BassFan Greatest Moments of 2005

December 19 , 2005

1. VanDam's 3 Wins

Kevin VanDam, the most dominant angler of the modern era, won two consecutive Bassmaster Elite 50 events this year. Great? Sure, but it wasn't a first: Mark Davis did it in 2004. The next event on the schedule ended up being the toughest of the year: the Bassmaster Classic in Pittsburgh. At one of the toughest imaginable fisheries, against the toughest imaginable field, VanDam edged out Aaron Martens to win his second Bassmaster Classic and third event in a row. That left no doubt: He is utter, total power (run away, run away!).

2. Hackney Backs It Up

Last year, Greg "The Hack Attack" Hackney finished an incredible 2nd in both tour Angler of the Year (AOY) races. This year, BassFans wondered: Would that momentum die? Could he possibly keep that level of performance up? Of course, it was all about the latter. Take your pick of Hackney's three rock-the-world accomplishments this year: 1) He won his first tour-level event, the Table Rock Bassmaster; 2) He won FLW AOY after a fierce battle with Toshinari Namiki; 3) He proved he's the best by a wide margin by finishing the season ranked No. 1 in the State Farm World Rankings.

3. Cochran's Greatest Hour

The 2005 season was a brutal one for the old guard. One by one, veteran pros seemed to drop out of contention – and out of the spotlight. Not George Cochran. After a 4th at the Classic, the veteran went to the bank at Lake Hamilton and in a single hour on the final day of the Forrest L. Wood Cup (FLW Tour championship), he fished like new again. He won $500,000 within sight of his house and proved he could not only hang with the younger guys, he could dominate. And then, just a week later, he put together his third championship Top 5 in a row with a 3rd-place finish at the Cabela's Top Gun Championship. Not bad for an "old guy."

4. Menendez Battles Back

Mark Menendez withdrew from the Guntersville Bassmaster in February and spent the following weeks in a hospital bed, stricken with literally life-threatening viral meningitis. His season was over – or so everyone thought. His recovery took months. It was slow. But he didn't let it get him down. Even weakened by the disease, he launched an assault on the Bassmaster Southern Opens. Incredibly, he won the series opener at West Point in June, then edged out Matt Reed on a tiebreaker at the Open Championship to make the crucial Top 5 cut. That put him in the '06 Classic. How about that for a recovery?

5. Martens Wins AOY

Nobody really gave Aaron Martens a shot. His critics called him a perennial 2nd-placer. He entered the Table Rock Bassmaster – the last event of the Bassmaster Tour season – at 6th in the AOY points. He finished day 1 of that event in 24th, but then he weighed a mind-numbing 21-15 sack on day 2 – which included a 9-pounder. He made the Top 12 cut in 2nd. Then AOY leader Marty Stone watched from the sidelines as Martens pounded out 12-11 on day 4 to win AOY.

6. Reynolds' Working-Man Win

As California's Mike Reynolds held the Clarks Hill Bassmaster trophy aloft, BassFans everywhere felt his triumph. The workaday angler had lived by a string for years. His credit cards were maxed, and at one point in 2004 he was forced to fish near the launch to save gas money. Across 4 days of torrid fishing, he showed us all that if you believe in yourself, and work hard enough, any dream is possible.

7. Brent Chapman's 2 In a Row

Kansas' Brent Chapman had won a triple-A event (a Bassmaster Central Open), but for some reason had never won a tour-level event – until this year, at the Cabela's Top Gun Championship. Statistically, that event had the toughest field of any in the history of the sport – the Top 25 pros in the world according to the State Farm World Rankings. The fishing was tough (limits were even tough to come by), but that's where Chapman did what he'd never done before: catch them every day, with no slip-ups. Score one victory and $100,000. And then, a month later, he won another $100,000 at BASS's Busch Shootout. Both were winner-take-all events, and Chapman took all $200,000 of it.

8. Omori Wins Again

Takahiro Omori won the 2004 Bassmaster Classic, a feat that is typically followed by an exhausting year of personal appearances. But not for T.O. After he won, he said that in 2005 he was going to fish. Period. That's it. Well, in the first event of the Bassmaster Tour season, on Florida's Lake Toho, he showed that he wasn't kidding. He won that event, his second win in a row. And 9 months after Toho, he won the Norfork Bassmaster Central Open.

9. Wolak from Nowhere

The most famous hat in all of fishing is Bill Dance's Tennessee Volunteers cap. But fans saw a different cap onstage this year and more than once asked: Who the heck is that guy? It was Pennsylvania's Dave Wolak. With no sponsors, the rookie donned a Yankees cap and tore through the Bassmaster Tour. How good was this no-name rookie? Check this: 24th, 82nd, 39th, 13th, 12th and 10th in the six Tour events. He finished 4th in the Bassmaster Tour points, in so doing qualified for two Classics (2005 and 2006), and won two Rookie of the Year (ROY) awards: Bassmaster and BassFan. How about them apples?

10. Ike Walks the Walk

Sometimes in sports the "bad boys" can't hang. They talk smack and swagger, but come game time, they stagger. Mike Iaconelli's different. He can fish, and he proved it again at the FLW Tour's Chevy Open on the Potomac River. Despite a protest – and allegations by a couple of anglers that he'd broken boating laws – he pounded the Potomac and walked away with $200,000. Ike's onstage expression said it all: He can talk the talk, and walk the walk.

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