Grats to Ott! Hard fought tourney for sure.

 

Glad to see Ike finish strong. I would have loved to join him for a beer at his Ike live after party.

Not many B.A.S.S. Elites finished in the top 10 except the young western pro's.

Hometown guys Ott DeFoe the winner and Jacob Wheeler 2nd are MLF anglers.

Next years Classic will be interesting to see how B.A.S.S. presents the winners trophy, dought if it will be Ott!

Tom

There was only 1 current BASS guy in the top 10, Brandon Lester. Best I can tell there were only 16 non MLF guys fishing the Classic and some of them were BASS Nation and Opens anglers and not Elite guys. The Classic will look VERY different next year.

 

Ott will be there next year to hand the trophy off, the past years winner qualifies for the next years Classic.

11 hours ago, Jrob78 said:

There was only 1 current BASS guy in the top 10, Brandon Lester. Best I can tell there were only 16 non MLF guys fishing the Classic and some of them were BASS Nation and Opens anglers and not Elite guys. The Classic will look VERY different next year.

 

Ott will be there next year to hand the trophy off, the past years winner qualifies for the next years Classic.

If I was BASS I would change the rules to invite several previous champions.  Inviting all previous champions might be too many but the last 10 years and maybe anyone who has won more that once would be a good start.  BASS can create new stars but that will take time.  They need some of the all time greats competing in the Classic.

5 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

If I was BASS I would change the rules to invite several previous champions.  Inviting all previous champions might be too many but the last 10 years and maybe anyone who has one more that once would be a good start.  BASS can create new stars but that will take time.  They need some of the all time greats competing in the Classic.

I don't think they will ever do that with so much emphasis put on how difficult it is to qualify for the Classic. It will be interesting to see how next years attendance is affected when there aren't many familiar names fishing it though. 

Congratulations to Keith Poche    for the assist .  

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

Actually, there are a lot of bass in NJ and eastern PA. Not giants by the standards of other regions, but respectable, fishable numbers. It's just that most of the waterbodies are small. I used to live in the Trenton area.

I know. I was joking. But the big catches that happen in other parts of the country are not likely there. I don’t think many people are pulling 49lb totals there.

15 minutes ago, Jrob78 said:

I don't think they will ever do that with so much emphasis put on how difficult it is to qualify for the Classic. It will be interesting to see how next years attendance is affected when there aren't many familiar names fishing it though. 

I should quit my job right now, buy a boat and hope that within 3-5 years, I get a shot 

BASS is putting on the best face possible given the circumstances, but they know full well that the reputation of the Classic depends on the reputation of the competitors fishing it.  And if there is widespread perception that the Classic no longer actually features the best, hottest, and most competitive tournament anglers of the day (or at least most of them), then it will be in BASS's interest to change the rules for qualification.

24 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Congratulations to Keith Poche    for the assist .  

Poche should get like a miniature version of the trophy.

 

Although, to be fair, Ott still had to catch them. If Keith could have caught them, he would have instead!

3 hours ago, Jrob78 said:

...Ott will be there next year to hand the trophy off, the past years winner qualifies for the next years Classic.

Does it or does the winner have to fish the Elite series or Opens to cash in the automatic invite?

 

I'm thinking of Luke Clausens Classic win, I believe he fished FLW the next year and wasn't there to defend his title the next year.

 

Largest bag for the tournament was by an Elite angler (Zaldain). 

 

I heard the MLF guys kept releasing keepers instead of putting them in the livewell and were asking when the 1st period break was going to be...

 

40 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

Does it or does the winner have to fish the Elite series or Opens to cash in the automatic invite?

 

I'm thinking of Luke Clausens Classic win, I believe he fished FLW the next year and wasn't there to defend his title the next year.

As far as I know he gets an automatic entry into next years Classic but I can't think of any examples one way or the other off the top of my head.

Congrats to ike for the sick crowd dive.