The Tennessee River out of Knoxville, TN serves as the launch site for the 2019 Bassmaster Classic, March 15-17
Friday kicks off the 49th Bassmaster Classic, no doubt the traditional top dog of bass fishing championships. It’s the equivalent of the Super Bowl or Daytona 500 when it comes to the pinnacle of the pursuit.
But the landscape of professional bass fishing is in the midst of some significant changes with a load of anglers parting ways with the Bassmaster Elite Series and moving on to Major League Fishing. As a result, this year’s Bassmaster Classic is an interesting mix of competitors. While there are various means of punching your ticket to the tourney, for many of the anglers, it may be their last time claiming one of those spots.
I won’t get into the specifics on the exodus but it seems to be a blend of cash and control resulting in a number of longtime Elite Series anglers potentially fishing their final Classic. And I’m talking some legitimate legends of the sport. Names like Kevin VanDam (28th Classic appearance and four-time champ), Mike Iaconelli (20th Classic and 2003 champ), Edwin Evers (18th Classic and 2016 champ), Aaron Martens (20th Classic and four-time runner-up), Skeet Reese (19th Classic and 2009 champ) and Jordan Lee (only his 5th Classic but as the two-time defending champ he is looking for an unprecedented three-peat).
Folks, those are some pretty heavy hitters who are launching on Friday in pursuit of a Classic title via their 2018 Elite Series qualifications while having bid the 2019 Elite Series season farewell. An interesting dynamic in the field of professional bass fishing. Kind of weird for a fishing fan who first started following the Classic back in 1982 when Paul Elias took the title thanks to a crankbait fishing technique called “kneel and reel.”
Lots of Classic memories for me in between so kind of bittersweet seeing a bunch of familiar faces take their show on the road with another organization. It has indeed been a bit odd following the first two events on the Bassmaster Elite Series. I must admit having a few Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid moments in asking “Who are those guys?”
But time marches on and the business of fishing continues to evolve.
For old time’s sake though I’m going to revisit an old bit that I first rolled out while blogging about the 2012 Classic. Here are my picks for the Top 4 finishers in the 2019 Bassmaster Classic, a tourney that will leave a memorable footprint in the history of bass fishing for many reasons.
Fourth Place = Bradley Roy – finishing the 2018 Elite Series in third-place for the Angler of the Year title has this young angler riding high as the Classic comes nearly nine years to the date of his first Elite Series event fished when he was only 19 years old.
Third Place = Jesse Wiggins – just a good guy with a lot of qualities that the regular angler can relate to, a darn good young fisherman who remains humble, hasn’t forgotten his roots and I like to pull for good things to happen to good people.
Second Place = Chris Zaldain – the lone angler among my pics who stuck with the Bassmaster Elite Series, Zaldain is coming off a strong runner-up finish in last month’s Elite event and I look for him to keep rolling in the Classic.
Classic Champion = Ott DeFoe – not really going out on a limb here as the hometown angler is a popular pick and he has proven his mettle with four top 10 Classic finishes in his seven previous appearances.
Come Sunday we’ll see how good of a prognosticator I am and I invite anyone out there to pitch in with your own selections. The Classic field can be found on the Bassmaster website by clicking here.
Good luck and back on Friday with a flashback that features a lake record. Talk to you later. Troy