Jeff Kriet hoists a pair of bass at the 2011 Bassmaster Classic.
Gary Tramontina/BASS photo
Angler Jeff Kreit of Ardmore is headed to the Bassmaster All-Star Week competition by popular vote.
The BASS elite series changed its format this year to do away with the post-season contest among the top 12 points earners for Angler of The Year. Instead it plans a post-season All-Star Week in Alabama that will include the top eight anglers in the series plus four anglers – one from each region – chosen by popular vote.
Kriet is the central region winner announced at the iCAST fishing industry show in Las Vegas Wednesday. Others chosen by popular vote are Michael Iaconelli of Pitts Grove, N.J., Aaron Martens of Leeds, Ala., and Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif.
BASS reported that Kriet won in the closest of the four regional races against Missouri angler Denny Brauer. Kriet beat Brauer by 551 votes, with 17.8 percent of the vote to Brauer’s 17.4 percent. Rick Clunn of Missouri took third with 10.3 percent of the vote.
“I am very surprised and humbled that I got as many votes as I did,” Kriet told BASS, which credited a Facebook page set up by Kriet’s daughter as a move that helped his bid. “It means a lot to me that people would take the time to vote for me. There were a lot of really, really good fishermen in my region.” BASS reported that over three weeks, 31,482 registered voters cast more than half a million votes. Fans were permitted to vote once a day online in each of the four regions.
The anglers will square off in tournaments the last two weekends of the month for a $100,000 top prize, and 12 people who cast votes have been paired with the anglers by random drawing. BASS says the names of those people will be announced after all of them have been contacted.
The lucky voter paired with the All-Star Week winning angler will win a Triton 18XS with a Mercury 150 Optimax engine. BASS says the package has a suggested retail price of $30,307.
The first part of the contest will be on Lake Jordan near Wetumpka, Ala. on July 23 and 24, with the top eight from that tournament finishing on the Alabama River at Montgomery on July 29 for a three-day competition. The top two face off on July 31.
In addition to Kriet, Iaconelli, Martens and Reese, the 12 includes Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich.; Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla.; Gerald Swindle of Warrior, Ala.; Ott DeFoe of Knoxville, Tenn.; Steve Kennedy of Auburn, Ala.; Terry Scroggins of San Mateo, Fla.; Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C.; and Davy Hite of Ninety Six, S.C.
