Hill Gains on Bain for Possible Classic Berth

Story courteousy of BASS COMMUNICATIONS

September 23, 2008

BASS Reporter’s Notebook:

Tennessee’s Cindy Hill Moves In On Kim Bain in the Race to the Bassmaster Classic

Going into the homestretch, Cindy Hill of Smyrna, Tenn., is catching up to leader Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala., in the race to be the first woman to qualify for a Bassmaster Classic, bass fishing’s premier event.

Hill lags by just 14 points, giving her a realistic chance to overtake Bain, who has led the race since the beginning of the 2008 season of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors.


Along with 18 other pros vying for the same prize, the leaders are banking on earning more points at the Oct. 23-25 WBT Championship presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors on Arkansas’ Lake Hamilton out of Hot Springs.


Besides a berth in the 2009 Classic — Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La. — the WBT pro who ends up with the most points takes two other big prizes: the Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Angler of the Year title and a 2009 fully-rigged Toyota truck.

The points race has not been a dash, but a long-distance run in which the pros have earned points according to their finishes in four regular-season events. The top 20 then qualified last weekend for the Arkansas championship.

And now the question has become: Can anyone earn enough points in Arkansas to catch Kim Bain?

Does Hill think she can?

“I don’t really know,” said Hill, who took her first WBT win last weekend at Clarks Hill Lake in Georgia. “There’s nothing that can’t be done. I go out and fish every tournament like it’s for Angler of the Year. I don’t really think about points that much, I just think about me and the fish.”

She is thinking about the WBT Championship, and has been for quite some time.

“Last October, right after the 2008 schedule was released, I went to Lake Hamilton and marked spots that looked good. I wanted to see it when the water was down. I feel confident with my fishing ability that I can catch them.”

So is the WBT points race now a Bain-Hill faceoff? Hardly — they’re the two who are closest to the prize, but not the only ones who could score it.

A glance at the standings (available at www.Bassmaster.com) reveals a list of formidable competitors. Ten of the championship qualifiers have WBT event titles on their fishing resumes, and several boast multiple wins. Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, is only 35 points behind Bain in third.