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Much at Stake for Bassmaster Elite Series Anglers at Season Finale

By BASS Communications
(Archive)

Updated: September 4, 2007, 5:53 PM ET

CELEBRATION, Fla. — Fishing fans will turn their full attention on Sept. 13-16 to the 11th and final event of the Bassmaster Elite Series season, the Sunshine Showdown presented by Allstate Boat Insurance on Lake Tohopekaliga out of Kissimmee, Fla.

In addition to crowning the final Elite Series event winner of 2007, one angler will emerge as the winner of the season-long points competition for bass fishing's highest honor: the $125,000 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.

All the drama of the Sunshine Showdown can be viewed on The Bassmasters on ESPN2 at 9 a.m. ET, Saturday, Sept. 29.

Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif., is in the best position to sew up the prestigious annual AOY award, but three-time winner Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., isn't far behind. The outcome of the AOY race hinges on how many points Reese and VanDam are able to rack up at Toho.

Elite anglers no longer in contention for the AOY title still are very focused on the points; 36 Bassmaster Classic berths are awarded to the Elite anglers with the highest number of points. The Sunshine Showdown is the pros' last chance to build points totals high enough to qualify for the 2008 Classic, Feb. 22-24 on Lake Hartwell out of Greenville, S.C.

The Lake Toho event also will be decisive in who wins this season's Toyota Rookie of the Year title, the Toyota Moving Forward Award and who qualifies for the 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series season. The top-84 anglers in the AOY standings will qualify for the 2008 season.

The pros will launch their boats in Lake Toho at 6:50 a.m. ET, Sept. 13-16, from Kissimmee Lakefront Park in the city of Kissimmee. Daily weigh-ins at the park are set for 3 p.m. ET.

Pros will begin and end on Lake Toho, but the bass of the other lakes of the Kissimmee chain are fair game. Two Elite pros from Florida — Terry Scroggins of San Mateo and Chris Lane of Winter Haven — expect much of the field to spread out into Cypress, Hatchineha and Kissimmee, the chain's other three main lakes.

"I believe that whoever wins this event will have to run patterns throughout the whole chain," said Scroggins, winner of the 2005 and 2007 Bassmaster Open-level events on the Kissimmee chain, and fifth in the current AOY standings. "You're going to see multiple patterns: schooling fish are going to be important, there will be a topwater bite and flipping to matted grass will play a role as well."

Lane, who has fished the Kissimmee chain since he was a child, said he did not have time to scout the lakes before they were off limits to Elite anglers, which started on Aug. 12.

"I will burn a lot of gas in practice, I promise you that," said Lane, now 15th in the AOY standings. "Any of the four lakes could produce a winning bag."

He said working a soft-plastic swimming frog in grass will be one of his main patterns.

According to Kissimmee lakes expert and Kissimmee resident Terry Segraves, Elite anglers will encounter a lot of grass. He noted that the pros will have to be extra sharp at the wheel as they navigate the skinny-water fishery, even in the boat trails. Vegetation, especially hydrilla, has proliferated during the long growing season, he said, and is now topped out in areas of Toho.

Live, streaming video of the Sunshine Showdown's daily weigh-ins begins at 3 p.m. ET at www.ESPNOutdoors.com. Also live on www.ESPNOutdoors.com, the pre-show Hooked Up will preview the final weigh-in Sunday. ESPN2 Outdoors personalities Mark Zona and Tommy Sanders return as the Hooked Up hosts.
For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208 or visit www.bassmaster.com. Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN's latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.

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BASS stages and sanctions bass fishing tournaments for every skill level culminating with the Bassmaster Classic. Through its clubs, youth programs, aquatic resource advocacy, magazine publishing and multimedia platforms, BASS offers the industry's widest array of services and support to its nearly 530,000 members. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.

2007 TOYOTA TUNDRA BASSMASTER ANGLER OF THE YEAR STANDINGS

------------------------------------------- Place Name St Pts ------------------------------------------- 1 Skeet Reese Calif. 2579 2 Kevin VanDam Mich. 2472 3 Jared Lintner Calif. 2276 4 Steve Kennedy Ala. 2178 5 Terry Scroggins Fla. 2166 6 Aaron Martens Ala. 2165 7 Fred Roumbanis Calif. 2136 8 Kelly Jordon Texas 2133 9 Todd Faircloth Texas 2109 10 Boyd Duckett Ala. 2063 11 Scott Rook Ark. 2054 12 Edwin Evers Okla. 2053 13 Tommy Biffle Okla. 2038 14 Greg Hackney La. 2037 15 Chris Lane Fla. 2030 16 Jeff Kriet Okla. 2027 16 Kevin Wirth Ky. 2027 18 Ishama Monroe Calif. 2024 19 Stephen Browning Ark. 2023 20 Gary Klein Texas 1999 21 Brent Chapman Kan. 1979 22 Derek Remitz Texas 1978 23 John Murray Ariz. 1976 24 Peter Thliveros Fla. 1972 25 Cliff Pace Miss. 1964 26 Timmy Horton Ala. 1954 27 Michael Iaconelli N.J. 1929 28 Takahiro Omori Texas 1922 29 Casey Ashley S.C. 1917 30 Mark Tyler Okla. 1878 31 Mike McClelland Ark. 1852 32 Randy Howell Ala. 1834 33 Alton Jones Texas 1830 33 Matthew Sphar N.Y. 1830 35 Jason Quinn S.C. 1805 36 John Crews Va. 1803 37 Dave Wolak N.C. 1799 38 Davy Hite S.C. 1794 38 Matt Reed Texas 1794 40 Jason Williamson S.C. 1784 41 Dean Rojas Texas 1783 42 Kevin Short Ark. 1782 43 Mark Menendez Ky. 1781 44 Jeff Reynolds Okla. 1779 45 Shaw Grigsby, Jr Fla. 1772 46 Kotaro Kiriyama Ala. 1770 47 Scott Campbell Mo. 1756 48 Mike Wurm Ark. 1755 49 Gerald Swindle Ala. 1751 50 Brian Snowden Mo. 1741 51 Rick Morris Va. 1735 51 Yusuke Miyazaki Texas 1735 53 Britt Myers S.C. 1720 54 Morizo Shimizu Calif. 1719 55 Bill Lowen Ohio 1715 56 Marty Robinson S.C. 1712 57 Denny Brauer Mo. 1700 58 James Niggemeyer Texas 1673 59 Ray Sedgwick S.C. 1668 60 Kenyon Hill Okla. 1657 61 Mark Tucker Mo. 1653 62 Kurt Dove Va. 1638 63 Jami Fralick S.D. 1636 64 Rick Clunn Mo. 1632 65 Bernie Schultz Fla. 1621 66 Bryan Hudgins Fla. 1618 67 Paul Elias Miss. 1612 68 Ken Cook Okla. 1609 69 Bradley Hallman Okla. 1585 70 Russ Lane Ala. 1566 71 Pete Ponds Miss. 1558 72 Grant Goldbeck Md. 1553 73 Jeremy Starks W.Va. 1552 74 Ben Matsubu Texas 1549 75 James Kennedy La. 1521 76 Lee Bailey Ala. 1509 77 Jim Murray Ga. 1502 78 Jimmy Mize Ark. 1498 79 Jeff Connella La. 1497 80 Charlie Hartley Ohio 1466 81 Preston Clark Fla. 1461 82 Ken Brodeur Conn. 1438 83 Paul Hirosky Pa. 1432 84 Greg Gutierrez Calif. 1407 85 Mark Rogers Fla. 1393 86 Kevin Langill N.C. 1391 87 Marty Stone N.C. 1390 88 Matt Amedeo Ohio 1388 89 James Charlesworth Fla. 1372 90 Terry Butcher Okla. 1349 91 Guy Eaker N.C. 1329 92 Glenn Delong Ohio 1298 93 Zell Rowland Texas 1295 94 Dave Smith Okla. 1259 95 Bill Smith Ky. 1253 95 Keith Phillips Ala. 1253 97 Steve Daniel Fla. 1240 98 Darrin Schwenkbeck N.Y. 1232 99 Doc Merkin Ill. 1181 100 Bradley Stringer Texas 1173 101 Frank Scalish Ohio 1172 102 Jon Bondy Canada 1152 103 Eric Nethery Ga. 1142 104 Jimmy Mason Ala. 1099 105 Byron Velvick Texas 1065 106 Rick Ash Pa. 985 107 Charlie Youngers Fla. 980 108 Elton Luce Jr Texas 855

2007 TOYOTA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR RACE

2007 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR After Potomac River, Charles County, MD ending 08-12-2007, Day 4 ------------------------------------------- Place Name St Pts ------------------------------------------- 1 Derek Remitz Texas 1978 2 Casey Ashley S.C. 1917 3 Matthew Sphar N.Y. 1830 4 Jason Williamson S.C. 1784 5 Scott Campbell Mo. 1756 6 Marty Robinson S.C. 1712 7 James Niggemeyer Texas 1673 8 Bryan Hudgins Fla. 1618 9 James Kennedy La. 1521 10 Matt Amedeo Ohio 1388 11 James Charlesworth Fla. 1372 12 Glenn Delong Ohio 1298

2007 TOYOTA MOVING FORWARD AWARD --------------------------------------------------------- Place Name 2006 Finish 2007 Standings --------------------------------------------------------- 1 Fred Roumbanis 69 7 2 Chris Lane 61 15 3 Scott Rook 47 11 4 Mark Tyler 64 30 5 Rick Morris 81 51 6 Stephen Browning 45 19 6 Terry Scroggins 31 5 8 Mark Menendez 68 43 8 Kevin Short 67 42 10 Britt Myers 76 53 11 Kurt Dove 82 62 11 Brent Chapman 41 21 13 Ishama Monroe 37 18 14 Jeff Kriet 33 16 15 Grant Goldbeck 88 72 15 Ken Brodeur 98 82 15 Gary Klein 36 20 18 Jared Lintner 18 3 19 Todd Faircloth 23 9 19 Mark Rogers 99 85 21 Pete Ponds 83 71 22 Takahiro Omori 35 28 23 David Wolak 43 37 23 Skeet Reese 7 1 25 Ken D Cook 73 68 26 Timmy Horton 30 26 26 Yusuke Miyazaki 55 51 26 Brian Snowden 54 50 29 Charlie Hartley 83 80 29 Jami Fralick 66 63 31 Davy Hite 40 38 31 Kelly Jordon 10 8 33 Kevin VanDam 3 2