By the time you see this, the Northern Swing of the Bassmaster Elite Series will be underway. And with only two events remaining, the season is near its end.
Our first stop is to Lake St. Clair near Detroit, Mich. Known for its numbers of big smallmouth, this event promises to be an absolute catch fest and consistency will be key. Immediately following, the tour moves to La Crosse, Wis., for the season finale on the Upper Mississippi River. The playing field includes Pools 7, 8 and 9, and there’s no telling which will produce the winning stringer. What is certain is that it will take four good days to hoist that trophy.
Overall, it’s been a very challenging season for the entire field. And a lot will be decided in these two events.
A new Angler of the Year (AOY) will be crowned, and more than a third of the field will qualify for the 2026 Bassmaster Classic. Others will find relief in simply requalifying for another season on the Elite Series. Then there are those who will anxiously await the final tally, to see if they, too, will qualify for the 2026 tour.
I may or may not be among them.
Woulda, shoulda, coulda
I’ve had a very rough year. Although I got off to a solid start in Florida, things quickly deteriorated from there. The Carolinas were brutal, and Texas and Oklahoma weren’t much better.
Looking back, I have no one to blame but myself.
In most of those events, I realized success one day but failed on the other. Whether it was the first or second day, I never could find any consistency. And that’s a quick ticket home in the Elite Series. The talent is so good and so deep, you can’t make any mistakes. Unfortunately, I made more than a few.
I could come up with a million excuses, like lost fish or getting beat to my best spots. But even if true, none of that should matter. As an Elite pro, I should have had a backup plan in place.
In some cases, I caught plenty of fish, just not the right ones. And that was something I discussed at length with my roommates Tim Dube, Will Davis Jr. and Mark Menendez — the fact that you could catch and cull fish throughout a competition day, thinking you’re gaining ground when, in reality, you’re falling hopelessly behind.
That was true at lakes Hartwell and Tenkiller. I was catching and culling 2- to 2 1/2-pound fish when 3-pounders were required. I was lulled into believing I was in the race, only to find out at weigh-in that I might as well have stayed home.
String several of those finishes together and, well … you get the idea.
Sink or swim
Some would say, “There’s always another tournament.” But on the Bassmaster Elite Series, that’s not always true … not exactly, anyway.
The field is so competitive and the stakes so high, chances of turning a bad season around may be next to impossible. Once you find yourself in a hole so deep, there may not be enough remaining events to dig yourself out. And at this point in the season, that’s where I’m at.
Only two events remain and the odds are stacked huge against me.
Although I like both tour stops, I’ll likely need two top-five finishes to earn the points necessary to requalify for 2026. And even then, it may not work out mathematically. It all depends on how the rest of the field finishes in the AOY standings.
Lake St. Clair is an absolute smallmouth factory, and I love how they set up there. So I should find enough of the right fish to do well. The Upper Mississippi is more about largemouth … shallow, weedy largemouth. And I like my chances there just as much. Having had good success at both fisheries, I’m definitely up for the challenge.
The way I see it, I have almost nothing to lose. Mired near the bottom of the standings, there’s no longer any pressure to make the Classic. It’s simply two more opportunities to win an event … and that’s how I’m approaching it.
So when the dust settles in La Crosse and the AOY standings are decided, I’ll have either turned the season around or crashed and burned. Either way, know this … I plan on going down swinging!
Follow Bernie Schultz on Instagram, Facebook and through his website.
