Story by Ken Duke | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
It’s entirely fitting that Progressive Insurance is the sponsor of the NPFL’s Angler of the Year award. After all, the standings in the AOY race are “progressive.” After each tournament, some anglers get into the hunt for AOY but far more drop out. Now, at the midway point of the season, the AOY race has really taken shape.
In an earlier article, I made the statement that AOY is a battle of attrition and that half the field was eliminated from contention after Stop 1 at Santee Cooper, cutting the list of contenders from 118 to about 60. Stop 2 at Lake Norman cut the list of viable contenders from 60 to 30 and Stop 3 on Douglas Lake cut it from 30 to 15 … probably a lot less. In fact, after three tournaments, no one ranked worse than sixth has ever won AOY. That will likely be true again this year, but let’s do a deep dive on what happened at Douglas.
The Usual Suspect
A very familiar name now sits atop the AOY leaderboard. It’s Alabama’s Kyle Welcher, who finished second at Douglas and now has a 6-point lead over South Carolina’s Patrick Walters. Thirteen points off the pace is previous leader Greg Hackney followed by Caleb Kuphall (-14), Bill Lowen (-30), Drew Cook (-35), and Hank Cherry (-36). Everyone else is more than 40 points back of the leader. That’s probably too far to catch up.
Yes, I know there are still three tournaments to go, and I do not discount the skills of Jason Burroughs, Brandon Cobb, Gerald Swindle, or Jason Christie. It’s just that I have too much confidence in the skills of the anglers in the previous paragraph. One or two or even five of them might slip … but not all of them, and not enough to open the door for someone 40 or more points back.
Need more evidence?
In NPFL history after three events, no one ranked lower than sixth or trailing by more than 16 points has ever gone on to win AOY. That was Gary Adkins in 2022, and it only gets tighter as the season progresses. (See what I did there?) After four events, the list of anglers still viable for AOY gets even shorter.
And just how good is Kyle Welcher? Well, he’s in almost exactly the same position now as he was at the same time last year when he was leading AOY by 10 points. That’s amazing when you consider how much stronger this year’s NPFL field is compared to the field last year. Seven of the top 11 anglers on the AOY points list are new to the League.
But the AOY race is more than just the battle for the gold trophy. There’s also the challenge of finishing in the top 40 and qualifying for the 2026 NPFL Championship.
Let’s look at the movers and shakers from Douglas Lake.
Moving Up!
The biggest jump at Douglas was made by 71-year-old Texas pro Lendell Martin Jr. who finished 10th and moved up 39 places in the standings, from 80th to 41st. It puts him on the bubble to qualify for the Championship—not a bad position at the halfway point.
Six other anglers moved up 25 places or more: Nick Brown (up 31 places to 23rd), Chad Poteat (up 27 places to 47th), Brad Staley (up 35 places to 52nd), Hayden Hammond (up 25 places to 73rd), Tavin Napier (up 28 places to 74th), and James Watson (up 25 places to 78th).
Poteat is an amazing and inspiration story. After being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) earlier this year, his performances have improved in each of the last two events despite his physical challenges.
Taking a Tumble
If some anglers are moving up, it means that others moved in the opposite direction.
The biggest tumble—quite predictably—came from Oklahoma’s Zack Birge, who fell 44 places to 68th. I say it was predictable because missed all of practice and the first day of competition. At a tournament where the fish are plentiful but small, that’s a recipe for derby disaster.
Birge had the same scheduling challenge at Santee Cooper, but the bass there are much bigger and harder to come by. He posted two outstanding catches and impressively finished 35th to earn a check. That was a great angling accomplishment!
Birge is—without any doubt—one of the very best anglers in the field, but when everyone’s catching small limits and you miss a day, there’s no recovering. I truly admire that he showed up to compete. If he had paid his entry fee and skipped the tournament, he would have earned four fewer points, be 69th instead of 68th in AOY, and avoided some expenses … but he wouldn’t be Zack Birge.
Four others fell by more than 25 places: Brian Hatfield, Seth Ellis, Andrew Upshaw, and Jason Abram. All had been in the top 40, and all have time to get back inside the cut for the 2026 Championship.
The Rookies
There are a dozen anglers in this year’s field with no prior experience on a tour-level bass trail. Most are struggling in the bottom half of the AOY standings, but three are holding their own, and one is putting some distance between himself and the rest of the rookies.
The angler creating space between himself and the rest of the rookies is South Carolina’s Derek Lehtonen. He’s currently 24th in AOY after finishing 33rd at Douglas. That moved him up 10 spots on the AOY list, and he’s looking strong to qualify for the Championship.
Keith Bardolf is now 42nd in AOY after finishing 74th at Douglas, and Stacey James is 63rd.
James is an interesting story. The 41-year-old South Carolinian had never fished a multi-day tournament before joining the League. He’s had three middle-of-the-pack finishes so far this year and is still refining his fish management skills. As he gets that dialed in, expect him to move up.
Do the Math
As the season progresses, the AOY standings stabilize. Half of the available points are now gone. After Stop 4, two-thirds of the points will have been awarded. It gets harder and harder to make a big jump in the standings. The anglers know that, and we’ll start to see more “swinging for the fences,” more “going for broke” as they “pull out the stops” to win one of the remaining three regular season tournaments and earn a spot in the Championship.
So there’s still a long way to go … except that there’s not. Nine more days of fishing will decide Progressive Angler of the Year and the field for the 2026 Championship.
Don’t miss a cast!
