Brennan Flick Wins 2026 Elite Qualifiers Points Race With 347 Points

Brennan Flick, an angler from West Monroe, La., has won the Angler of the Year title in the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers, finishing the three-event postseason with 347 points, according to Bassmaster. The win puts him on the 2027 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series, the top tour run by B.A.S.S., along with nine other qualifiers.

For Flick the result settles a split life. He works as an on-call Non-Destructive Test technician on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, a job that can send him offshore for one day or several weeks at a time. For the past four months he has moved back and forth between rig work and tournament reservoirs.

How Flick built his points lead

Flick got into the Elite Qualifiers through Division II of the Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens. He started the regular season 20th at Sam Rayburn, then placed 24th at Grand Lake and 25th at Kentucky Lake. An 85th-place finish at the Upper Mississippi River closed out his regular season, but he still finished ninth in points and moved on comfortably.

The postseason opened at Norfork Lake, where he fished a single offshore spot for a fourth-place finish. He told Bassmaster that event was the most enjoyable of the three and that he expected a Top 10 there if he had the spot to himself. He finished 32nd at Toledo Bend, then closed with another Top 5 at Guntersville.

Cranking at Guntersville

At Guntersville, Flick leaned on crankbaits, which he calls his favorite way to catch bass. He said he had expected his bigger fish to come from the grass. In the end he needed two schools of fish he had located in practice to carry his finish, and he admitted he did not go in thinking he could win.

He describes himself as a pattern fisherman. His preferred kind of event is one where he finds a single productive pattern and runs it faster than the rest of the field, and he named fishing stumps at Kentucky Lake as an example. He sees that speed as a strength on the Elite Series.

A slow climb from local water

Before the Opens, Flick played baseball as a pitcher in the San Francisco Giants minor league system. His fishing started small: a $5,000 boat on home waters around West Monroe, including Caney Creek and the Ouachita River.

Winning the 2023 American Bass Anglers National Angler of the Year title convinced him he could compete at a higher level. Two years later he entered the Opens for the first time. That first season began well, with a Top 10 at Sam Rayburn and a 15th at Kentucky Lake. Then came a 197th at Norfork Lake, where weather battered the field, and a 123rd at Leech Lake, and he missed the Elite Qualifiers.

The past season has strained his family, he said. He told Bassmaster he has barely been home in four months and that calls for rig work can come at any hour, sometimes asking him to reach a dock that is 6 hours from where he lives.

What it means for the 2027 Elite Series

Flick heads a 2027 Elite Series rookie class filled through Elite Qualifier points. The other nine anglers who earned spots are Nathan Reynolds, Brody Robison, Noah Winslow, Kaden Buchmann, Trey Schroeder, Cody Abbott, Bryson O’Steen, Bailey Gay and Lucas Lindsay.

For fans, the class brings a group of new names to the top level of B.A.S.S. competition, several of them coming up through the Opens system. Flick has said for about 10 years that he wanted a full-time career in freshwater fishing.

One more Elite spot still open

One more invitation is still to be decided. The winner of the upcoming Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at Lake Hartwell will also earn a place on the Elite Series, according to Bassmaster.

Source: Bassmaster