Nine new anglers have earned invitations to fish the 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series after competing in all nine St. Croix Bassmaster Opens tournaments as part of the new Elite Qualifiers Division. 

Photos by Andy Crawford/B.A.S.S.

October 17, 2023

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The goal for JT Thompkins entering the 2023 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens season was simply to qualify for the 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series. But as the season unfolded and an Elite Series berth became more and more likely, Thompkins shifted his focus solely to winning the Opens Elite Qualifiers Division Angler of the Year title.

“Honestly, about two tournaments ago, I completely forgot about the Elite race. It was no longer a thought in my mind,” he explained. “It switched to the AOY race. That is why I have been shooting for the win in the last couple of events.”

Capping off an incredible season with his seventh Top 25 finish of the season, Thompkins clinched the Angler of the Year title in the inaugural season of the Elite Qualifiers Division format by accumulating 1,659 points. Along with the $10,000 cash prize, the Myrtle Beach, S.C., native will be heading to the Bassmaster Elite Series.

Union City, Tenn., pro John Garrett finished second, followed by Illinois’ Trey McKinney in third. Robert Gee, Tyler Williams, Wesley Gore, Logan Parks, Ben Milliken and Kyle Patrick all earned Elite Series berths as well. Elite Series pro Kenta Kimura finished fifth in the EQ standings. Since Kimura double-qualified for the 2024 Elite Series, that allowed one additional angler to earn an Elite invitation.

“This has been one of the most stacked Opens fields of all time,” Thompkins said. “I have always thought about when I did make it to the Elites, I wanted to win Rookie of the Year. Just knowing I have done it once, I’ve beaten all the incoming rookies this year, it gives me confidence I can do it again next year.”

Eight of the nine anglers moving on to the Elite Series are under the age of 30, with Thompkins (21), Williams (21) and McKinney (18) being the three youngest of the group. While the 2022 Elite Series rookie class was heralded as one of the best ever, Thompkins believes this incoming group has a chance to be even better.

“When all us were standing there with our medallions, and me and John Garrett were in the front, that was when a lot of it set in,” he said. “When you talk to all the guys who qualified, none of them are scared. Everyone is saying, ‘We are going to go over there and dominate.’ They are all talking about winning.”

With a 19-point lead over Garrett going into the final tournament, Thompkins was as stressed as he has been this season knowing he needed to keep the momentum going for one more event.

“This week, I’ve been more stressed out than any other week of the year. I had cold sores, I couldn’t sleep, but when I saw that trophy at registration on Wednesday, everything came into focus,” Thompkins said during the cancellation day Thursday. “I have been pretty stressed about it, but usually the more stress I put on myself, the better I do. The more (stressed I am, the more) confident I feel about going out and catching them.”

With a strong performance on Day 1, Thompkins felt another limit on Day 2 would seal the deal. On the final day, Thompkins hooked up with a 4-pounder on a jerkbait, but his first couple turns of the reel collected his microphone cable and, for a moment, Thompkins was worried that bass would come off.

“I leaned into it, and the way I fish, my reel will hit my pocket, and when it did, the mic got wrapped up in it and I couldn’t reel,” he said. “Then all of sudden, the fish jumped in the air with complete slack in the line, and after losing two or three big ones already, I thought I was going to lose that one too. But the way he was hooked, I’m not sure he ever would have gotten off. It worked out. That fish was super-important.”

Once that bass entered the livewell, Thompkins felt he had put it out of reach, but another cull late in the day provided the biggest sigh of relief.

“I threw back a 1-pounder for a 2-pounder,” Thompkins said. “That put me up another pound and I knew for 100% that it was over. John would have needed a 30-pound bag to come back.”

The Angler of the Year title caps off an incredible year for Thompkins. Last September, he notched his first career victory at the Upper Chesapeake Bay, which led to a 24th-place finish at the 2023 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic.

Leaving Knoxville with a competitive finish gave Thompkins a ton of confidence heading into the bulk of the Opens season.

“A lot of fishing is confidence,” said Thompkins. “When you get back in the boat each morning with the confidence that you are doing it a lot better than a lot of people, it gives you confidence to stick with it knowing that, if you do, you’ll come out on top. That is what has helped me a lot this year … being able to stick to a deal more and longer than everyone else around me because I have the confidence I’ll be able to catch them. It has worked out this year perfectly.”

Thompkins spends close to 300 days on the water a year. Other than travel and boat maintenance days, Thompkins said he will be on the water from daylight to dark, scanning and searching for winning spots and techniques. Practice makes perfect, and that’s the philosophy Thompkins has adopted throughout his journey to the Elite Series.

Now, Thompkins will look ahead to the Elite Series schedule. He is most looking forward to the Northern swing at the end of the season, but a return trip to the Harris Chain of Lakes has him intrigued as well. Remarkably, the event in his home state, Lake Murray, is a lake he has only visited a handful of times.

“I’m excited for a lot of tournaments,” he said. “Harris Chain is a big one I’m looking forward to if the grass is right and the water clarity is right. I’m also looking forward to Lake Champlain and St. Lawrence River. I’ve probably spent more time on Champlain than (the) St. Lawrence River. I’m pretty excited for Wheeler Lake and Smith Lake too.”

The Elite Series season kicks off Feb. 22-25 on Toledo Bend in Many, La.

Bassmaster Opens Elite Qualifiers Division
Final Standings

Finish	Name	Hometown	Total Points
1	JT Thompkins	Myrtle Beach, SC	1,659
2	John Garrett	Union City, TN	1,644
3	Trey McKinney	Carbondale, IL	1,594
4	Robert Gee	Knoxville, TN	1,526
5	Kenta Kimura	Hirakata, Japan	1,502
6	Tyler Williams	Belgrade, ME	1,463
7	Wesley Gore	Clanton, AL	1,455
8	Logan Parks	Auburn, AL	1,435
9	Ben Milliken	New Caney, TX	1,430
10	Kyle Patrick	Cooperstown, NY	1,426
11	Bobby Lane	Lakeland, FL	1,403
12	Kyle Austin	Ridgeville, SC	1,400
13	Brett Cannon	Kiln, MS	1,396
14	Keith Tuma	Brainerd, MN	1,396
15	Jamie Bruce	Kenora, Canada	1,367
16	Sam George	Athens, AL	1,364
17	Cody Stahl	Barnsville, GA	1,343
18	Joey Nania	Cropwell, AL	1,342
19	Shaine Campbell	Brookeland, TX	1,341
20	Trevor McKinney	Benton, IL	1,334
21	Jacob Bigelow	Cecil, WI	1,334
22	Logan Johnson	Jasper, AL	1,330
23	Dale Hightower	Mannford, OK	1,328
24	Kurt Mitchell	Milford, DE	1,326
25	Adam Rasmussen	Sturgeon Bay, WI	1,294
26	Blake Smith	Lakeland, FL	1,274
27	Matt Henry	Milledgeville, GA	1,270
28	Jack Dice	Lynchburg, VA	1,254
29	Casey Scanlon	Eldon, MO	1,250
30	Blake Sylvester	Plaquemine, LA	1,242
31	Greg Bohannan	Bentonville, AR	1,225
32	Jack York	Emory, TX	1,221
33	Chris Blanchette	Edisto Island, SC	1,212
34	Chad Warren	Sand Springs, OK	1,198
35	Derek Lehtonen	Woodruff, SC	1,190
36	Clark Reehm	Elm Grove, LA	1,182
37	Andrew Upshaw	Hemphill, TX	1,171
38	Austin Cranford	Norman, OK	1,166
39	Josh Bragg	Fayetteville, GA	1,163
40	Jimmy Washam	Stantonville, TN	1,131
41	Ish Monroe	Oakdale, CA	1,124
42	Jonathan Dietz	Corry, PA	1,123
43	Jake Maddux	Birmingham, AL	1,116
44	Ty Faber	Pagosa Springs, CO	1,099
45	Miles Burghoff	Dayton, TN	1,096
46	Andrew Hargrove	Moody, TX	1,088
47	Scout Echols	Monticello, AR	1,083
48	Jason Lambert	Savannah, TN	1,070
49	Jason Meninger	Yulee, FL	1,049
50	Kyle Goltz	Cornell, WI	1,045