There’s been a lot of chatter about the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic cutline. Forty-one Elite Series Pros will make it into the Classic via the Progressive Angler of the Year race.
That’s one extra angler than the Top 40 that were guaranteed a spot at the start of the season. The one extra Elite in is a result of the win-and-you’re-in rule in the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens. The winner of each of those 9 events can each earn a 2024 Classic berth, as long the angler fishes all three events in his or her division. Jody White only fished one Division 3 Open this season, which he won on the St. Lawrence a few weeks ago. Congratulations are in order for the win, but having failed to fish the Buggs Island Open back in May, White’s Classic qualification is forfeited and that spot now goes to the next Elite Pro in the AOY race, lucky number 41.
The Bassmaster Classic is the pinnacle tournament in bass fishing, plain and simple. So just qualifying for it is a career-maker for some. But what else comes with a qualification this week through the AOY race? A cool $10,000 minimum, because that’s what last place in the Classic pays. And that’s only what the angler who finishes 41st in AOY has coming.
Once you move up to 40th place, there’s an extra $5,000 earned via AOY. So the guy who finishes this season in 40th has $15,000 coming, minimum. Say that angler finishes this week’s event on the St. Lawrence River in 50th place, that’s another $10,000. So a pro who has a middle-of-the-pack finish in this final Elite and has just enough to sneak into the Classic can leave New York with $15,000 in his pocket and another $10,000 minimum on the way. Not to mention a 1 in 56 shot at $300,000 on Grand Lake next March.
There’s a lot of money on the line this week, available via several different avenues. One thing’s for certain, it pays to make the Classic.
