To hold the title “Angler of the Year” is a privilege that few ever get to experience. It takes dedication, hard work, and a unique ability to maintain averages.
What does that even mean?
Tournament anglers are assessed based on performance throughout the tournament series. Each position earned (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) is awarded points. Over the course of the year, the points are earned with each win. For those anglers that grind it out all year, never miss an opportunity to compete, perform well in the tournament, then they earn a shot at “Angler of the Year”. I say shot because the winner for this title is decided on total point value.
This means an angler may perform incredibly well in the first half of the season scoring all 1st place positions and then get skunked on a few tournaments only to come back and win first place in the remaining events.
A competing angler might only score in the 2nd or 3rd position but develops a more consistent win rate. Averaging a certain point value per tournament. This average oftentimes can out-weigh the angler that took 1st in several tournaments but got skunked in a few.
The title “Angler of the Year” is earned through consistent performance and not luck or chance. It is an award based on averages, and the angler that can be consistent in his or her performance over a long period of time qualifies for this award.
Jordan Werner qualified as Utah’s Junior League Angler of the Year for 2021. This took a tremendous amount of work and dedication. He had to maintain a top-winning position for almost every tournament. When competing against 30-40 other anglers, you can imagine how much work this young man put in.
The award was presented to Jordan at an annual banquet in St. George UT. He is name was engraved into the Championship Belt, he was given a custom branded rod with his name on it, and received the invitation to fish the High School National Championship sponsored by Abu Garcia and presented by Bassmaster.
When asked how he was able to accomplish the number of wins he maintained, Jordan said, “I rarely ever took 1st place, but I worked hard and made sure, I gave it my all, and as a result scored most of the time in the top three. To help me become better, I put the time in at the lake. I once fished for over four months without missing a single day. I logged over 500 hours of bass fishing during that time. The dedication I had is what helped me become better. This year I have many more first-place wins, but I could never have gotten here, had I not made the commitment to give it everything back then. I am now learning how to bass fish at a higher level, expanding my techniques, and learning from some of the best. I hope that each year, I am able to improve my skill and learn more about what it takes to increase my averages.”
