The Replacements
Posted by Pete Robbins on Nov 8th 2020
There is a strong likelihood that several 2020 Bass Pro Tour competitors will not fish that tour in 2021 – Justin Atkins and Jason Christie are currently in first and second place respectively in the overall Bassmaster Opens Angler of the Year race. I have not spoken to either of them, but it seems unlikely that they’d fish full slates of both Opens divisions if they did not have a strong desire to move to the Elite Series. Bobby Lane is 9th in the Eastern Opens with one tournament to go. Greg Hackney is 8th in the Central Opens with one tournament left to go, and Stephen Browning is 11th – they too may be looking to move, although I have no information to that effect.
As long as there are two healthy major tours, some movement between them does not necessarily indicate a circuit’s strength or weakness. They differ in their rules, in their schedules and in their appeal to individual sponsorship profiles. As with BASS and FLW over recent decades, anglers could very well be able to establish and maintain solid careers on either one.
The question that interests me, at least for now, is how BPT will replace departing anglers if they leave this year. BASS has a fairly clear method for “promoting” pros to the senior circuit. BPT’s website states that once the tour’s first three years are completed, “anglers with the least amount of points will fall out of the Bass Pro Tour and new anglers will have the chance to qualify.” It was announced that they’d be replaced by anglers from the former FLW Tour (subsequently the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit) based on a rolling average of finishes, starting in 2022.
But if the field drops to less than full prior to the 2021 season, what will they do? As I see it there are several options:
-
Compete with a smaller field for one season
-
Elevate the appropriate number of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit anglers based on 2020 standings.
-
Elevate 2020 Cup Champion Rusty Salewske plus an appropriate number of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit anglers based on 2020 standings
-
Cherry pick a handful of pros (from BASS or elsewhere) who appeal to them based on angling skills, popularity, social media followings or other factors they deem appropriate.
I don’t know which of those solutions – if deemed necessary – would be fairest or best for the tour, but in this time of hyper-critical scrutiny of every decision, they are almost certainly going to get some flak for it.
