B.A.S.S. announced today that Michigan's Lake St. Clair will be the site of the 2019 Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship. The tournament will take place Sept. 26-29/
The tournament, which carries a $1 million total purse, will also decide the Rookie of the Year and the bulk of the lineup for the 2020 Bassmaster Classic.
“B.A.S.S. has had some great events at Lake St. Clair, and the people there have always been enthusiastic and supportive fans,” B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin said in a press release. “This has already been one of the most exciting years we’ve ever had on the Bassmaster Elite Series, and I can’t think of a better place for it to end than on a great smallmouth fishery like St. Clair.”
The hosts for the event will be the County of Macomb and the Sterling Heights Regional Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Takeoffs and weigh-ins will be held at Lake St. Clair Metropark.
Anglers will compete Thursday and Friday and then have an off-day built around interaction with fishing fans on Saturday, and conclude the championship on Sunday. Saturday’s activities will include an Outdoors Expo with merchandise, food and drink vendors and sponsor activations and promotions. Elite anglers will conduct seminars and will be available to sign autographs, mingle with fans and talk fishing.
Anglers will be allowed to fish Lake St. Clair and all rivers, creeks and canals connected to the lake. Anglers will not be allowed to travel south of the Ambassador Bridge Highway 3 in the Detroit River or north of the I-94 bridges in the St. Clair and Black rivers, according to B.A.S.S. Tournament Director Trip Weldon.
Only the Top 50 from the 75-angler Elite Series field will qualify for the AOY Championship, where they’ll have a chance to win the 50th AOY title ever awarded by B.A.S.S. and the $100,000 paycheck that goes with it.
The history of the award dates back to 1970 when the first AOY trophy was won by bass fishing superstar Bill Dance. Since then, legends of the sport like Roland Martin (nine times), Kevin VanDam (seven times), Jimmy Houston, Hank Parker, Davy Hite, Rick Clunn, David Fritts and Larry Nixon have all earned the title.
In addition to deciding the various season championship races and 39 berths for the Classic, the event will award $25,000 and an Elite Series trophy to the angler who has the heaviest total weight for the three-day competition.
B.A.S.S. also announced the dates of its first-ever “makeup tournament,” which will only take place if one of the nine regular-season Elite events has to be canceled this year. In the event that might happen, anglers, staff, sponsors and others have been asked to set aside the weekend prior to AOY – Sept. 19-22 – to make up any canceled tournament.
