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