It has finally happened.
Since Bass Rankings launched, a lot has changed. We have tweaked the look and functionality of our site. We’ve entered a new year and new season. We’ve seen pros rise and fall in the rankings like stocks. We’ve even seen a 9-7 football team win the Super Bowl.
Yet, one thing has remained the same: Brent Ehrler is the No. 1 angler in the Majors World Rankings.
Not anymore.
On Jan. 31, a 2010 FLW Series event on Lake Okeechobee dropped from the anglers’ data. It’s a tournament Ehrler didn’t even fish. Yet that one tournament has caused a cosmic shift in the rankings, as its dismissal has helped Mark Rose become the new No. 1 angler in the world.
How this happens is pretty simple, actually.
Rose finished 59th in that event – a mediocre finish by his standards – which was in effect, weighing down his average. With it gone, his average the last two years jumped from 788.206 to 794.179, jumping Ehrler in the process, whose average didn’t change.
And he wasn’t the only one.
Andy Morgan dropped a 90th finish in that event and jumped Ehrler (and three other pros) to take over second with a 790.641.
VanDam No.1?
Talking about a new No. 1 angler in the world brings up an interesting issue.
Many have been waiting for the day when Ehrler would be knocked off and Kevin VanDam would take his “rightful” place at the top. Obviously, they got their wish, just with the wrong angler.
Worse for those fans is that they are going to be waiting awhile for the “right” angler.
VanDam’s next tournament to drop off will be on Feb. 22 – the 2010 Bassmaster Classic. The problem: He won that event. So he can’t possibly improve his average when he fishes this year’s Classic.
That leaves mid to late March as the time when we will start seeing VanDam move in the rankings. That’s when he’ll begin dropping off the poor start to his 2010 season. Then it’s all on him to replace those events with better finishes.