge lakes that are water Distributors the water is going to flow from Gunnersville through wheeler and it’s going to go through Wilson very quick before it gets to pck in Kentucky

Lake where they can hold that water bigger bodies of water so wheeler has a lot of fluctuation and and flushing of the water transient population yes it we’ve seen it before where it’s had a lot of grass and we’ve seen the water get flushed through there so many times

The grass doesn’t take hold some years and there’s no grass but we know there’s large mouth there’s small mouth and there’s the decer flats so mid June we might have us a good oldfashioned Tennessee River ledge fishing tournament that we really haven’t had in a long time we’ve had the Tennessee River in

The fall we’ve had it early in the spring those summer beatdowns that we’re used to seeing whether it’s competition bumping boats sometimes for the best offshore spot we’re going to see that in June most likely our other Herring lake is Smith Lake in Alabama will it be as

Good as Murray that’s that’d be a tough tough one to get over I can’t compare him as good or bad or or better than or lesser than they’re going to be different because the weights you can catch you can catch 20 plus pounds every day at Murray all Largemouth you can

Catch 20 lbs a day on all spotted bass at Smith Lake one of the best spotted bass lakes in the country we know it’s Connection in in history to the California spots that grow really big there’s a little bit of distribution and trading that going off Smith Lake has

Some big spotted bass you’ll also see what’s very fascinating about this the winning weight of this tournament Tommy it could be all spoted bass there could be a mixture of spots in Largemouth or you could have a guy competing for the win that’s maybe going all out on

Largemouth maybe getting five or six btes a day but he’s up Shallow in the backs of some of those Creeks you can spread out and go anywhere you want at Smith so we could see guys all spot of bass all large mouth and we can see a

Mixture of both for sure all right two stops on our Northern swing and 90% of our audience watching here today is so familiar with them yeah we know the book and how it’s written for Champlain in the St Lawrence River for the New York swing Tommy but we got to keep going

Back there because every year it gets better and better what is going on in New York with the Smallmouth population and size is absolutely phenomenal the introduction of gobies to the great lakes in that region of the country has made some of these fish sizes explode obviously the conservation efforts by

Bass and tournament organizations to take care of our catches has helped explode this population as well and we saw Champlain reach Heights that had not reached previously when kyya Vegeta was neck and neck with Justin Atkins and Cody Huff last year we saw also a change

La that time of the year we thought maybe Largemouth higher water levels they could factor non-existent nonf factor at all it would be hard pressed to say that someone’s not going to find Largemouth but man if you’re not focused on the brown ones at the Champlain or

The St Lawrence River you’re not fishing for first you’re fishing for the top 10 you’re fishing for your life I think you’ve heard a lot of our opinions through this quick sketch what was supposed to be a quick sketch of what’s coming up in 2024 but when we come back

We’ll get deeper and deeper into each of these great great spots comprising our schedule for the upcoming Year that’s how you start to day Baby welcome to Florida welcome back to the Bassmaster Lead Series 2024 preview show for the first time in a little while we’re not starting in the State of Florida we’re actually going right there on the Louisiana Texas border at Toledo Bend a famous place in history it was a place

That was once a number one ranking Bassmaster you know top lakes in the country Mark for years and then it’s had a little bit of a downturn but boy 2023 in the opens it showed us that Toledo Bend is back saw a bunch of 10 Pounders in January caught in local tournaments

And then on Pace for the century Club Mark for 3 days through the opens which was mid April this will be late February though yeah the big word is the hydrilla is back and that makes a big big difference at Toledo B we should see a lot of different approaches to catching

Them there too especially early on this year yeah the last time we were here for an Elite Series event it was around the April time period there was a Shad spawn going on you could still fish a little bit deep that kind of resembles what we

Just saw in the open in 2023 this being being late February it’s right in between that that April time period I’m talking about and the college events that we normally have there in mid to late January and that’s the deal is these fish it’s not going to be straight

Winter these fish are going to start to be more pre-spawn hey Tommy for the first time in a long time we will have a pre-spawn Bassmaster Lead Series event to start the year nothing around the spawn unless we’ve had an abnormally warm winter which I don’t think we will

Toledo Bend will show us a little bit different than we’ve seen in the past so much of the history of tournament bass fishing has been written on this place since it was impounded back in the late 60s and exploded after then and it’s great to hear that it’s back and it’s

Great that we’re going there we’re going to stay in Texas for our second event as well kind of another well-known fishery yeah and a place that we have been multiple times but let’s just say this Tommy in the three or four times we’ve been there in the past we’ve never been

There at the exact same time we’ve been there in April at Lake Fork I believe when Brandon Cobb won we were there in May when Lee Livy won we were there uh around that time period June May when Lee liy won again and then in the fall November when Patrick Walters won so

Doing it last week of February first few days of March Lake Fork we could see like we say always Century club with the first two Lakes it’s a possibility because those pre-spawn fish that come out of Texas and Louisiana they are big they’re ready to go and once they make

That push once they get grouped up in an area it could really be a fun Lake Fork hopefully if fish is a little bigger too even though the water might be low in that winter time period if it is normal water level we could see people you know

In the mid mid portions of the pockets and on the main Lake yeah we we were there four times in a row from 2018 to 21 and the winner at least and all of those was a century mark you you’re going to you pretty much book a century

Mark assault this time as well for sure and like I wonder how much uh you know local history and knowledge somebody like Lee Livy is going to be able to have in February the more we go to a place the more these Elite Series Anglers catch on and the more they know

About it but like we said different time of the year we normally see these fish and they’re sweating by the time we get there because it’s so hot in Texas it’ll be much colder we’ll see some hoodies on in this tournament oh it will be a great

Great event then we get our promised trip to Florida and a place that everybody loves going but we only have gone early way earlier to the Harris chain this will be a different Harris chain but it’ll still be that great place with all those different sorts of

Situations you can f there’s two things when we start in Florida the one great thing is everywhere else in the world is very cold and it’s frustrating to fish sometimes but also when you get to Florida early in the year like a February or a late J anuary something

Like that the cold fronts actually do hit Florida and they tremendously affect those weights and those fish we saw the Harris chain in flux last time uh when we kicked off our year at the St John’s and then the Harris chain those fish were wanting to be on bed there were

Some big ones on bed but they weren’t quite there the winning weight just under 80 lbs a little bit lower than our expectations but April Tommy I’m excited to go to Florida in April I don’t know since I’ve been alive and the Elite Series has been formed if we’ve been in

Florida in April it’ll open up a lot of different things you’ll still see going be different from when we would go in late January early February well the deal is is that these fish often times start spawning you know at some places in Florida around Thanksgiving maybe

This is a little farther north than like a lake okachobee so maybe in Christmas time January they start spawning and it’s so in frequent that they’ll go all the way through May so we’ll see spawning fish in Florida all the way through May and Beyond so when we get to

April you’ll still see some of those spawning fish you’ll see some offshore fish develop maybe the grass is a little bit harder a little bit stronger a little bit grown up in some places and then obviously you’ll have the people who want to just do what they do in

Florida find that grass get on those lines power fish we’ll obviously see some of those guys doing all the Lakes as well so many places you’ve got Griffin you can go to we saw lapka was popular last time little Harris and Harris uh Harris was where it was one

Then you’ve got obviously Eustace Dora boclair Carolton all those connecting canals little Backwater ponds big lakes and it’s it’s just a great variety it’s always entertaining to go there watch and this time two months later than we were there last time I think it really will spread the field out we always will

See an area where a lot of people are but we should see a little bit more spread out there should be some people in every Lake represented hopefully on the final day plenty of reasons to look forward to this 2024 season we just saw three of them including Toledo Ben the

Giant Lake down there in the border between Texas and Louisiana Lake Fork that’s all you got to say is Lake Fork what a reputation and then we take it down to Florida for the Harris chain of Ronnie we got more to come we do stops 4 through 6 coming up the Bassmaster Elite

Series is sponsored by Hummingbird Mercury Toyota and byy Ranger Boats Welcome back to the Bassmaster Lead Series 2024 preview show for our Elite Series Nine stop season last segment we got to talk about stops one two and three of the Season we’re going to kick it off with stops four five and six this go around still hanging in the State of

Florida at a legendary body of water cous St John’s river the premier River in Florida 310 mies going south to North at our at our host City Paca turn turns into just a big wide Estuary basically it changes character so you can choose that or you can choose all the Lakes

Downstream and the and the open River as well a George Woodruff Dexter and all those Lakes down there lots of historic places yes and one thing we see Tommy there’s there’s two things you’re either going to go way back in a canal or a dead end canal and and fish for those

Residential fish or those fish that have pulled up to spawn or we’ve seen in the past you just stay on the main river look for some shell bars look for some places like that if you’re over in Rodman if that’s available in play then you know you maybe fish a little bit

Deeper off those drops off the staining Timber things like that but in April I think we’re going to have a wide variety of things available to these Anglers you’re not going to just see the dead end Canal fishing or the Shell Bar fishing out on the main drag you’re

Going to be able to see a mixture of things you’ll see some of the swampy areas play you’ll see some of those Lakes Down Below play you’ll probably see Crescent play a little bit but being able to not be in a jacket let’s just say I don’t want to curse it in April

But not necessarily in your winter coats at the same John’s River it’s going to open up a lot of things we’ll probably see top water fish other than those slow moving top Waters we’ll probably actually see good top water fishing at the St John’s river which I’m super

Excited fingers cross no fog delays it’ll be warmer we got a better Outlook there as well so it be a lot of fun I think this is a this is the 24th time that the Bass Masters have been to uh the St John’s river very much looking

Forward to it would be the fourth year in a row yeah one of the one of the places that I guess is dubbed as Bassmaster HQ South because we’re always at the St John’s river but like we said different time of the year I’m excited just like Toledo B Toledo bin went down

A little bit coming back up hopefully we could be a part of the conservation aspect and the rise of the St John’s river once again all right well that takes us almost to the halfway point of the Season we go up to South Carolina wow we hadn’t been to Lake Murray for 11

Years previous to the our visit in 23 and it was Gang Busters it was terrific we were so blown away we wanted to do it again this time a little bit different like you said we nor we came out of the classic and fished in South Carolina in

April this is going to be early portions of May the first 10 or so days of May excited to see how Murray Fish is there you won’t necessarily have a bunch of sight fish on bed we saw that was how it was won by Drew Benton in 2023 we saw

That start to fade for some Anglers each day though they were worried that those those you know the waves of spawners weren’t going to be there I got a feeling with it being May a little bit more summer Vibes even though it’s not to the full extent of heat yet you’ll be

Able to see that Herring spawn probably going on maybe yeah I think that you’ll do that and then I think that those Rivers will actually factor a little bit more but those Fish Feeding on the hering those main Lake ones from I guess Dr Island down towards the dam they’ve gotten so

Big Tommy we blew it out of the water in 2023 I’m excited for 2024 yeah it was only the second time time we had been there since 2011 or this will be the second time since 2011 so glad we got it back in the rotation I think everybody’s

A big fan of that now a place another place we haven’t been to in a while I think 2016 was wheeler lake or 2017 wheeler Lake in Alabama no you were right the first time 2016 we saw takahiro pull out a big swimbait on the decater flats I mean if there’s a

Nostalgia factor of it it’s a discontinued swimbait with an old school angler on a place that is so famous that iconic place the giant giant ledge giant flat there what we do forget in that tournament though is dve FEA and some other guys were catching them really good flipping bushes so the opportunity

There uh it presents itself that you don’t just have to be on the decater flats to maybe win this event maybe some small mouth factor in early ledge fishing no doubt it should be prime um those schools should be getting big there I think that honestly we saw a

Good uh mixture of weight High weights and then a little bit of consistency for the wheeler Lake open in 2023 we got to see the the EQ Anglers fishing there excited to go back to Wheeler showcase it on Bassmaster live with the 100 best anglers in the world sometimes wheeler

Doesn’t get enough publicity because it’s in between Gunnersville and pck and that and Wilson Wilson and Wheeler but good Place good solid place to have a tournament looking forward to with how many people fish in this part of the country this is a place that you H you

Can’t avoid if you’re in Alabama angler and you’re fishing locally you can’t avoid wheeler you’re going to have to fish there I’m excited to see you know Elk River other things playing as well wheeler it’s one of those places we’ve been there quite a bit compared to other

Places for the Elite Series I think this we’ve been there four times pre previously this is the fifth time we’ve been there for the Elite Series and like you said June time period should be a good one for sure having a lot of fun building our look at the upcoming season

Including the St John’s river down in Paca Florida at a different time of year Lake Murray which was so fantastic last year in Columbia South Carolina and also a look at Wheeler Lake in Decor Alabama haven’t been there for a long long time the Bassmaster Elite series coming up

Next a place we’ve never been before with the elites and more welcome back we’re looking forward to the 2024 season we stay in Alabama for the next event you talk about a lake that we haven’t been we’ve never been there with the elites but believe it or

Not yet Smith Lake is one of one of one of the favorites of so many Anglers that fish the Elite Series yeah this is going to be we we get our you know our blueback hering taste in May with Lake Murray we get it once again here at

Smith Lake vastly different though there are big large mouth up in the Creeks but a lot of spotted bass we’re going to see the Clear Water offshore fishing really come into play at Smith Lake I’m excited to see what June has to hold June may be

A tough period of time in respect we can’t have nine events in April where the fishing’s great everywhere you’re going to have to go different places and so for Smith you can catch them there’s going to be Anglers catching them over 100t of water probably Tommy and then

You’ll also have people competing with the same exact weights up in 5 Ines of water in the backs of creeks we’re going to see some and the opportunity to really get away from people I look at this map pick where you want to go you’re probably going to find a creek to

Yourself for sure haven’t been there since since an elite 50 event back in 2005 before that a Tour event in in 2004 so we are we are going to re-update Smith Lake for every and this is another place that we normally come you know with the opens or College Series around

That February time period maybe March right after a classic that that region of time being June different look than we’ve seen maybe same Banks but it’s going to look a lot different the way they catch them and uh win this tournament yeah a big spot at B always

Look forward to that now then we got then we’ve got our Northern swing it was three events this past year in 2023 we have two this time but they’re the two biggies it’s Lake Champlain to start yes we’re going to have about a month off or

A month and a half off from the Smith Lake and the Alabama swing over with wheeler and Smith before we head up to New York to finish out our swing Lake Champlain platsburg New York we got to see the highest winning weight we have seen at Lake Champlain ever and it

Absolutely put out some of the biggest fish we’ve seen these small mouths are getting so big we talked about it do you do largemouth do you do Smallmouth this was the year with the water being high Largemouth could Factor no they couldn’t it was all small mouth dominated we saw

These Anglers really open our eyes to not only technology but that these pelagic Smallmouth are actively chasing over 50 to 100 feet of water at times over 40 50 feet of water and they are suspended just right underneath your Troll Motor like just very very shallow

In the water column but over deep water we got to see them really be the carnivores that they are and Chase around um all those Al wi and stuff open a whole new population I do you see any anything changing for for this the time

Of year we’re going to be there I really don’t I think that the Inland sea is always going to be a factor at Lake Champlain I think we could see a a little bit of New York play uh a little bit more you got to kind of diversify

Yourself a little bit there’s always a place like we saw at Lake St Clair like we saw at Champlain where the biomass is like Mark Zona likes to call it where all of the bait fish all of the life all of the the bass are going to be honed in

On it happen to be in that Island region of the Inland sea it could be in a different place this time around but the Inland sea will always house one or two at least in the top 10 we we always we always pitch it as being you can do

Everything from from a pitch frog out out the grass to drop shots it was half true this time around yes yeah we saw if you were catching up on a frog up in the grass you probably didn’t make the cut except for I think Scott canabury went

And had fun one day after he made the cut um I think that we hopefully could see some larg mouth come into play maybe those big ones come into play but one thing we need to watch out for every time you come to Lake Champlain you

Better have an area close to the ramp that’s protected cuz when it gets rough we could either have a postpone day like we did this last time or lose a day Al together you want to make sure at least if we go in rough condition and you

Don’t want to go 40 50 miles you better have something close on the New York side that you can feel confident in all right the grand finale the big wrap up is going to be of course at the St Lawrence River Lake Ontario what a fantastic tournament we have had there

Oh I guess the last 10 times we’ve been there just unbelievable and it gets better every time wash rinse repeat but the one thing that’s different this time Tommy and I’ll point to it down here Wasington New York something that’s different but it it Remains the Same

Wadington was the place that opened our eyes to the love of the St Lawrence River way back in 2013 when the elites first came here we got to see Brandon po make a long run win the event do something different that no one else thought they’d do now Tommy I’m not sure

With what at this point in time what the what the playing field will be if Lake Ontario is fully in play or not or if it’s just River based if it if the lakes in play we talked about it off camera normally maybe 10 12 people would go all

The way from Wasington if the Lakes open I’d expect half our field to probably try to make that run but if the if it is River Exclusive we saw a great winning weight 70 plus lbs this year in the opens it was about a month earlier than

What it’ll be here but it was River Exclusive over 70 lbs for 3 Days of fishing if it is River Exclusive I’d expect them to still catch them we’ll still see of those some of those places ogdenburg you’ll see north of takeoff the area close adjacent to Wasington

You’ll see all of those places all the way down to Cape Vincent we know people in the mouth of the lake if you can’t go to the lake get as close as you can to it and you’re probably going to be successful there rule of thumb you could

Possibly have there of course now the lake is in play just think about what we’ve seen the last in 2022 we were there two two Anglers over 100 lb first time ever for full Smallmouth 20 Smallmouth uh in bassm history this time around the top four had said that’s the

Way this place has progressed it’s it’s like double redoubles itself every year it’s exploding and if Kyle Welter didn’t have mechanical issues on the final day and lose half of his fishing day he was 4 o from adding a fifth century belt in 2023 at the St Lawrence River in Lake

Ontario if they do make that run though Tommy I will say if you’re out of Clayton and you run to the lake that’s a short drive you got a lot more fishing time than you would have normally you can put your you know you can have a

Slow portion of your day and still catch a big bag if you’re coming from wadington you have to be on point you have to make that run perfect you have to get out there and capitalize quick cuz you’re not going to have a lot of time to run especially let’s just say if

The river’s calm you get to the mouth and it’s really gusting out on the lake it’s going to be Troublesome for some guys who have put all their marbles in that basket if it is River Exclusive uh or if for the guys who stay in the river they could probably compete with the

Late guys if the late guys only have you know two or 3 hours to be able to get it done we love to see them all strategizing heavily gr to win a tour he we can see those shallow guys the kennedies the loens the fighters those guys who have made their work shallow

This is a a solid time that it could still be done um and if they’re up in the river they can probably make it happen with St Lawrence River and a guy who’s going to be a big favorite next year on the best master Elite series of course Patrick Walters so that concludes

Are look at all nine stops for the 2024 Tournament Trail when we come back though we’re going to get into personalities people who are going to make a difference uh speculatively when we come back Ronnie Moore and myself with angler of the year and rookie of the

Year the bassm Elite series is sponsored by Yamaha Rala Progressive Insurance Nitro boats and by Powerpole thanks for being with us on the Bass Masters Ronnie Moore Tommy Sanders here we just finished kind of going over our fantastic schedule Bassmaster Elite Series 2024 all those locations we didn’t get too specific though Ronnie about whom we expect to do well in this how should we go about that

Well the recipe for a Bassmaster angler of the Year winner at the end of the season nine events who’s going to win angler of the year you have to have basically a blemish free season you have to have a season with maybe one slip up at most but most seasons Tommy you can’t

Have a slip up at all and for the last couple winners of our angler of the Year race they have had a perfect season so let’s take a look at our last couple Champions Scott Canterbury Clark winlet Brandon pck Seth fighter and Kyle welcher goly that’s a giant that’s a

Giant got you woo that’s what we talking about Scott Canterbury shoots out the [Applause] lights Scott Canterbury joins A League of Legends becoming a Toyota BM Angler of the Year Scott Canterbury a phenomenal 2019 season he was the Bassmaster anger of the Year never finishing outside of the

Top 50 all season long his first year on the Bassmaster Elite Series another guy who has plenty of angler of the Year titles and wanting to get another one in 2020 was Clark winlet starting off strong with a top 20 down in the State of Florida backing it up just a few

Months later cuz we had a delay in our season at eala in Alabama a top 10 finish there he was headed in the right track as we headed north for our season Clark winlet may be from Tennessee but he has a phenomenal Smallmouth fisherman and he showed it in our Northern swing

Doing a good finish at the St Lawrence River and then backing it up at Lake St Clair as well both of those where he made Championship Sunday Clark winlet no flaws in his game in the 2020 season at all up to this point but we knew with

Our delay in the season Co pushing our schedule back we had to go into the fall and this fall Gauntlet was a tough one Lake Gunnersville Santi Cooper chaga and Lake Fork those were going to be true tests in the fall where the fishing isn’t easy at all he survived Lake

Gunnersville with a late flurry on one of his last competition days it kept him in the hunt for angler of the year but the survival really came at the next event chiam Maga he only caught one fish on day one that plummeted him down the leaderboard made angler of the year look

Bleak but luckily he was able to survive that V stay in contention and head to his home state Lake Fork was where he sealed the deal in 2020 for the anger of the Year award winning that prestigious award that many Anglers fight their whole career and desire to

Get your 2020 Bassmaster Elite Series angler of the Year Clark winlet with over $2.2 million in earnings with bass he has had a stored career but Clark winlet in the year of 2020 overcoming so many obstacles so many delays what an odd season it was but he persevered and he took home the

Coveted Bassmaster angler of the Year title leading into one of the best seasons we have ever seen from an Elite Series Pro and that was from Seth Fighter the Minnesota native came down hey he had to learn the southern fishing that was one of his weaknesses early on

In his career it was a stumbling block he got out of Florida with a top five finished third place in patka at the St John’s river off to a great start you survive Florida you now know I can now win angler of the year if I keep it up

Through the rest of the events and he took it to the Tennessee River as well a top 25 at Pickwick leading into the middle of our season come here oh just barely yes yes let’s go let’s go Bing going oh God oh God come on let’s go let’s go phenomenal

Southern swing for Seth fighter and this is a place that we knew he was not going to slip the northern swing Lake Champlain hey he’s gotten top 10 there with small mouth he’s gotten there with large mouth he has Lake Champlain unlocked and it was a great finish for

Him never worse than 25th all season long in 2021 and he had six or better four different times during his season once we got to the St Lawrence River it was just a formality if he showed up there and got in the top half of the

Field angler of the year was his and we knew Seth fighter he was going to be in it to win it and have a great finish at the St Lawrence River once again freaking 5B smalles on a ChatterBait Clark wendland to do the hand off ladies and gentlemen boys and girls a season

Long battle started with 95 Anglers and then there is one that one is Seth Fighter the 2021 Bassmaster Elite Series angler of the year I got her I got her come here in the mouth I got her I got her Brandon penic his 2022 season was one for the record books he normally

Starts out slow in Florida he had a great Florida swing a third place finish to Santi Cooper when we got to Lake Fork he was able to break the sentury club eclipsing 100 lb for 4 days of competition that was a solid start which led to a great season yeah Yeah I don’t know if that’s a bass yes I got two yep I got two get in here dang it oh yes look at that one in 2022 The Prodigy prevails and becomes the 2022 Progressive Bassmaster angler of the Year Brandon penck truly the king of the Court this year The Prodigy

Prevails got him that time big get up in here baby after a strong start at okachobee and even Lake simal we went to Santi Cooper where we got to see Kyle welcher really make a run for that angler of the Year award in the year of 2023 Kyle Welter has been one

Who has been on our radar for an angle of the Year push early in his career had a bad 2022 season and came back with vengeance this year Sabine Rivers right up his alley and he was in our top 10 up until the final day of competition then

We go up to the northern swing where we were a little concerned about how Kyle Welter could do at Lake St Clair Lake Champlain in the St Lawrence River but he was absolutely phenomenal never missing a cut out of a hundred of the best Pros in the world always was in the

Top 40 of competition and Kyle welcher put his stamp on a great 2023 season in 2023 the progressive Bassmaster angler of the Year belongs to Stone Cold Kyle Welter our last five Progressive angler of the Year winner pretty impressive group right there and Ronnie it’s up to

Us now or to put it up to you why don’t you make some picks for who’s going to win angler of the Year this year that’s a hard call with 103 Anglers that are all capable to win this award but we always see it SC you got to start off

Strong early in the season you can rarely have a 100th Place finish Brandon penck has done it but I’m not going to put him to the test to have to do that again so you got to start off strong I feel the lwh hanging fruit is uh Patrick

Walters he hasn’t won an angler of the year yet but in his Five Seasons the five angler of the years that beat him out the last few years of his career he finished 16th third fourth fifth and another third so basically every year of his Elite Series career he’s been in the

Top five at some point in the season I think in that 16th Place year he led angler of the year until the northern swing and he fell off at the end of the year so Patrick Walters took we saw a weakness his Smallmouth game was his

Weakness he took that and made it a strength by winning the St Lawrence River last year to end our season otherwise he’s Rock Solid he’s been great in Florida we’ve known he’s won at Lake Fork uh and then he’s got one in his home state Lake Murray that’s where

He went to college at the University of South Carolina I don’t think that he’s going to slip up at a Wheeler or a Smith I think he’s going to be right there from the beginning of the season to the end and honestly this could be the year

He finally breaks through and gets off the schneide of terrible finishes in the top five without winning you know that’s a bad season for Patrick Walters we how do we bracket it sixth seventh is that a bad finish for him in aoi he has been Flawless and I’ll throw out three other

Names Tommy if you had you know some other wild card some other guys to consider that you maybe wouldn’t see in the top five of aoi uh in past years but that could do it this year I think Kint cira Lee ly and Jacob roznik are three

Anglers that have the recipe with our schedule with some blueback Herring lakes with some Smallmouth with some Texas and Louisiana Big Fish capital of the world places early in the season and then Florida which is a place that trips them up all three of those Anglers have

Shown good success in Florida at times they’ve had wins in the state of Louisiana and Texas and then obviously have figured out the Smallmouth enough to do and be successful there we saw Kenta in the season with a top 10 at the St Lawrence Rivers so I think those are

My three wild cards and my one that I would hedge my bets on is Patrick Walters and then you’ve got kinen CRA Lee ly and Jacob perzik sounds good to me Tommy I’m not GNA leave you hanging either you got to pick a couple any guys

Maybe same or different from M well the the same low hanging fruit and Patrick Walters although I I kind of see a season where Patrick Walters and Kyle welshire are the two in the battle all season long there’s a lot of I I it’s hard to pick who’s going to do well down

In Texas our first two events except Lee liy of course but Patrick Walters also there too Florida I think they’re both very capable there and they’ve proven that they can finish up in strong Fashion on the Northern swing I think it could be those two have one outlier and that is kyya fu

I mean he is such an unknown entity and he is such a different sort of per nothing seems to phase him he does not speed up when the pressure is on he is incredible with his electronics I don’t know what he can’t do well I don’t know

A place where he can’t win I feel like it’s going to be weird at the end of Kyo Vegeta’s career that he didn’t win Rookie of the Year his first year because how good Joey sentes did basically losing by just a handful of points winning an event having four top

10 as well a couple top threes I like those picks in Kyo feta and Kyle welchire if he was to go back to back we haven’t had a back-to-back angler of the year in a long time that would be very impressive well we the year before he

Won angler of the year he was second in the classic so I think there there may be a guy who’s on track to to do just that we’ll we shall see it’s all speculative at this point we got more speculation on the way we’re going to

Take a look at the new rookies the new faces on the tour in the upcoming year and who might be the pick to win rookie of the year the Bassmaster Elite series is sponsored by Mota sker boats Bass Pro Shops and by Dakota Lithium welcome back great to have you with us on the Bass Masters today we’re looking forward to the 2024 season it is IM right around the corner we’ve been through all our locations Ronnie Moore we have looked at potential winners of the angler of the year prize very very

Important and all it’s left is Rookie of the Year what do you think I think that that’s one of the tightest races you know at times when we’ve had maybe an angler of the Year run away somebody winning by 20 30 40 points and we lose

Interest a little bit for a moment of time Rookie of the Year Keeps Us engaged it’s always a tight race high quality uh Anglers that are coming in for their first year that’s really the the biggest thing when you go to a new school you want to make sure you have a good

Impression your first day or two well these guys have made a good impression their whole first year and every year Tommy it seems we say this is the best rookie class we’ve ever seen they add to a great Elite Series field and this is the best Elite Series field we’ve ever

Seen well every year it does get stronger and stronger and I will say before we get to our rookie the year picks the changes we’ve made in the Bassmaster opens is probably why these rookies are going to be getting better and better every season with our change from three event qualification to all

Nine events you have to fish to qualify we’re going to have much more well-rounded Anglers we’re going to have Anglers well traveled across the country they’re going to be diverse in their backgrounds and backdrops and they’re going to be experienced on a lot of playing fields that maybe they’ll see in

The future I think there could be some crossover for sure I think one of the rookies this year Ben milikin said I’ve been to four of the nine Elite series events and fished tournaments there so you’ve got you think about these rookies that it’s their first year on the job

And they’ve already got maybe 50% of the schedule at least experienced there and so when we look back at this past season’s rookies they were not only good they were great Joey sentes winning Rookie of the Year Tommy and winning two events in a season winning Lake simol

And Lake St Clair and barely winning the title and barely winning over kilya Vegeta that was crazy and Joey was a first year Elite he had experience on a national level just a few years over on other professional tours but not enough money earnings to consider himself

Something other than a rookie he was still very new to the scene so he took that experience built on it and became a two-time champion in his first season both in impressive fashion and then you think about the guys who have that local Advantage these rookies fish close to

Home most of their life and this is their first chance to go on a national stage Will Davis took all of the lessons he learned at lelay Lake over the years to win against the big best names in the world we always said that you want to

Play against Kobe Bryan or LeBron on a hoop you’ve shot on your whole life that maybe is the one familiar place that is exactly what will Davis did he beat the best on his home body of water and then we think about kyyo Vegeta somebody who

After eight events of the Season we were saying it’s long overdue for a victory because he had so many shots those first seven or eight events and he didn’t get a win that finally getting one at Champlain last year kind of put a exclamation point on his great season he

Is coming back and fishing all nine Elites and all nine opens he’s going to be a monster so that was our rookie class that really shined and think about it we had seven rookies make the classic out of our 10 rookies that was phenomenal I can’t remember anything

Even close to that before I don’t know how we’re going to top it this year but our class is absolutely phenomenal the youngest we’ve ever had as well I think everyone is in the the age of the 20s except for one or two that are maybe in

Their 30s uh I’ve got to go with John Garrett he got second in the opens angler of the Year race after that long season I think that John’s got a enough touring travel experience fishing the opens for four to five years and breaking through this year he traveled a

Bunch with the college series and was highly successful there that J’s been to a lot of these places but he’s also he’s had some adversity it wasn’t just a my first year in the opens I qualified for the Elite Series type of deal he’s dealt with some crucial losses some close wins

Different things like that I think that Jon’s going to be able to take that and be a little Steady Eddy on the Elite Series next year what about you Tommy I’m going to go with JT Tomkins I mean a guy nine open events he he finishes in

The top 25 and seven of them how can you not be prepared to win Rookie of the Year with a with a title like an average finish for JT Tomkins of 17th Place and like you said how close the rookie the year race was last year John Garett gets

Second in points and has an average finish of 18 so those guys still after nine events had one point differential per tournament difference it was about a single point or a single digit deficit for John Garrett to JT so we did pick a little bit of lwh hanging fruit but they

Showed us enough in the opens last year on Bassmaster live to really trust what we’re going to see on the elites next year I I figured most of our guys are going to get big time mentions during the course of the season on Bassmaster live but just to make sure they get

Their mention I’m going to read their names off right now just just to get them out there JT Tomkins John Garrett Trey McKenna Robert G Tyler Williams Wesley Gore Logan Parks Ben milikin Kyle Patrick and Timothy D yeah the the nation the opens all producing great

Anglers it’s going to be a great 2024 Bassmaster Elite series season adding these 11 new guys to the the crop of very experienced guys and guys we know a lot one thing’s for sure Tommy I think we know a lot more about these 11 guys than we have any other rookie class

Coming in so we’re really dialed in on what to expect from these guys they’re going to we’re going to see plenty in the top 10 this season and hopefully by this point in the show we all know more about what’s coming up in the 2024 season look forward to seeing and

Enjoying it with you all season long and we will see you right here next time on the Bass Masters