Bass Fishing pro Brandon Palaniuk won the Elite Series AOY under 30 years old for 2017

Pro bass anglers under 30 on the Elite Series for tournament bass fishing

Winter 2018

®

20 yo 1 u 7 th m EL ov I e T m E ent S in E f R ull I e E ff S ec : t

“Never trust anyone over 30.”

- 1960s Hippie Mantra

Story by Pete Robbins

page 28

F

or decades, conventional wisdom has

held that most anglers come into their

prime in their forties, when the X-axis of physical prowess and the Y-axis of experience

are simultaneously peaking. You had to pay

your dues, and while the occasional Stanley

Mitchell or Bryan Kerchal upended the system

here and there, for the most part the ranks of

Angler of the Year (AOY) leaders and Classic

champs came from the over-40-but-under-50

set. In that respect, the 2017 Elite Series

season was an aberration. In the prior 11 years

of Elite competition, nine of the Anglers of the

Year were between 40 and 48-years-old. Mike

Iaconelli and Skeet Reese, the 2006 and 2007

title holders, were the outliers at 34 and 38,

respectively.

The Classic title was similarly largely the province of the “middle-aged.” Seven of the 11 prior Classic winners were in their forties, with Luke Clausen, Chris Lane, Cliff Pace and Casey Ashley all in their thirties when they claimed the crown.

The Rookie of the Year (ROY) award, of course, is weighted toward younger and/or less experienced anglers, and while there were several in their twenties, plus 19-year-old Bradley Roy, among the Elite ROYs, still the median age for that group was 34.

Brandon Palaniuk won the 2017 AOY trophy just two

months shy of his 30th

birthday Credit: B.A.S.S.

Seigo Saito