Last week, we ran an article about what it takes to be the No. 1 Minor angler in the world. Basically, you can’t finish worse than 45th in any event for two years, and it’s probably better if your don’t finish worse than 35th.
We weren’t lying.
Trevor Fitzgerald finished 57th over the weekend at the BASS Southern Open at Lake Norman, and it dropped him from first to fourth in the latest update of the rankings.
In the meantime, the idle Roy Hawk seized control of the No. 1 spot in the Minors-Only World Ranking for the first time since the launch of Bass Rankings. Though, his rise should be no shock, seeing as he was a force in the Minors for years before trying his hand on the FLW Tour for a couple seasons. Now he’s back and looking to stabilize the top spot.
Another notable move, albeit in the wrong direction, was Cliff Prince falling from fourth to 18th after he finished 100th at Norman. Jason Lambert had a similar plummet after finishing 150th, dropping from 25th to 54th in the ranking.
On the flip side, Tracy Adams, the winner at Norman, used the win to jump ten spots up to 22nd. However, it’s going to be hard for him to rise much higher. The angler fishes a significant amount of Minor events (he has 11 events on his record over the last two years. Most have five or six) and in that string he has three bad finishes that are hurting his overall average. That being said, he’s still obviously one of the top Minors anglers in the country.
Other notable moves include Hank Cherry (45th) and Alvin Shaw (53rd) making their debuts in the rankings, while Tommy Martin fell out of the top 50 (44th to 59th).
