Joseph Webster is closer to first place in the Falcon Rods Bassmaster Rookie of the Year standings than he’s been since the season opener at the St. Johns River. Better yet, the next Elite Series event begins June 2 at Pickwick Lake, his favorite place to fish.
“If I can’t get it done there, I don’t deserve to have it,” said Webster, who now resides in Hamilton, Ala., about an hour’s drive from Pickwick. “I have cut my teeth in the Bear Creek area since I was old enough to stand up in a boat.”
Webster cut in half Jay Przekurat’s lead in the rookie of the year points race last week at Lake Fork. Przekurat missed his first top 47/Day 2 cut of the season in finishing 74th. Webster placed 52nd and now trails the leader by only 22 points.
The 47-year-old Webster made one previous attempt to qualify for the Elite Series prior to accomplishing the task in 2021. He finished eighth in Central Opens points in 2019. He finished fourth in Central Opens points last year, thanks in big part to a fifth-place finish at, of course, Pickwick Lake. When Jacob Powroznik double-qualified through the Opens, it opened a berth for Webster on the Elite Series. Rookie of the Year wasn’t one of his goals this season. He estimated that his success on other tours would prevent him from being classified as a rookie.
“I got a phone call and was told I made it under the cut (for rookie status) by $20,000,” he said. “My goals this season were to make some (Day 2) cuts and qualify for the (Bassmaster) Classic. Making the Classic was my goal when I decided to try again to qualify for the Elite Series last year.”
Webster grew up in a family of bass tournament fishermen. His father, a grandfather and some uncles were local tournament anglers. While he considers Pickwick and Alabama’s Smith Lake his “home waters,” competing in other circuits has taken him to two of the three remaining stops on the Elite Series schedule. He has fished multiple tournaments on the St. Lawrence River and ranks the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wis., as “one of my favorite places to fish.”
Webster has made the Day 2/top 47 cuts twice in the five tournaments this season, finishing 16th at Santee Cooper and 35th at Chickamauga. He just missed the cut at the St. Johns River, placing 48th. His worst finish was 56th at the Harris Chain.
“I’ve been dodging the big blow,” Webster said. “The mind game doesn’t get to me at this level anymore.”
After five events in the nine-tournament Elite Series season, his goal of qualifying for the 2023 Bassmaster Classic is within reach. With the top 39 places in 2022 Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year points earning a Classic berth, Webster is now 33rd.
It wasn’t just Webster who closed the gap on Przekurat at Lake Fork. Third-place Jacob Foutz of Charleston, Tenn., has put together back-to-back performances of third place at Chickamauga Lake and 28th at Lake Fork to move within 47 points of the lead. Most impressively, Matty Wong was eighth out of the 10 rookies two tournaments ago, 130 points behind the Przekurat. After finishes of 14th at Chickamauga and 23rd at Fork, Wong is now fourth, only 59 points back.
See the full Falcon Rods Bassmaster Rookie of the Year standings.
