VanDam on track for No. 4 AOY title
By MATT WILLIAMS
Outdoors Writer
Sunday, June 22, 2008
With only three tournaments remaining on the BASS Elite Series schedule, the race for the 2008 Angler of Year title is shaping up to be a tight one.
The AOY title and $250,000 reward goes to the angler who accumulates the most points after a grueling six-month tour that spans eight states and 11 qualifying events.
 BASS photo BASS ace Kevin VanDam has racked up more than $300,000 in earnings through eight Elite Series in 2008 and currently sits in the driver's seat in the Angler of the Year race. |
Anglers are awarded points after each tournament according to how they finish in the standings. Consistency is a virtue in making a bid for the AOY title, consider by many to professional bass fishing's most prestigious award.
After eight tournaments, fewer than 100 points divide the top three contenders. Jasper's Todd Faircloth is the middle man, just 29 points ahead of third-place contender Mike McClelland of Bella Vista, Ark.
Both Faircloth and McClelland have occupied the top spot in the AOY race at least once over the four months, but I've got a feeling neither pro will be in the driver's seat when season rolls to a close after the Champion's Choice on Oneida Lake in August.
Kevin VanDam is leading the AOY points race right now. And pro bass fishing's ultimate closer knows what it takes to seal the deal.
With a 65-point lead over Faircloth and a 94-point cushion over McClelland, the 40-year old Michigan pro is poised to win his fourth AOY title since turning pro 17 years ago.
He narrowly missed accomplishing that goal last season, when he was edged out in the final event of 2007 by California's Skeet Reese and had to settle for second.
VanDam is on a roll towards one of his best seasons on tour this year.
He has already won two Elite Series events in 2008, made the Elite 12 cut five times and registered Top 10 finishes in his last four consecutive appearances.
His most recent victory, the 14th of his career, came last week at the Bluegrass Brawl on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Ky.
The win brings his season earnings to $305,500 and his lifetime total to nearly $3 million — more than any other angler in the history of the sport.
With only three tournaments remaining — two of them on northern smallmouth waters that KVD knows extremely well — it seems logical that Mr. Consistent might feel pretty good about his chances of edging one AOY title closer to Roland Martin's all-time BASS record of nine.
He does. But the two-time Bassmaster Classic champ also was quick to point out that nothing is for certain until the final sack crosses the scales on the final day.
I want to win it bad," VanDam said of the AOY title. "But we still have a lot of fishing to do, so I'll just take it one step at a time."
TPWD seeks input on dove season proposal
A proposed change in South Zone dove hunting season dates by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has sparked some debate among hunters and landowners alike.
The South Zone has a split dove season. The proposed change would take one week off the end of the first season split and add it to the end of the second split in South Zone counties.
Season dates for the first split would run Sept. 20-Nov. 2, then reopen Dec. 26-Jan. 20. The daily limit would be 12 birds, no more than two white-tipped doves.
According to TPWD news releases, the proposed change came about as the result of a request from "a few" South Texas dove hunters and landowners who requested more hunting opportunity in January.
A number of hunters and outfitters have since voiced opposition to the proposal. The gripes are based on two things:
The overall interest in hunting doves is greater in November than in late January.
Doves become increasingly wary as the season drags on. The birds often grow so spooky by late January that they will vacate a hunting field as soon as the first shots are fired.
The South Zone dove season proposal is the most significant change offered under the 2008-09 Early Migratory Game Bird Proclamation that recently came out of Austin.
The proposed dove season in the North Zone would run Sept. 1-Oct. 30, with a 15-bird bag and not more than two white-tipped doves. In the Central Zone, the season would run Sept. 1-Oct. 30 and reopen Dec. 26-Jan. 4 with a 12-bird limit, not more than two white-tipped doves.
Additionally, TPWD staff has proposed dates for the early teal season.
The season will run Sept. 13-28 if a 16-day season is approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Sept. 20-28 are the proposed dates if the feds call for a 9-day season framework.
