With another season in the books, it's a good time to take a look at the numbers behind the 2011 Bassmaster Elite Series season.
We've got some records, some close calls and — with another season under our belts — an even better perspective on just how good these guys really are on the world's best bass tournament circuit.
You already know all the basics. Kevin VanDam won his seventh Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year award and an unprecedented fourth in a row. Ott DeFoe was the Rookie of the Year, and most of the 2012 Bassmaster Classic field is now in place.
Here are some numbers from 2011 you may not know.
"Most Bass Weighed In" is a statistic that tells you a lot about who was making cuts and catching limits. All the anglers on this list were doing both.
| Most Bass Weighed In | |
|---|---|
| 138 | Kevin VanDam |
| 124 | Ott DeFoe |
| 124 | Edwin Evers |
| 123 | Terry Scroggins |
| 123 | Gerald Swindle |
| 121 | Aaron Martens |
| 120 | Davy Hite |
| 119 | Casey Ashley |
| 119 | Alton Jones |
| 119 | Chris Lane |
If you're not weighing in a lot of bass, you're missing too many cuts. The shocker on this list is Derek Remitz, who was 12th in the AOY race last year. This year, he was 95th. Expect him to bounce back with a vengeance in 2012.
| Fewest Bass Weighed In | |
|---|---|
| 47 | Brent Broderick |
| 57 | Grant Goldbeck |
| 61 | Bradley Hallman |
| 62 | Chad Griffin |
| 65 | Derek Remitz |
Like "Most Bass Weighed In," "Total Weight" is a good indicator of overall success, cuts made and limits caught. It's no surprise that KVD is on top … again. His lead was almost 40 pounds over the second-best angler, Edwin Evers.
| Total Weight | |
|---|---|
| 388-7 | Kevin VanDam |
| 350-10 | Edwin Evers |
| 347-8 | Terry Scroggins |
| 339-8 | Alton Jones |
| 328-12 | Steve Kennedy |
| 317-15 | Ott DeFoe |
| 317-12 | Gerald Swindle |
| 317-11 | Davy Hite |
| 312-7 | Casey Ashley |
| 305-0 | Chris Lane |
Here's a stat you might not have thought about a lot, but it's a telling one. The average Elite pro brings in about 4.5 bass per day out of a five-bass limit. No one limited every day they fished this year, but a few guys were close. These anglers were the best at bringing in a limit each day.
| Fish Per Day | |
|---|---|
| 4.9600 | Ott DeFoe |
| 4.9565 | Keith Combs |
| 4.9500 | Brent Chapman |
| 4.9200 | Gerald Swindle |
| 4.9130 | Michael Iaconelli |
| 4.8571 | John Crews |
| 4.8400 | Aaron Martens |
| 4.8182 | Randy Howell |
| 4.8000 | Davy Hite |
| 4.7917 | Denny Brauer |
For what it's worth, KVD scored 4.7586. That's really good, of course, but his number was actually dragged down because he did so well at the tough tournaments where limits were hard to come by. For example, he fished all four days at the Arkansas River (finishing 10th), but only weighed two bass on each of the last two days. That pulled his average down even though he was one of the top anglers at the tournament. Ironically, had he missed the cut to fish on the third day at the Arkansas River, KVD's average would have been 4.9630, and he would have led this category!
And here's the list no one wants to be on:
| Lowest Per Day | |
|---|---|
| 2.9375 | Brent Broderick |
| 3.1667 | Grant Goldbeck |
| 3.4444 | Chad Griffin |
| 3.5882 | Bradley Hallman |
| 3.7222 | Boyd Duckett |
This next stat is the weight of the average bass brought to the scales by an angler. The first name on the list might surprise you since Grant Goldbeck didn't have a stellar season. Nevertheless, Goldbeck's average bass weighed exactly 2-14, putting him on top of the list. He didn't catch many (just 57 all year), but he caught them early when weights were up. The rest of the list is made up of the usual suspects.
| Heaviest Avg. Bass | |
|---|---|
| 2.8750 | Grant Goldbeck |
| 2.8529 | Alton Jones |
| 2.8276 | Edwin Evers |
| 2.8252 | Terry Scroggins |
| 2.8148 | Kevin VanDam |
| 2.7860 | Steve Kennedy |
| 2.7424 | Shaw Grigsby |
| 2.6971 | Dean Rojas |
| 2.6739 | Keith Poche |
| 2.6692 | David Walker |
| Lightest Avg. Bass | |
|---|---|
| 1.7407 | Brent Broderick |
| 1.8383 | David Smith |
| 1.9236 | Scott Ashmore |
| 1.9342 | Dennis Tietje |
| 1.9811 | Ryan Said |
A lot of the pros who were on the "Lightest Average Bass" list were also high on the "Lowest Average Number of Bass Weighed In" list, and that makes sense. If you're not catching a lot of fish, you're not culling very often, and you don't have the chance to upgrade your catch. It's a vicious cycle.
Here are some obscure numbers that tell an important story. This is the list of the anglers who turned in the best performances on the first days of the Elite events. Steve Kennedy tops the list with a score of 1.6019. It means he was 60 percent better than the average angler on Day One.
| Best on Day One | |
|---|---|
| 1.6019 | Steve Kennedy |
| 1.5769 | Kevin VanDam |
| 1.5109 | Jared Lintner |
| 1.4573 | John Crews |
| 1.4554 | Dustin Wilks |
Conversely, the following group dug a big hole for themselves on the first day of each event. Brent Broderick had the worst of it with a score of 0.5209. It means that on the first day of events he caught just 52 percent of what the average Elite angler brought to the scales.
| Worst on Day One | |
|---|---|
| 0.5209 | Brent Broderick |
| 0.5804 | Grant Goldbeck |
| 0.7570 | Dennis Tietje |
| 0.8077 | Jonathon VanDam |
| 0.8147 | Lee Sisson |
Here are the same stats for Day Two:
| Best on Day Two | |
|---|---|
| 1.8316 | Kevin VanDam |
| 1.5769 | Greg Vinson |
| 1.5379 | Gerald Swindle |
| 1.5117 | Edwin Evers |
| 1.4938 | Casey Ashley |
| Worst on Day Two | |
|---|---|
| 0.5188 | Brent Broderick |
| 0.5570 | Boyd Duckett |
| 0.6230 | Bradley Hallman |
| 0.6322 | Chad Griffin |
| 0.6692 | Ryan Said |
It's tougher to excel on Days Three and Four. Every angler left fishing is "on them," so the numbers flatten out. Here are the Best of Day Three numbers. There's no point in having a "worst of" since those anglers didn't get to Day Three.
| Best on Day Three | |
|---|---|
| 1.4287 | Steve Kennedy |
| 1.3871 | Ish Monroe |
| 1.2956 | Kelly Jordon |
| 1.2929 | Matt Reed |
| 1.2352 | Denny Brauer |
As for Day Four, well, unless you're Kevin VanDam, no one gets there often enough to really have meaningful numbers.
