AOY UPDATE: Nelson leads at the midway point
Halfway through the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals season, 2020 Pro Circuit Angler of the Year Ron Nelson is on top again, with the season heading northward. The year, AOY advances the winner to REDCREST 2024, and of course everyone in the top eight in the standings also qualify for the Bass Pro Tour. There are some extremely good anglers behind Nelson, with some high-quality Invitationals-specific talent, plus world-beaters Michael Neal and Dakota Ebare fishing the full season.
With three events down, at Lake Okeechobee, Clarks Hill and Eufaula, the start to the season featured a good variety of fisheries, and we’re deep enough into the year for the points to really be worth looking at. Still, as we saw last year, when Neal won AOY with a triple-digit finish on the ledger, there are still lots of possibilities left.
1. Ron Nelson – 581 points
It’s strange to say, but Nelson’s last two years on the Pro Circuit have been below his standard, resulting in 13th and 20th finishes in the points and not requalifying him for the BPT after he turned down an invite in 2020. Now, he’s on a mission, and fishing like it, having finished 15th, fourth and third so far this year. Having never fished Clarks Hill or Eufaula, he’s looking as good as can be.
Going forward, there’s no reason to think Nelson will slow down.
“I’m right where I want to be at for my goal,” Nelson said. “At the beginning of the year, whether there’s a big prize or not, my mentality is to do it, and do it right. After slumping last year, my mentality was to chase AOY down. We’re halfway there, but I’m happy where we’re at.”
Nelson has perhaps gotten a little unlucky with lost fish this year, and he’s been in the hunt to win each of the last two events.
“I could have got a few more points at Okeechobee, but I’m happy where I’m at,” he said. “At Okeechobee, I let (Josh) Weaver have the first run through the area, because he had a chance to win, and I’m happy I did that.”
For the rest of the season, Nelson will face an unknown at Lake of the Ozarks, but then finish out on two very familiar rivers.
“When you face something new and unknown, stuff can go wrong,” he said. “Lake of the Ozarks should be around the spawn, if there are spawning fish, I shouldn’t bomb. Consistency is the name of the game.”
2. Matthew Stefan – 544 points
Sitting 37 points behind Nelson, Matthew Stefan is in the midst of one of his best seasons ever. Though he has been every consistent on the FLW Tour and Pro Circuit, Stefan has never finished Top 10 in points, and he’s looking really good to do more than that this season.
Thus far, consistency has been the bottom line for Stefan, as he’s fished Day 3 every time and finished 18th, 20th and 21st.
“I’m not gonna complain by any means, but I’m looking it is as three down, three to go,” Stefan said. “I’ve got to keep the ball rolling – points are tight, I think I’ve only got 25 points over ninth place.
“I really don’t want to dwell on the position I’m in, I want to take every tournament on it’s own,” he said. “But, when you look at points, there’s definitely separation happening between the top of the field and the rest of the field. But, most of the people who are up there are pretty frickin’ good. A lot of the guys are pretty well-rounded anglers, for me, I just need to keep catching them.”
For Stefan, the No. 1 goal is to make the BPT, so he’s not planning on trying anything wild to make Top 10s in an effort to chase down the top spot.
“I don’t know that there’s any difference in fishing to go for a win or not a win,” he said. “I would love to be AOY, that would be a huge goal to accomplish. But, if I go to La Crosse to end the season, I don’t have a way to fish for a win that would be different from how I would normally fish. I don’t think there’s anything in the remaining tournaments I would do differently to win. To me, the goal is BPT; in the long run, I feel like being on the BPT is more valuable than AOY, so that’s the goal now.”
The rest of the way, Lake of the Ozarks is one of the unknowns on the schedule, but the Potomac might offer the most potential to swing his season. His last two tries there have produced triple-digit showings. Still, in 2015, Stefan finished 46th there in an FLW Tour event, and he should theoretically be excellent on a grassy river. After all, the season finale on the Mississippi is so in his wheelhouse it isn’t funny.
There’s a pileup behind the leaders
Narrowly behind Stefan, there are a whole pile of capable anglers in the hunt for the top spot, as well as BPT qualification. Effectively tied with 541 points, Colby Schrumpf and Martin Villa are third and fourth in the standings. Rookie Michael Harlin has 540 points, Neal is sixth with 538 and Grae Buck is seventh with 534. For most of the anglers on the list, there’s at least one slam-dunk event on the schedule ahead of them, and you could probably construct an argument for most of them.
Of the group, Neal, Villa and Buck are probably the most interesting AOY possibilities, with easy reasoning to see them in contention. The prospects mixed with them are a little more muddled, or, working against their history.
Though he’s fished fantastically this year, and Lake of the Ozarks is home, Harlin is probably a little lacking in experience when it comes time to hit the rivers for the home stretch. For Schrumpf, the history just isn’t on his side – this season has been by far his best on tour. Still, Schrumpf has seen some success on the Potomac, and it’s not impossible to extrapolate things out a bit. After all, his strengths lie in the shallows, and there probably isn’t a deep water event left on the schedule.
Top 10 in Angler of the Year after Eufaula
1. Ron Nelson – 581 points
2. Matthew Stefan – 544
3. Colby Schrumpf – 541
4. Martin Villa – 541
5. Michael Harlin – 540
6. Michael Neal – 538
7. Grae Buck – 534
8. Spike Stoker – 528
9. Keith Carson – 519
10. Dakota Ebare – 511