Norman,
Okla. Theres an old professional bowling saying that Strikes are for show and spares and for dough. In other words, the big shots may garner the most attention, but its the less noticeable but still effective efforts that pay the bills at days end.
Whether that applies to professional fishing in general and the Elite Series in particular is debatable. Sure, a bunch of 30th and 40th place finishes earn valuable points, and can easily propel an angler to a place in the Bassmaster Classic, or even in the top twelve for the year. At the same time, the really big points, and the chance at big money, are reserved for those who fish through to Sunday. So too is the big time exposure typically only those who make the top twelve get any meaningful time on
ESPN2.
(Photos
by Mark Jeffreys & Matt Pangrac)
With eight regular season tournaments, there were 96 top twelve spots up for grabs in 2009. A random distribution might result in almost every one of the 100 anglers who started the year making one final day cut, but as you might expect, there was no randomness to the distribution. Those anglers whove historically finished near the top of the heap claimed the most of these coveted finishes.
The following list presents some notes about top twelves from the completed Elite Series season:
General Numbers:
The 96 top twelve spots were claimed by 52 members of the Elite Series field, which means that roughly half never tasted Sunday glory.
Of those 52 anglers, 26 (exactly half) earned multiple top twelve finishes.
Three anglers (Alton Jones, Kevin VanDam and Skeet Reese) had four apiece.
Eleven anglers (Stephen Browning, Dean Rojas, Mike Iaconelli, Todd Faircloth, Mark Menendez, Tommy Biffle, Takahiro Omori, Kelly Jordon, Byron Velvick, Steve Kennedy and Gerald Swindle) had three apiece.
Twelve anglers (Gary Klein, Kevin Short, Fred Roumbanis, Matt Herren, Brad Hallman, Rick Morris, Greg Hackney, Aaron Martens, Shaw Grigsby, Matt Sphar, Jeff Kriet and Mike McClelland) had two apiece.
The Top Twelve in the AOY Race:
All three anglers who had four top twelves made the two-event postseason.
Six of the 11 anglers who had three top twelves made the post-season.
One of the 12 anglers who had two top twelves made the post-season.
(Klein)
One of the 26 anglers who had one top twelve made the post-season (Cliff Pace).
One of the 48 anglers who never made a top twelve made the post-season (Randy Howell).
Those who made the top twelve overall averaged 2.75 top twelves apiece.
VanDam and Reese made the top twelve together three times (Dardanelle, Smith Mountain and Kentucky Lake).
Five of the post-season contenders made the top twelve at Amistad (Jones, Klein, Ike, KVD and Faircloth).
Five of the post-season contenders made the top twelve at Dardanelle (Menendez, KVD, Reese, Pace, Jones).
Five of the post-season contenders made the top twelve at Wheeler (Biffle, Ike, Menendez, Faircloth, Klein).
Three of the post-season contenders made the top twelve at Smith Mountain (KVD, Jordon, Reese)
Five of the post-season contenders made the top twelve at Guntersville (Reese, Ike, Menendez, Faircloth, Jones).
Four of the post-season contenders made the top twelve at Kentucky Lake (KVD, Reese, Jordon, Swindle).
Four of the post-season contenders made the top twelve in Iowa (Jordon, Biffle, Jones, Swindle).
Two of the post-season contenders made the top twelve at Oneida (Biffle, Swindle).
Reese had three in a row (Smith Mountain, Kentucky Lake, Guntersville)
Classic Contenders:
The 38 anglers who made the Classic through the Elite Series (through Mark Tucker, who made it in when James Niggemeyer double-qualified through the Central Opens) accounted for 75 of the 96 top twelve finishes, an average of almost two apiece.
The 26 anglers who made the Classic but not the two-event post-season accounted for 42 top twelve finishes, an average of 1.6 apiece.
Of those 26 anglers, five had three top twelves (Kennedy, Omori, Velvick, Rojas, Browning).
Of the five members of that group who had three, none had the same three.
Kennedy had three top twelves in the last three events (Kentucky, Iowa, Oneida).
Velvick had three in a row (Smith Mountain, Kentucky, Guntersville), the same three as Reese (see above). Those two and Kennedy were the only ones to accomplish that feat.
Of the 26 anglers who made the Classic but not the top twelve overall, seven (Kriet, Hackney, Martens, Short, Grigsby, McClelland and Herren) had two apiece.
13 had one top twelve apiece.
John Murray was the only one who didnt make a top twelve cut.
Those Who Didnt Qualify for the Classic:
The 62 anglers who didnt qualify for the Classic through the Elites totaled
21 top twelve finishes.
Of those 21 top twelves, 6 were the accounted for by anglers with multiple top twelves.
As you might expect, no angler with three or four top twelves missed the Classic.
Three anglers with two top twelves missed the Classic (Roumbanis, Morris and Sphar).
Of the 13 one-time top twelve finishers who failed to make the Classic, Matt Reed was the highest ranking in the AOY race (tied for 37th with Fralick and Mark Tucker).
Kenyon Hill was the lowest ranking (77th).
There was one one-time Sunday qualifier who missed the Classic in the 30s (Reed), three in the 40s (Chad Griffin, Jason Williamson and Bernie Schultz), three in the 50s (Marty Stone, Greg Vinson and Jeff Connella), three in the 60s (Jared Lintner, Britt Myers and Scott Campbell) and three in the 70s (Chris Lane, Jim Murray and Kenyon Hill).
Tournament Winners:
Jason Williamson, who won the season-opener at Amistad, never had another top twelve finish.
Chad Griffins win in the season-ending tournament on Oneida was his only top twelve.
Bobby Lane was the third angler who failed to make a top twelve outside of his victory.
The eight winners of Elite Series regular season tournaments this year totaled 17 top twelves, an average of just over two apiece.
Taking their victories out of the mix, they earned nine of the 88 remaining top twelve finishes.
KVD was the only angler with four top twelves to win a tournament.
Biffle was the only angler with three top twelves to win a tournament.
Martens and Short both had one other top twelve in addition to their tournament win.
Miscellaneous:
Of the top twelve at Amistad, two had four top twelves, four had three top twelves, two had two top twelves and four never made it again.
Of the top twelve at Dardanelle, three had four top twelves, one had three top twelves, three had two top twelves and five never made it again.
None of the anglers who made four top twelves made the cut at Wheeler. Of those who did, six had three top twelves, three had two top twelves and three had one top twelve.
Of the top twelve at Smith Mountain Lake, two made four top twelves, three made three top twelves, five made two top twelves and two made one top twelve.
Of the top twelve at Guntersville, two made four top twelves, four made three top twelves, two made two top twelves and four never made it again.
Of the top twelve at Kentucky Lake, two made four top twelves, four made three top twelves, three made two top twelves and three made one top twelve.
Of the top twelve at the Mississippi River, one made four top twelves, six made three top twelves, three made two top twelves and two made one top twelve.
None of the anglers who made four top twelves made the cut at Oneida. Of those who did, five made three top twelves, three made two top twelves and four made one top twelve.
Of the 56 possible two-tournament combinations, there were only three that featured no top twelve overlap Dardanelle/Oneida, Wheeler/Smith Mountain and Guntersville/Oneida.
Four of the nine rookies in the Elite Series field accounted for five top twelve finishes (McCaghren, Herren, Griffin and Vinson).
Herren was the only rookie with multiple top twelves (two).
Dardanelle was the only tournament with multiple rookies in the top twelve (Herren, Vinson)
The 11 former Bassmaster Classic winners in the field accounted for a total of 20 top twelve finishes.
Three former Classic winners had four top twelves (KVD, Skeet, Jones), two had three top twelves (ike, Takahiro) and two had one top twelve (Duckett, Brauer). Four never made the Sunday cut (Rick Clunn, Mark Davis, Ken Cook, Paul Elias).
