It was a long, emotional Day 2 weigh-in at the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite Series Mississippi River. And for good reason, as the weight of a grueling season was lifted off the shoulders of many of the Elite Pros. For others, the weight got even heavier. Here’s a recap of all of the important points race storylines.
Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year
On Day 2, Chris Johnston fished like an angler who knows what it takes to win Angler of the Year. He completely changed his gameplan on Day 2, locking to Pool 7 in the morning. That did not pan out nearly as he hoped, but when he moved back down to the area he fished in Pool 8 the majority of Day 1, the big largemouth showed up and he rocketed from 55th all the way inside the Top 25 with a 16-8 limit.
He gained over 30 points to retake the Angler of the Year lead and holds a 24-point advantage over Jay Przekurat and a 28-point advantage over Trey McKinney heading into Semifinal Saturday. McKinney, who entered this tournament tied for the AOY lead with Johnston, just barely survived Day 2. He earned the tiebreaker over Greg DiPalma for 50th place and will be the final angler to leave the dock on Semifinal Saturday.
The pressure of the moment got to McKinney, he admitted on stage to Dave Mercer. In the back of his mind, he also has to be thinking about his 89th place finish at the St. Johns River way back in February.
Unfortunately for Przekurat, who sits inside the Top 10 in this tournament, McKinney and Johnston both making the Top 50 makes it much less unlikely that he will hoist his first AOY title. Przekurat would need to maintain his fourth place standing while Johnston and McKinney would have to finish below 43rd place.
The race will likely wrap up tomorrow, but it is still possible for any of these three anglers to win it.
Dakota Lithium Rookie of the Year
Tucker Smith won the Dakota Lithium Rookie of the Year title in comeback fashion, outlasting his roommate Paul Marks and 2025 Bassmaster Classic champion Easton Fothergill for the award. You can find full details of what went down in the ROY race here.
Bassmaster Classic Cut
What a recovery by Lee Livesay. Yesterday, the Texan finished 91st with 10-13. On Day 2, Livesay doubled his weight, landing a tournament high 21-11 pounds to jump 84 positions on the leaderboard, almost certainly solidifying his spot in the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour after falling outside that cut on Day 1. He is now 30th in AOY.
It’s why Elite Series tournaments are multiple days. You get to see the best anglers in the world face adversity and overcome it.
“The lowest day of my career was yesterday,” Livesay said on stage, “I just went fishing. I caught all of my fish in places I’d never seen. The fish gods shined down on me. That was huge.”
As it stands now, 42nd is the standing anglers need to reach to punch their ticket to the Classic.
This is what that cut looks like with two days left of competition:
39. Alex Redwine, 534 points
40. Justin Hamner, 525 points
41. Andrew Loberg, 524 points
42. Dakota Ebare, 522 points
43. Brandon Palaniuk, 519 points
44. John Crews, 504 points
45. Kyle Norsetter, 503 points
46. Robert Gee, 498 points
Of this group, Redwine, Loberg, Ebare, Palaniuk, Crews and Gee are fishing on Semifinal Saturday. We’ll see who the fish gods bless tomorrow.
Elite Requalification
It’s gut-wrenching to watch as anglers come to the realization that the end of a career, or at least an era, has arrived. Bernie Schultz has been fishing pro-level Bassmaster events well before most of the rookie class was even born. The idea he likely won’t be fishing the Elite Series next year is sobering.
2023 Rookie of the Year Joey Cifuentes and Carl Jocumsen both had terrible Day 1’s at the Upper Mississippi and were forced to grapple with the idea of not requalifying. They might have done just enough on Day 2 to return to the Elite Series in 2026. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Tim Dube and Ben Milliken, both of whom struggled on Day 2.
Ray Hanselman Jr. and Paul Mueller are both having good tournaments this week, but it is likely too little, too late.
Anglers need to be above 71st in AOY points to avoid Elite Series judgement.
These anglers helped themselves today: Carl Jocumsen, Joey Cifuentes III
These anglers didn’t help themselves today: Ben Milliken, Tim Dube, Chad Pipkens, Alex Wetherell.
