Last week was a busy one. The next two will be worse.
In the last week we had a new No. 1 angler in the world (Kevin VanDam), some major shifting in the Majors World Ranking and now, we’re only days away from the Bassmaster Classic.
Before we talk about our Classic coverage, we did want to touch upon the Bass Open from a week ago. With all the chaos following the FLW Tour Open at Okeechobee, the Central Open at Lewisville kind of got lost. So we wanted to find it. It is a Movers & Shakers article after all.
It was quite the tough tournament, with Brent Chapman taking the title. Of course, Chapman is not included in our Minors Only World Ranking considering he also fished the Bass Elites.
A guy who is included, now, is Trent Huckaby. The Fort Stockton, Texas, angler did not fish a Minor-level event in 2011, so it’s taken him till now to finally qualify with enough events. And he shows up in the rankings in a big way, making his debut in ninth after an 18th at Lewisville and a fifth at the FLW Tour EverStart at Amistad at the beginning of the month.
Meanwhile, the only other notable movement in the top 20 from the event was Jimmy Johnson falling from 16th to 29th after a 94th-place finish at Lewisville.
On the rise after the event was runner-up Josh Bertrand, who catapulted from 162nd to 100th. Tommy Jonovich made a similar leap after he finished ninth, going from 464th to 394th. One final notable debut was James Biggs, who finished 48th at Lewisville and debuted at 24th in the rankings.
Classic Week
It’s the biggest tournament in our sport, and it starts in four days!
The Bassmaster Classic launches Friday at the Red River, which will no doubt be another legendary event. Check back Wednesday for a Data Overload article breaking down all the favorites. And make sure to check back early and often throughout next week, as the Classic is certain to cause some significant changes to the Majors World Ranking.