Fishing News - 9/23/02
2002 BassFan.com World Rankings Round-Up - Page 2
Other Top Pros
Jay Yelas (Texas) had a tremendous year -- basically the year VanDam had last season -- earning FLW Angler of the Year and then winning the Classic. In the past few seasons Yelas had fished better in the Opens (not counted in the rankings) than on the BASSMASTER Tour. But this year he fished well on the BASSMASTER Tour and extremely well on the FLW Tour (his first year fishing it in a while), and ends the season ranked 12th in the world. He started the season ranked 29th.
A similar story, though without the accolades, can be told about Brent Chapman (Kansas). He had his best year ever on the BASSMASTER Tour, fished the Classic and the FLW Championship, and finished 3rd at the latter. At the end of last season he was ranked 52nd in the world, and now is 14th.
Davy Hite (S.C.) was ranked 67th in the world after last season. The reason? A couple of "intentionally" poor years: after winning the 1999 Classic, he focused more on promotional appearances than fishing. But this year he got serious -- in a big way. He led the B.A.S.S. points race from start to end, had two wins and a few more Top 10s along the way, and is now ranked 19th in the world. If he fishes well again next year, as he should, look for him to jump up the rankings even further.
Also, by comparison Yelas fished well on both tours this year and fished both championships, whereas Hite missed this season's FLW Championship.
Other Changes vs. Last Season
Notable Ups
Bud Pruitt (Texas) started off the season in 24th, cracked the Top 10 once and ends up in 13th. Roland Martin (Fla.) started the season ranked 53rd in the world and ended 29th. Gary Yamamoto (Texas) started in 100th and ended up 34th.
Notable Downs
Todd Faircloth (11th -- Texas), Takahiro Omori (21st -- Texas), Paul Elias (16th -- Mississippi) and David Walker (15th -- Tennessee) started the season in the Top 10, but ended out of it. Skeet Reese (Calif.) started the season in 14th, but ended the season in 58th. That fall partly reflects the fact that the BassFan.com World Rankings initially included results from the BASSMASTER Opens (Invitationals), in which Reese did well. But Reese also fished only the BASSMASTER Tour this year and failed to make the Classic.
Mike Iaconelli (N.J.) started the season in 19th, but fell to 33rd. Though Iaconelli seems to be regaining the hot stick he had a few years ago, this season it was seen only sporadically. Peter Thliveros (Fla.) started in 21st and ends at 38th. Shaw Grigbsy (Fla.) started the season 42nd and ends at 89th.
