When the final fish hit the scale at Alabama's Lay Lake there were 12 Elite Series invitations from the Opens that were decided Saturday - four each from the Overall, Eastern and Central divisions. Double qualifiers, etc., made this difficult to explain at times, but here is how it all shook out.
Earning the four Overall Opens invitations were: 1. Bryan New, 2. Justin Atkins, 3. Matt Robertson, and 4. Marc Frazier, who will join his brother, Micah, on the Elite Series next year.
Earning the four Central Opens invitations were: 1. Jason Christie, 2. Greg Hackney, 3. Kenta Kimura, and 4. Darold Gleason. Gleason, by the way, won a tiebreaker with Paul Browning based on overall weights on Days 1 and 2 in the four tournaments.
Earning the four Eastern Opens invitations were: 1. Joshua Stracner, 2. Scott Martin, 3. Justin Hamner, and 4. KJ Queen, the first Bethel University graduate to make the Elite Series from that dominant college bass fishing team.
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Bassmaster also released the 2021 Elite Series schedule which you can check out by clicking here.