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With two CITGO Bassmaster Tour tournaments down and four to go, Arizona's Andre Moore is making a strong push toward claiming the coveted Toyota Rookie of Year Award and the $10,000 that goes with it.

After finishing 14th and 11th in the opening Florida events, Moore is leading the pack, and everything is going according to plan.

“I was thinking about the Rookie of the Year Award before the season started,” Moore said. “I saw where [Greg] Hackney came out and did it last year, and I thought that would be pretty cool. When I had the opportunity to fish the Tour, it definitely became a goal. I'm trying for it!

“There are still four more tournaments and a lot of bass to catch, but I'm feeling pretty confident. I think I'm fishing really well right now. I think it's obtainable.”

Not only is Moore first in the Rookie of the Year race, but he’s also fifth in Angler of the Year points. When Greg Hackney took last season’s Rookie of the Year Award, he finished second in the CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year race, narrowly losing out to Gerald Swindle.

Moore might have had an edge over most of the other rookies in the Florida tournaments since he was born in Boca Raton and spent nearly every summer of his youth living at his grandmother's house in Stuart, where he fished daily.

He’s had considerable success on a rival bass circuit, but making his mark on the Bassmaster Tour is now his main focus.

“Everybody knows that if you're going to make a name for yourself you have to do it on the Bassmaster Tour,” Moore said.

Rounding out the top five in the Rookie of the Year standings are Pennsylvania’s Dave Wolak, Arkansas’ Chip Hawkins, California’s Greg Gutierrez and Florida’s Preston Clark.

GREATEST ANGLER DEBATE. Twenty-two time CITGO Bassmaster Classic qualifier Gary Klein is one of the 10 finalists for the ESPN Outdoors’ Greatest Angler Debate. Inside BASS asked him whom he would vote for as the best of the best.

“In my mind, there are only two anglers that it should be narrowed down to, and they are Roland Martin and Rick Clunn,” Klein replied. “To me, those are the two greatest anglers of all time, but, hey, it's a voting system. It's up to the public, so we'll just have to see how it goes.

“Those two guys would get my vote. I wouldn't want to choose between the two because they're both good friends of mine. Like I said, it needs to be between those two guys.”

From now through March, fishing fans will have the opportunity to cast their votes for the top angler on Bassmaster.com/vote. In April, Greatest Angler Debate programming will begin on ESPN2 as part of BASS Saturday. The programming will feature biographical shows on the top 10 anglers as well as debate programs featuring fans, the media and professional anglers. Fans will find stats and stories in the pages of Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times, Bassmaster.com and on the weekly ESPN Outdoors radio show. In June and July, the debate will heat up again as the fans choose between the top two anglers during a second round of voting on Bassmaster.com.

The debate will conclude in Pittsburgh — at the 2005 CITGO Bassmaster Classic — when two champions are crowned. One will be given the Classic trophy and the other will be hailed as the greatest angler of all time.

WEIRDEST CATCH. “The weirdest thing I ever caught was a body,” South Carolina pro Jason Quinn said. “It happened on Lake Norman when I was 14 years old on a Zara Spook. I was fishing a point and a lot of boat traffic was coming by. I was walking a Spook on a point and all of a sudden, when a wave went down, this guy's head appeared. He had anchors tied to his legs and they said he had been in the water for two weeks. He apparently committed suicide.”

DID YOU KNOW? Who would think you could catch an 11-pound bass and not win the Purolator Big Bass Award? That’s exactly what happened to Virginia's John Crews on Day Two of the Harris Chain Tour event. That same day, Michigan pro Art Ferguson was one ounce better!

PRO BIRTHDAYS Missouri pro Stacey King will be 56 on Feb. 22. Florida’s Charlie Younger turns 53 three days later.

IF I HADN’T BECOME A BASS PRO… Andre Moore joked that if his fishing career had not worked out, “I'd probably work in a tollbooth or something.”

THEY SAID IT. “I drew good partners the first two days, but I had a hard time spending eight hours with Skeet Reese.” Tommy Swindle, Bassmaster non-boater finalist at the Harris Chain Tour event and the father of Gerald Swindle, having a little fun at the expense of affable California pro Skeet Reese.

BASS is the world's largest fishing organization, sanctioning more than 20,000 tournaments worldwide through its Federation. The CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite 50 series, is the oldest and most prestigious pro bass fishing tournament circuit and continues to set the standard for credibility, professionalism and sportsmanship as it has since 1968.

Sponsors of the CITGO Bassmaster Tour include CITGO Petroleum Corp., Toyota, Busch Beer, Purolator, Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Berkley, Lowrance Electronics, MotorGuide, Bass Pro Shops and Cialis (tadalafil).

Inside Bass, Courtesy BASS