Fall 2023
®
Of that group, Palaniuk
Skeet Reese
is the only one
who has won
since the split
– he earned
trophies in 2020
Elite events at
Champlain and
Santee Cooper,
as well as a
2021 Open on
Virginia’s James
River, all true
east coast venues. He went on to win AOY in 2022.
The BPT has more western representation in a smaller
field, including former Californians Justin Lucas, Jared
Lintner and Mark Daniels Jr., as well as former Arizonan
John Murray. You could also count California native Gary
Klein, but multiple decades since his move to Texas that’s
a stretch. Still, add in California residents Brent Ehrler
and Skeet Reese, along with Arizona long-haulers Brett
Hite, Dean Rojas, Josh Bertrand and Roy Hawk, and you
have more than proportional geographic representation.
However, no western pro has won a BPT event since 2020:
Lucas (July 2020 – Daniels finished second in that event,
and Bertrand came in third); the late Aaron Martens (May
2019); and Dean Rojas (April 2019) were the westerners
who earned a BPT win, while the likes of Jacob Wheeler, Ott
DeFoe, Alton Jones Jr. and Dustin Connell have gobbled up
the trophies.
Neither
tour has
gone west
in quite
a while.
BASS was
scheduled to
head to the
Columbia
River, but
angler
Photo: MLF: Aaron Martens roeustucrltyed in it
being taken off the schedule midstream. That means their last visits were Havasu and the Cal Delta in 2015, before the vast majority of the current field was competing at this level. Of the top ten at Havasu, Clifford Pirch (2nd) and Palaniuk (10th) are the only two still fishing at BASS. Of the top ten at the Delta, only Pirch (7th) and Keith Combs (10th) have remained with BASS the whole time. Ish Monroe and Bobby Lane left and are trying to get back. Jason Christie left, returned, and won a Classic. Meanwhile, while the BPT has not gone west, they do maintain a Western Division of the Toyota Series, which means that anglers had a chance to maintain AAA ties to the organization.
The bottom line has not changed substantially for western anglers. With the effective dissolution of the latest and greatest hope to make a sizeable living competing at or near home, and the consistent popularity of the Opens, it’s still necessary to drive, compete and/or move to the middle
Ish Monroe
Jared Lintner Josh Bertrand
John Murray Justin Lucas
page 20
Matty Wong