Hey Now, You're an All-Star
Posted by Pete Robbins on Mar 16th 2021
With his most recent win at Lewis Smith, John Cox just reinforced what we already knew – he’s a serious badass – and the biggest question is how many derbies he’ll win between now and the start of the Elite event on Pickwick later this week. If you were trying to put together an All-Star lineup in the here and now, based on both past excellence and current dominance, he’d be more of a Peyton Manning than a Ryan Leaf.
Who else falls into that category, surefire hammers upon whose performance you’d bet your mortgage, your first born or your favored arm?
Jacob Wheeler certainly falls into that category, just a straight up dominant force at every level from coast to coast. Greg Hackney’s another one, with two AOYs and a Forrest Wood Cup under his belt, along with a recent streak of excellence.
Beyond that, who are some of the never-fail dominant forces? Your list might vary if you were headed north for smallmouths, or to Florida to flip, but it might not. The best of the best, it seems, are catchers – look at Cox, he finds fish that fit his style everywhere he goes. So do you turn to a Patrick Walters, whose recent excellence is undeniable, or to a KVD, who has set the gold standard for decades? The fact that I’ve yet to mention any recent AOY or championship winner tells the story. It’s a fun debate to have, and you wouldn’t be wrong with any one of dozens of picks, which just goes to show the depth of the many fields these days.
