Bass Wars 2016 season review: Part 2
Dec 29th, 2016 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Dec 29th, 2016 at 12:00 AM
There is so much left to say about the 2016 professional fishing season. Lots of cool stories unfolded, so, let’s get to it.
Seth Feider
One nifty story that pops to mind is Seth Feider making his way back from obscurity to almost winning the final regular season event of the Bassmaster Elite Series on the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, Wisconsin. This finish qualified him to fish the Angler of the Year (AOY) Championship on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota, which is Feider’s home water.
Yeah, he won the event, and kicked some serious booty too. He didn’t qualify for the Bassmaster Classic, but showed the big boys he can play hardball with them.
Andy Morgan
What is there to say about this guy? Andy Morgan is a check cashing machine on the FLW Tour, and every tournament, every year, he seems to be a threat to win it.
Morgan won his third AOY title with the FLW in 2016. He’s the first to achieve three AOY titles in FLW Tour history. His nickname on the FLW Tour is the GOAT, “Greatest of All Time”. It’s certainly hard to argue against that.
Gerald Swindle
Let’s face it, in life, if opportunity presents itself, you need to be ready, willing, and able to take advantage of it. This was certainly the case on the Bassmaster Elite Series for Gerald Swindle in 2016.
Greg Hackney looked as though his second AOY title would be wrapped up, then he made a mistake and lost his weight for the day during an event. That misstep put Gerald Swindle in the lead in AOY points.
It was no cakewalk from that point forward for Swindle. He had Keith Combs breathing down his neck in the AOY points race.
It all came down to the AOY Championship on Mille Lacs Lake. Swindle caught enough, and Combs came up short. Swindle walked away with his second AOY title.
What a year.