Category: BASSMASTER Elite Series/Opens

PALATKA, Fla. — Fighting through a painfully slow morning, John Crews of Salem, Va., capitalized on the afternoon bite and caught a limit of 17 pounds, 3 ounces to retain his lead in the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with a two-day total of 45-3.

After posting a Day 1 limit of 28 pounds, Crews edged Bob Downey of Hudson, Wis., by 12 ounces. On Friday, Crews greatly improved his position and will head into Saturday’s semifinal round with a 9-13 lead over Elite Series rookie Masayuki Matsushita of Tokoname-Aichi, Japan.

A telling moment that bespoke the attitude driving Crews’ decisions came midmorning when Crews’ cameraman asked if he had a target weight.

“I never do that; I want to catch as much as I can,” Crews said. “If you say, ‘I’ll be okay if I get 15,’ or, ‘I’ll be okay if I get 18,’ if you reach that, you might take your foot off the gas.

“Early on in my career, I settled more than I should have in a tournament, instead of going for the kill. Whether I finish first, second, 12th, 15th or whatever, I’m going to try to catch every fish I can catch.”

Despite high-pressure, postfrontal conditions, Crews did not take his foot off the gas Friday. Retracing his Day 1 game plan, he returned to Rodman Reservoir, where he threw a jerkbait and a drop shot. Rigged with a prototype Missile Baits worm, the latter produced all of his Rodman catches.

By the time he left Rodman at 1 p.m., Crews had only a small limit of 10-9 that he anchored with a 4-pounder. The reservoir was much more productive on Day 1, as Crews locked out with a 24-pound bag that included an 8-1.

“I got very fortunate to catch the bag that I caught yesterday, but I made some good adjustments today,” he said.

Specifically, he fished his way out of the Rodman canal and spent the rest of his afternoon targeting shallow cover on the main river. His afternoon effort allowed him to make three upgrades with a 4 1/2-pounder, a 4 and a 2.

Crews caught his main-river fish on a 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with a Missile Baits D Bomb in the bruiser (black/blue) color. While the bulky 4-inch creature bait is typically used for flipping and pitching presentations, Crews said the D Bomb proved appealing to the quality bass he needed.

“It’s a big profile and when the (ChatterBait’s) blade is vibrating, the whole tail portion of it kicks and it looks big,” Crews said. “These big fish are used to eating bream and crappie. If you throw the little stuff, you can catch some fish, but I like the bigger stuff.”

Crews’ most notable catch came around 2:35 when a fish bit and missed his bait. He threw back to the same spot and again missed a bite. On his third cast to the spot, he caught his largest fish of the day.

“I think it was the same fish,” Crews said. “Sometimes, they just get mad that they missed it.”

Crews said he’s unsure if he will return to Rodman on Day 3. After Friday’s flat calm conditions seemed to hinder the bite, he said he needs wind to stimulate the fish. If Saturday looks windy, he’ll go; if not, he’ll work his main-river spots.

Matsushita caught nearly twice what he caught on Day 1 and improved from 41st place to second with a two-day total of 35-6. Spending his day in the main river, Matsushita bolstered his Day 1 weight of 12-1 with 23-5 — the day’s heaviest catch.

“I fished all shallow water; 3 to 5 feet,” he said. “I got bites all day. I caught two big ones in the morning and when the (sun shined brightly) I caught three big bites.”

Matsushita caught all of his bass on a free rig — a Texas-rigged worm with a tear drop weight hanging from his line. He used a 3/16-ounce weight and a Zoom Magnum Finesse worm in junebug and redbug colors.

Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., added 13-5 to his Day 1 limit of 22 pounds and remained in third place with 35-5. Returning to the Rodman canal, Blaylock caught most of his fish on a wacky-rigged watermelon red Yum finesse worm.

Blaylock caught one of his keepers on a Booyah Hard Knocker lipless bait. While the reaction bait played a bigger role on Day 1, he was unable to replicate that success Friday.

“I went through the whole area with moving baits and never got a single bite,” Blaylock said. “It never did feel right and then once I started picking up finesse, I started catching one here, one there. I just knew right off the bat that, as soon as I got the first one, this is what it’s going to take to get bites today.

“I kept the other stuff honest throughout the day, but it just wasn’t working.”

Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with the 9-13 largemouth he caught on Day 1.

Crews leads the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit with his 28-pound first-round bag.

The Top 47 remaining anglers will take off at 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday from Palatka City Docks. The weigh-in will be held at Palatka Riverfront Park at 3:30 p.m., with only the Top 10 pros advancing to Championship Sunday with a chance at the $100,000 first-place prize.

Live coverage for the event can be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms. FS1 will also broadcast live with the tournament leaders beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.

2022 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River 2/10-2/13
St. Johns River, Palatka  FL.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 2

   Angler                   Hometown              No./lbs-oz  Pts   Total $$$

1.  John Crews Jr          Salem, VA               10  45-03  100
  Day 1: 5   28-00     Day 2: 5   17-03   
2.  Masayuki Matsushita    Tokoname-Shi JAPAN      10  35-06   99
  Day 1: 5   12-01     Day 2: 5   23-05   
3.  Stetson Blaylock       Benton, AR              10  35-05   98
  Day 1: 5   22-00     Day 2: 5   13-05   
4.  Patrick Walters        Summerville, SC         10  34-13   97
  Day 1: 5   17-12     Day 2: 5   17-01   
5.  Bob Downey             Hudson, WI               6  33-15   96
  Day 1: 5   27-04     Day 2: 1   06-11   
6.  David Mullins          Mt Carmel, TN           10  33-12   95
  Day 1: 5   19-07     Day 2: 5   14-05   
7.  Brandon Palaniuk       Rathdrum, ID            10  31-08   94
  Day 1: 5   13-04     Day 2: 5   18-04   
8.  Austin Felix           Eden Prairie, MN        10  30-13   93
  Day 1: 5   12-12     Day 2: 5   18-01   
9.  Bill Lowen             Brookville, IN          10  30-02   92
  Day 1: 5   20-00     Day 2: 5   10-02   
10. Chris Johnston         Otonabee Ontario CANADA 10  29-05   91
  Day 1: 5   17-09     Day 2: 5   11-12   
11. Gregory DiPalma        Millville, NJ           10  29-01   90
  Day 1: 5   13-01     Day 2: 5   16-00   
12. Clent Davis            Montevallo, AL          10  28-05   89
  Day 1: 5   13-02     Day 2: 5   15-03   
13. Jake Whitaker          Fairview, NC            10  28-03   88
  Day 1: 5   12-12     Day 2: 5   15-07   
14. Micah Frazier          Newnan, GA               8  27-13   87
  Day 1: 5   20-04     Day 2: 3   07-09   
15. Wes Logan              Springville, AL         10  27-10   86
  Day 1: 5   13-15     Day 2: 5   13-11   
16. Scott Canterbury       Odenville, AL            9  27-09   85
  Day 1: 5   12-13     Day 2: 4   14-12   
17. Gary Clouse            Winchester, TN          10  26-11   84
  Day 1: 5   12-04     Day 2: 5   14-07   
18. Ray Hanselman Jr       Del Rio, TX             10  26-11   83
  Day 1: 5   14-02     Day 2: 5   12-09   
19. Matty Wong             Honolulu, HI             7  26-10   82
  Day 1: 5   19-14     Day 2: 2   06-12   
20. Caleb Sumrall          New Iberia, LA           9  26-08   81   $1,000.00
  Day 1: 4   08-11     Day 2: 5   17-13   
21. Jonathan Kelley        Old Forge, PA            8  26-07   80
  Day 1: 5   18-04     Day 2: 3   08-03   
22. Jay Yelas              Turner, OR              10  26-07   79
  Day 1: 5   13-12     Day 2: 5   12-11   
23. Brandon Card           Salisbury, NC           10  26-06   78
  Day 1: 5   14-10     Day 2: 5   11-12   
24. Chris Zaldain          Fort Worth, TX           9  26-03   77
  Day 1: 5   19-03     Day 2: 4   07-00   
25. Drew Cook              Cairo, GA                8  25-11   76
  Day 1: 3   04-00     Day 2: 5   21-11   
26. Taku Ito               Chiba JAPAN             10  25-10   75
  Day 1: 5   16-04     Day 2: 5   09-06   
27. Jamie Hartman          Newport, NY             10  25-09   74
  Day 1: 5   12-13     Day 2: 5   12-12   
28. Jacob Powroznik        North Prince George, VA  9  24-15   73
  Day 1: 4   08-09     Day 2: 5   16-06   
29. Tyler Rivet            Raceland, LA            10  24-14   72
  Day 1: 5   11-13     Day 2: 5   13-01   
30. Jason Williamson       Wagener, SC             10  24-14   71
  Day 1: 5   11-14     Day 2: 5   13-00   
31. Justin Atkins          Florence, AL            10  24-13   70
  Day 1: 5   14-13     Day 2: 5   10-00   
32. Lee Livesay            Longview, TX             8  24-07   69
  Day 1: 5   18-15     Day 2: 3   05-08   
33. Jay Przekurat          Stevens Point, WI        8  24-07   68
  Day 1: 4   13-01     Day 2: 4   11-06   
34. Cory Johnston          Cavan CANADA             9  24-02   67
  Day 1: 4   07-07     Day 2: 5   16-11   
35. Matt Arey              Shelby, NC              10  24-01   66
  Day 1: 5   16-07     Day 2: 5   07-10   
36. Bernie Schultz         Gainesville, FL         10  23-09   65
  Day 1: 5   13-07     Day 2: 5   10-02   
37. Brandon Lester         Fayetteville, TN        10  23-08   64
  Day 1: 5   11-03     Day 2: 5   12-05   
38. John Cox               Debary, FL              10  23-03   63
  Day 1: 5   09-06     Day 2: 5   13-13   
39. Clifford Pirch         Payson, AZ               8  23-02   62
  Day 1: 3   08-07     Day 2: 5   14-11   
40. Chad Morgenthaler      Reeds Spring, MO        10  23-01   61
  Day 1: 5   14-05     Day 2: 5   08-12   
41. David Williams         Newton, NC               9  22-07   60
  Day 1: 5   11-11     Day 2: 4   10-12   
42. Bryan New              Saluda, SC               7  21-14   59
  Day 1: 5   18-11     Day 2: 2   03-03   
43. Buddy Gross            Chatanooga, TN           6  21-12   58
  Day 1: 5   17-02     Day 2: 1   04-10   
44. Bryan Schmitt          Deale, MD                9  21-11   57
  Day 1: 4   08-04     Day 2: 5   13-07   
45. Caleb Kuphall          Mukwonago, WI            7  21-11   56
  Day 1: 2   09-08     Day 2: 5   12-03   
46. Chad Pipkens           Dewitt, MI               7  21-06   55
  Day 1: 5   19-00     Day 2: 2   02-06   
47. Luke Palmer            Coalgate, OK            10  20-15   54
  Day 1: 5   10-14     Day 2: 5   10-01   
48. Joseph Webster         Hamilton, AL             9  20-12   53   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   11-05     Day 2: 4   09-07   
49. Brandon Cobb           Greenwood, SC            6  20-11   52   $3,500.00
  Day 1: 1   09-13     Day 2: 5   10-14   
50. Jason Christie         Park Hill, OK            9  20-01   51   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 4   10-14     Day 2: 5   09-03   
51. Jeff Gustafson         Keewatin Ontario CANADA 10  19-14   50   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   09-03     Day 2: 5   10-11   
52. Gerald Swindle         Guntersville, AL        10  19-14   49   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   09-10     Day 2: 5   10-04   
53. Marc Frazier           Newnan, GA               8  19-08   48   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   15-00     Day 2: 3   04-08   
54. Josh Douglas           Isle, MN                 6  19-04   47   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 1   02-07     Day 2: 5   16-13   
55. Cody Huff              Ava, MO                  9  19-02   46   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   09-07     Day 2: 4   09-11   
56. Scott Martin           Clewiston, FL            8  19-00   45   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 4   09-05     Day 2: 4   09-11   
57. Hank Cherry Jr         Lincolnton, NC           8  18-14   44   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   13-14     Day 2: 3   05-00   
58. Greg Hackney           Gonzales, LA             9  18-09   43   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   08-00     Day 2: 4   10-09   
59. Clark Wendlandt        Leander, TX              7  18-06   42   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 2   05-14     Day 2: 5   12-08   
60. Seth Feider            New Market, MN           8  18-04   41   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   15-00     Day 2: 3   03-04   
61. Matt Robertson         Kuttawa, KY              8  17-15   40   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   13-00     Day 2: 3   04-15   
62. Drew Benton            Blakely, GA              8  17-15   39   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   11-05     Day 2: 3   06-10   
63. Brock Mosley           Collinsville, MS         8  17-05   38   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 3   04-09     Day 2: 5   12-12   
64. Matt Herren            Ashville, AL            10  17-05   37   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   12-10     Day 2: 5   04-11   
65. Ed Loughran III        Richmond, VA             7  17-04   36   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 4   06-14     Day 2: 3   10-06   
66. Cliff Prince           Palatka, FL             10  17-02   35   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   08-15     Day 2: 5   08-03   
67. Frank Talley           Temple, TX               7  16-11   34   $2,500.00
  Day 1: 5   14-07     Day 2: 2   02-04   
68. Keith Combs            Huntington, TX           9  16-03   33
  Day 1: 4   07-05     Day 2: 5   08-14   
69. Mark Menendez          Paducah, KY              5  15-00   32
  Day 1: 5   15-00     Day 2: 0   00-00   
70. Carl Jocumsen          Queensland AUSTRALIA     7  15-00   31
  Day 1: 5   09-06     Day 2: 2   05-10   
71. Todd Auten             Lake Wylie, SC           9  14-14   30
  Day 1: 5   06-00     Day 2: 4   08-14   
72. Justin Hamner          Northport, AL            9  14-13   29
  Day 1: 4   07-00     Day 2: 5   07-13   
73. Skylar Hamilton        Dandridge, TN            9  14-06   28
  Day 1: 4   05-10     Day 2: 5   08-12   
74. Shane LeHew            Catawba, NC              6  14-05   27
  Day 1: 4   07-00     Day 2: 2   07-05   
75. Hunter Shryock         Ooltewah, TN             7  14-00   26
  Day 1: 4   09-11     Day 2: 3   04-05   
76. Koby Kreiger           Alva, FL                 7  13-15   25
  Day 1: 2   02-05     Day 2: 5   11-10   
77. Mike Huff              London, KY              10  13-14   24
  Day 1: 5   07-10     Day 2: 5   06-04   
78. Rick Clunn             Ava, MO                  5  13-00   23
  Day 1: 1   03-14     Day 2: 4   09-02   
79. Alex Redwine           Blue Ash, OH             7  12-15   22
  Day 1: 5   09-15     Day 2: 2   03-00   
80. Pat Schlapper          Eleva, WI                7  12-03   21
  Day 1: 5   10-08     Day 2: 2   01-11   
81. Joshua Stracner        Vandiver, AL             8  12-02   20
  Day 1: 5   06-08     Day 2: 3   05-10   
82. Darold Gleason         Many, LA                 6  11-15   19
  Day 1: 4   07-03     Day 2: 2   04-12   
83. Jesse Tacoronte        Kissimmee, FL            6  11-15   18
  Day 1: 3   04-13     Day 2: 3   07-02   
84. Jacob Foutz            Charleston, TN           5  11-10   17
  Day 1: 3   08-14     Day 2: 2   02-12   
85. Kenta Kimura           Osaka JAPAN              4  11-03   16
  Day 1: 3   04-11     Day 2: 1   06-08   
86. Paul Mueller           Naugatuck, CT            5  09-03   15
  Day 1: 3   05-04     Day 2: 2   03-15   
87. Steve Kennedy          Auburn, AL               6  09-01   14
  Day 1: 1   01-11     Day 2: 5   07-06   
88. KJ Queen               Catawba, NC              6  08-13   13
  Day 1: 2   03-15     Day 2: 4   04-14   
89. Kyle Welcher           Opelika, AL              4  06-14   12
  Day 1: 2   03-12     Day 2: 2   03-02   
90. Derek Hudnall          Denham Springs, LA       3  04-11   11
  Day 1: 3   04-11     Day 2: 0   00-00   
91. Brad Whatley           Bivins, TX               3  04-10   10
  Day 1: 2   03-09     Day 2: 1   01-01   
92. David Fritts           Lexington, NC            2  03-15    9
  Day 1: 1   02-06     Day 2: 1   01-09   
93. Michael Iaconelli      Pittsgrove, NJ           3  03-06    8
  Day 1: 1   00-14     Day 2: 2   02-08   
94. Daisuke Aoki           Minamitsurugun Yamanash  2  03-04    7
  Day 1: 0   00-00     Day 2: 2   03-04   
———————————————————————–

PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS 
Day
 1   Brandon Cobb             Greenwood, SC       09-13      $1,000.00
 2   Caleb Sumrall            New Iberia, LA      09-07      $1,000.00

VMC MONSTER BAG
Day
 1   John Crews Jr            Salem, VA           28-00          $0.00
 
———————————————————————–
Totals
Day   #Limits    #Fish      Weight
 1        59       393      1045-09
 2        50       363       887-09
———————————-
         109       756      1933-02

PALATKA, Fla. — Looking past current conditions and considering the forthcoming weather patterns, John Crews of Salem, Va., employed a two-stage strategy and sacked up a Day 1 limit of 28 pounds to lead the season-opening AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River.

Leading Bob Downey of Hudson, Wis., by 12 ounces, Crews also sits atop the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit.

Following the miserably rainy, cold conditions that plagued practice, Day 1 dawned clear and bright. It was definitely a postfrontal, high-pressure scenario, but air temperatures quickly rose and spurred the fish.

“At the beginning of practice, I was practicing for these conditions, so it made me look really smart, like I made a good decision,” Crews said. “Hopefully, it will hold up. I think we’ll have the same weather tomorrow.”

Running upriver from Palatka, Crews started his day in Rodman Reservoir. While 22 other boats passed through the Buckman Lock with him, Crews said he never felt cramped or crowded. Covering a 2-mile area, he had to hit several spots to secure a limit.

“There was no aggregation of boats; there were three or four boats in sight of where I was at, but nobody was on top of anybody,” Crews said. “I don’t think anything is that good — at least I didn’t find it.

“It was one here, one there, one here. Then, at the end of the day, it was like, ‘You smoked them.’ But it wasn’t like that.”

Anchoring his bag with an 8-1, Crews said he used multiple techniques in Rodman and combined moving baits with slower presentations.

“I used these baits in relationship to similar places,” he said. “All the places I fished in Rodman were similar. I think I can go back tomorrow and catch some more fish, but catching big fish like that — I don’t know.”

Around 1 p.m., Crews locked out of Rodman. While he waited, he spoke with the Bassmaster LIVE crew and told them his plan was to return to the St. Johns and look for another big bite. He checked that box around 2:45 by relocating to a familiar spot and adding a 4 1/2-pounder.

“I had some things in mind; I tried some offshore stuff and I tried some other shallow stuff,” Crews said. “It’s an area where I’ve caught some in the past. I caught a 2 1/4-pounder and then I caught that 4 1/2 and then I left. It’s one of those places where you can usually catch one or two, but I’ve never caught a limit there.”

As Crews explained, his decision to leave Rodman was based on factors beyond his control.

“With (Rodman), you have to lock when you can lock (based on the predetermined schedule),” he said. “I thought, ‘When I come back to the river, maybe I can get another bite or two, and maybe it will help me at some point.’ It helped me today.”

Overcoming an early mechanical issue, Downey placed second with 27-4. He would eventually leave the water around 11:30 a.m. to have the service crew address the issues, but not before reaching his planned destination south of Palatka.

“I limped down to my area and had all my weight by 10 o’clock,” Downey said. “I caught a good fish in that area in practice and I think the weather conditions set up right — the cold last night just sucked them into this area. I only caught five fish today.

“I would have loved to have gone and practiced elsewhere today; I had some stuff south of Lake George and I would have loved to run some canals later today just to see if I could find a bigger one, but I didn’t do that because I didn’t know if I could get back or not.”

Downey caught his fish in what he described as a backwater creek. He caught his fish off the bank and used his Humminbird 360 to locate key areas. Winding a reaction bait produced all of his fish.

Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., is in third place with 22 pounds. Starting with a solid game plan, Blaylock realized the situation was not going to produce, so he made a wholesale change and salvaged his day.

“There are a couple of little places that people keep overlooking and every year that I’ve caught them (well) here, I’ve caught some key fish in those areas and this year was no different,” Blaylock said. “I just happened to catch a couple of really nice ones midday that really helped the cause.

“In my primary stuff, only one place out of all the stuff I’d found in practice had a fish on it. I just got one bite and that was it. Hopefully, there’s enough left in that backup spot to carry me on to a Top 10.”

Blaylock caught his bass on a trio of moving baits. His strategy was to “buzz through” the area to locate active fish that were positioning off the bank in open water.

“I definitely left them biting today,” he said. “But it’s not like you just pull up and just throw at one spot and catch them; you have to work hard to get those bites.”

Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 9-13 largemouth.

Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. ET from Palatka City Docks. The weigh-in will be held at Palatka Riverfront Park at 3:30 p.m.

After Friday’s weigh-in, the Top 47 remaining anglers will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.

The tournament is being hosted by the Putnam County Tourist Development Council and Putnam County Chamber of Commerce.

2022 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota
2022 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
2022 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Daiwa, Garmin, Huk Performance Fishing, Marathon, Strike King, Triton Boats, VMC

2022 Bassmaster Conservation Partners: AFTCO, Yamaha

CECIL COUNTY, Md. — With one minute to spare before lines out, Michael “Ike” Iaconelli landed an 18.50-inch bass that lifted him to victory Saturday in the Bassmaster B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series powered by TourneyX at Upper Chesapeake Bay.

Iaconelli’s five biggest bass measured 88.25 inches, edging second-place Sterling Leach by just 1.75 inches.

It’s been a good couple of weeks for the popular New Jersey pro and 20-time Classic qualifier. His Kayak Series win comes on the heels of a fourth-place finish at the Basspro.com Bassmaster Northern Open at Oneida Lake, which lifted Iaconelli to second in the Northern Division points race.

“I’m proud of this one. I’ve been trying for three years to win a professional kayak event and I finally won one,” Iaconelli said. “It feels really, really good. It is a big moment for me. Kayak fishing has been great for me personally and a lot of the companies I work with are supporting me fishing on the kayak side as well.

“I launched an Ike-approved Hobie at ICAST this year. I’ve only fished out of it about six times. What a great way to break in a new kayak.”

The victory also gives Ike a win at every level of adult Bassmaster competition.

“I’ve won as an amateur, I’ve won as a Nation angler, I’ve won at the Open level, the Elite level, the Classic and Angler of the Year,” he said. (Iaconelli won the 2003 Bassmaster Classic at the Louisiana Delta and captured the Angler of the Year title in 2006.) “I talk to Brandon Palaniuk a lot and one of his goals is to win at every level of B.A.S.S. and the Classic is sort of the last thing he has left to win.

“But not now. If he wants to top my record he has to get a kayak and win a kayak event.”

Iaconelli’s winning fish engulfed his Berkley MaxScent Creature Hawg with just enough time for him to haul it into the boat, measure it and photograph it before the official lines out time of 2 p.m. ET.

“It’s funny how those things happen like that,” he said. “I was flipping and flipping and watching the time click. At 1:59 p.m., I pitched in a mat and it sank about a foot and the hydrilla shook. I saw my line jump and set the hook, cranked it in on 65-pound braid, swung it in, unhooked it and submitted the picture all within a minute. It was an incredible thing.

“It ranks up there as one of the most exciting fish catches I’ve ever had in my life.”

Throughout his years of tournament fishing, Iaconelli has accumulated hours of experience on the Upper Chesapeake Bay, a place he calls a “premier fishery” in the Northeast. This time of the year, however, is one of the more difficult seasons to generate bites.

“It is a special place, but it has this ugly stage which is early August through late September,” he said. “Today was one of those days. It was hard to get bites. Sometimes the grind tournaments, when you do well or win, mean even more than the easy ones.”

Iaconelli fished parts of a big grass flat, specifically targeting ditches that drained out of the flat as well as hard hydrilla edges that were pinned against deeper creeks that ran through the flat.

With all of his experience on the Upper Chesapeake, it was the first time he fished these specific areas of the flat.

“The quality that lives out there is what attracted me to that flat. It has a tremendous amount of 15- to 20-inch largemouth. The challenge was finding them. One of the reasons it gets so tough in August is that flat turns into a grassbed. It is mainly hydrilla, star grass, eelgrass and it is 5 square miles of it.”

Iaconelli landed five bass around the drains and ditches on a Texas-rigged black/blue flake Berkley PowerBait The General with a 1/16-ounce VMC nail weight on an Abu Garcia spinning rod. His two biggest bites came punching the hydrilla edge with a black/blue flake Berkley MaxScent Creature Hawg paired with a 1-ounce tungsten weight and a 4/0 VMC Flippin’ Hook.

He said the tide played a major role.

“The golden rule of tidal fishing is low water is always the best,” he said. “I had an early window of low water. This morning I caught four within the first hour and a half. When we started it was low but coming in.

“As the tide started to come in, the bite really shut off. I went a long time without a bite. I caught the 19.50 on the bad tide, a dead high tide, and that got me my limit.”

Leach used two different patterns to claim second place in his first-ever Kayak Series event. He also claimed Big Bass of the Tournament honors after winning the tiebreaker against Iaconelli with a 19.50 and a 19.00-inch bass.

After his two days of practice, Leach decided to fish the Sassafras River section of the Bay. After failing to get a buzzbait bite first thing in the morning, he switched to a Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer and landed three of his five keepers around wood in deeper pockets in the river bends.

West Virginia angler Greg Harper finished third with 78 inches of smallmouth bass. Harper ventured up the Susquehanna River, an environment that matched the style of his home waters.

His bait of choice was a Lucky Craft squarebill crankbait and a 4-inch Yum Dinger rigged on a weighted wacky rig jighead around rock and wood targets.

“My day started out pretty slow. I didn’t catch my first fish until around 8 o’clock,” Harper said. “But after that, it was fast and furious. I caught a limit within an hour, and I caught a lot of fish all day long, just not a lot of size.”

The top four anglers from the event punched their tickets to the 2022 Kayak Series National Championship, which will be held in conjunction with the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk at Lake Hartwell.

Cecil County, Maryland hosted the event. 

WADDINGTON, N.Y. — Saving the best for last may not have been his intention, but Taku Ito’s eye-popping 26-pound limit propelled the Japanese sensation to a convincing victory at the Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River with a four-day total of 90 pounds.

Hailing from Chiba, Japan, the second-year Elite placed 38th on Day 1 with 17-15, then improved to 11th with a second-round limit of 22-14. Day 3 saw Ito secure his Championship Sunday berth by adding 23-3 and improving to seventh.

Earning $100,000 for his Elite win, Ito anchored his third and fourth days’ limits with 6-pound smallmouth, both of which earned $1,000 daily awards for Phoenix Boats Big Bass.

“I love Waddington — I’m very, very happy,” Ito said with the engaging sincerity Elite audiences have come to love. “When I was 8 years old, I won the (Bassin’s Black Bass with Hank Parker) video game and now, on the St. Lawrence River, I won the Bassmaster Elite Series.

“Big Bass. Big Stage. Big Dreams. Bassmaster!”

Ito, who placed sixth at last year’s St. Lawrence River event, devoted all four days to Lake Ontario. The first two days, he fished rock structures in approximately 20 feet. On Saturday those areas failed to produce, so he relocated to a spot in 26 to 27 feet near Chaumont Bay.

Calling this spot “Taku Disneyland” for its abundance of fish, Ito caught his Day 3 limit there and started on the spot Sunday.

“I was driving about two hours (each way) and I had about two hours and 30 minutes of fishing time,” Ito said.

Arriving at his spot this morning, Ito thought his graph was malfunctioning when he saw what appeared to be a false bottom at 13 to 14 feet. To his delight, it was a massive school of Lake Ontario giants.

“Usually, smallmouth are on the bottom, but today there was a school of big smallmouth suspended,” Ito said.

Ito said he noticed a distinct water clarity difference, and he assumed the fish had followed the clean water into his area. Also, Ito said the gobies he incidentally caught on his drop shot were a couple of inches larger than the 3- to 4-inchers he saw the previous three days.

“My spot had bigger gobies today, so maybe the smallmouth were there for the big gobies,” Ito said.

Ito caught some of his bass on a drop shot with a 4-inch Ecogear Aqua Swim Shrimp rigged on a 1/0 Ryugi Talisman hook with a 1/4-ounce Ryugi TG Delta sinker.

He also caught keepers on a Neko-rigged 5 1/4-inch Nories Latterie straight worm and a Berkley Hit Worm. For this rig, he used a 3/16-ounce Neko weight and a 1/0 Ryugi Talisman hook.

“I was using many Japanese techniques,” Ito said. “I would cast and sometimes the fish would take (the bait) while it was falling. Sometimes, I kept my bait on the bottom for 10 seconds, 15 seconds, with no action.”

Justin Atkins of Florence, Ala., finished second with 88-12. Atkins tied Gerald Swindle of Guntersville, Ala., for eighth place on Day 1 with 21-6, then added 22-14 and rose to fifth. He caught 23-10 on Day 3 and moved into second before settling at that position with Sunday’s limit of 20-14.

“I caught all of my fish out of the lake,” Atkins said. “I found a flat that had some grass and rock with some sand mixed in 12 to 20 feet. There was big school of fish on it, and I was using my Lowrance Active Target to look for them.”

Atkins caught his fish on a drop shot with a Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm and a 3/32-ounce Marabou jig with a piece of MaxScent worm on the shank. That adjustment added bulk and scent appeal, which helped convert more bites into hookups.

“I really liked the brown Marabou jig this week,” Atkins said. “I had some followers on black, but the brown, for whatever reason seemed to get them to trigger.”

Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, finished third with 88-10. On Day 1, the 2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year tied Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., for sixth place with 21-12.

Wendlandt added 23-3 on Day 2 and moved up to fourth. Catching 20-10 on Semifinal Saturday kept him in that spot until his final-round limit of 23-1 advanced Wendlandt one more spot.

“I fished the lake and used a lot of different depths, but the shallowest I caught one was probably 12 feet and the deepest was 28,” Wendlandt said. “The best seemed to be about 20 feet.”

Wendlandt caught his fish on a 3/16-ounce Ned rig and a drop shot with a green pumpkin minnow-style bait.

Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., won the $1,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award for the week with a 6-5. Walters also claimed the $1,000 daily Big Bass award for Day 2.

Bernie Schultz of Gainesville, Fla., who led Days 1 and 2 and finished eighth, won the $1,000 daily Big Bass award for Day 1.

Schultz took home an additional $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, while Chris Groh of Spring Grove, Ill., earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, Ito also earned $4,000 for winning while Wendlandt claimed an additional $1,500 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

The Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River was hosted by the Village of Waddington and St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce. This tournament is supported by a Market New York grant from I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism awarded as part of the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. The tournament and all associated festivities were planned to ensure the safety of anglers, marshals, staff and fans. 

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Bass Pro Shops, Garmin, Huk Performance Fishing, Marathon, Rapala

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Conservation Partner: AFTCO

2021 Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River Local Hosts: Village of Waddington, St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce

WADDINGTON, N.Y. — For the past three days, Cory Johnston has mentioned saving certain fish he’d previously located for when he needed a big bite. On Saturday, he started with a trio of those difference-makers and took over the Day 3 lead of the Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River with a three-day total of 68 pounds, 10 ounces.

Hailing from Cavan, Canada, Johnston tied his younger brother Chris for second place on Day 1 with 23-7. He added 22-2 on Friday and slipped to third before moving into the top spot with Saturday’s limit of 23-1. Heading into Championship Sunday, Johnston leads Alabama pro Justin Atkins by 12 ounces.

Johnston said the smallmouth he targeted first were bed fish in about 8 feet. Picking off three solid keepers in short order gave him an early cushion and allowed him to “go fishing.”

“I fished a lot of shallow stuff today — 15 feet or less,” Johnston said. “Every spot was different; some were rock, some were sand, some were weed. It was a mix of everything.

“The strategy was: hit as many spots as you can and hope you get the right ones to bite.”

As he’s done the first two days, Johnston said he fished multiple spots throughout a 90-mile stretch from the take-off area to Chaumont Bay outside the mouth of the St. Lawrence. He caught his fish on a drop shot with an 8- to 10-inch leader.

“I had a limit by the noon hour,” Johnston said. “I upgraded a little bit, but not much. I didn’t want to burn too many fish.”

Essential to his execution was Johnston’s use of a Flogger — a cone-shaped device with a clear, flat screen that sits at the water’s surface and allows him to view details below. Similar to looking through a dive mask, without the submersion, the Flogger provides key perspective that aids in presentation.

“It shows you your bait, it shows you where the fish is and it shows you the sweet spot,” Johnston said. “You’re seeing how the fish reacts to your bait. I can catch them eventually, but it just speeds up the process.”

Looking ahead, Johnston said he’ll follow a game plan similar to the one he employed Saturday.

“I’m excited to get back out there tomorrow; I left a few out there,” Johnston said. “I probably could have culled a few more times, but I’m trying to play the game and save as many fish as I can.

“I should have three good ones saved for tomorrow and then I’m going to have to go fishing. I’m hoping for 23 pounds tomorrow; that’s my goal. I think if I got 23 I’d be hard to beat.”

Hailing from Florence, Ala., Atkins is in second place with 67-14.  After tying Gerald Swindle for eighth place on Day 1 with 21-6, Atkins added 22-14 and rose to fifth. On Saturday, he weighed 23-10 and gained three more spots.

Spending his day in Lake Ontario, Atkins targeted a range of spots he’d previously fished along with a few new areas. One of his new spots yielded a 5-pounder.

Atkins caught his fish on a drop shot with a Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm and a 1/16-ounce brown Marabou jig. The latter also benefitted from the MaxScent appeal.

“I’m cutting a piece of a MaxScent The General (stick worm) and threading it onto the hook of the jig,” Atkins said. “That adds bulk to the Marabou, but I’m using a piece that’s even with the bottom of the feathers, so the fish can smell it and taste it when they bite.

“Those fish are really bad about just nipping at the Marabou jig and not getting it. I use a really limber rod, so you can tell when they get it. I think with a little bit of MaxScent on that jig, it helps them get it.”

Chris Johnston, of Peterborough, Canada, is in third place with 65-11. The first Canadian to win an Elite title at last year’s St. Lawrence River event, Johnston added 19-6 to his first two days’ weights of 23-7 and 22-14.

“I caught four of my five in the river today,” Johnston said. “I lost a big one in the lake and I lost a big one in the river — that hurt.

“I was targeting the transitions of sand patches and grass in 15 feet or less. Sometimes, you’d pull up to a spot and there’d be five or six fish there and sometimes, it would be a ghost town. They move a lot, so you’re just hoping to run into them on that stuff.”

Johnston caught his fish on a drop shot, a wacky-rigged 4-inch Senko and a 1/8-ounce black Marabou jig.

Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., leads the Phoenix Boats Big Bass standings with a 6-5 caught on Day 2.

Josh Stracner of Vandiver, Ala., won the Rookie of the Year title with 547 points. Edging fellow Alabama pro Justin Hamner (536), Stracner said he focused on maintaining a strong mental game, even when his chances of winning the ROY title appeared bleak.

“Just keeping my head screwed on right was probably the biggest key,” Stracner said. “I held my own the first part of the season, but at the halfway point, I kind of got behind. Going into (Lake Champlain) last week, I was in fifth place and all I was worried about was making the Classic.

“Today, I did both; I made the Classic and got Rookie of the Year. It’s pretty hard to believe.”

Sunday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7 a.m. ET from Whittaker Park. The weigh-in will be held at the park at 3:15 p.m. The Top 10 remaining anglers will be vying for a $100,000 first-place prize.

Live coverage can be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms. FS1 will also broadcast live with the tournament leaders beginning at 8 a.m. ET.

The Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River is being hosted by the Village of Waddington and St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce. This tournament is supported by a Market New York grant from I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism awarded as part of the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. The tournament and all associated festivities are being planned to ensure the safety of anglers, marshals, staff and fans. 

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Bass Pro Shops, Garmin, Huk Performance Fishing, Marathon, Rapala

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Conservation Partner: AFTCO

2021 Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River Local Hosts: Village of Waddington, St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce

WADDINGTON, N.Y. — A patient approach to what Bernie Schultz described as a slow area rewarded the Gainesville, Fla., pro with a five-bass limit that weighed 25 pounds, 5 ounces to lead Day 1 of the Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River.

“I found a spot near where I fished last year,” Schultz said of his upriver area, near Chippewa Bay. “I haven’t seen another tournament boat in two years and I hope I don’t — unless it’s a camera boat.”

Schultz, whose best finish on the St. Lawrence was sixth place in 2013, described his spot as a flat approximately 200 yards long with depths of 3 to 8 feet. Starting on one end of the flat in practice, he quickly caught a 4-pounder, and by the time he’d completed his drift, he had another 4- and two 3-pounders.

“It’s a really good area and it’s protected,” Schultz said. “That’s what I like about it — it has everything the fish want and it has everything I need to fish, no matter what the weather does.

“There are numerous islands and I’m cradled right in the middle of them. I decided to start there today and it was a good call. It started quickly and I left them biting.”

Despite an impressive performance, which included the day’s Phoenix Boats Big Bass — a 6-2 — Schultz said the spot he fished required such a laborious effort that he believes most anglers would have abandoned it.

“It’s a precise drift that I’m making,” he said. “It’s slow enough that if anyone practiced there, they probably would have gotten discouraged.

“The fish are in certain sections of the flat and I had to locate them today because they moved a little bit. I had a 5, that 6-2 and a 3-pounder pretty quickly, but after that I had to move around on the flat to find them.”

Schultz fished a diverse arsenal of baits including a 1/2-ounce Hildebrandt Drum Roller spinnerbait, a Shimano jerkbait (debuting next week at ICAST), a 1/8-ounce black Marabou jig, a drop shot with a green pumpkin Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm and a Ned rig with a 3-inch green pumpkin watermelon laminate Yamamoto Senko.

It is a well-known truth that two of the biggest obstacles to winning on the St. Lawrence share the same last name. Today, brothers Chris and Cory Johnston, of Peterborough and Cavan, Canada, respectfully, strengthened that lore by catching identical 23-pound, 7-ounce limits and sharing second place.

Adding to the statistical oddity, the Johnstons nearly matched one another’s top fish. Chris caught a 5-5, while his older brother had a 5-4.

Chris Johnston, who won last year’s St. Lawrence River Elite, started his day by running upriver to the Clayton, N.Y., area and targeting fry guarders — male bass that hover near the spawning bed to protect recent hatchlings — on flats in 8 to 10 feet. He found a handful of these fish early in practice but noticed Wednesday that a couple of them had left.

“I was a little disappointed yesterday, so today I thought I’d better go catch the ones that are left in that area,” he said. “That gave me a good start to the day, so I could relax a little bit.”

Around midmorning, Johnston left this area and added a few keepers, including a 5-8, in Lake Ontario’s Cape Vincent area. Contrasting his 2020 victory, he said the fish are significantly less concentrated this week.

“They’re not set up good like they were last year,” he said. “They’re scattered anywhere from 5 feet to 25 feet. I don’t have a spot that has a big group of them so I’m looking and trying to find random fish.

“The reason is that there are still fish spawning. There are fish that are guarding fry and fish that finished spawning a month ago and they’re already making their way out. There are fish up shallow trying to do their thing, and they’re everywhere in between.”

Cory Johnston devoted his day to the river and fished a hodgepodge of locations. Covering a 90-mile stretch from Waddington to Lake Ontario, he fished traditional rock reefs and shoals from 5 to 35 feet.

“I just kind of ran all over the place, wherever the wind allowed me to go,” he said. “I caught all of my fish in the river; I didn’t weigh a fish out of the lake.

“I didn’t have any specific area, I just hit 30 spots. I have a game plan and I have something in my back pocket where if I need a fish I can grab one quick in a couple of little areas. I needed a couple today and that’s what I did.”

Seth Feider of New Market, Minn., maintained his lead in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 795 points. With a 66-point margin over Chris Johnston (729), Feider just needs a decent showing Friday to conclude his best professional season with an AOY title.

Former AOY (2017) Brandon Palaniuk of Rathdrum, Idaho, is in third place with 702 points, followed by Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., with 676 and Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia, La., with 669.

Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7 a.m. ET at Whittaker Park. The weigh-in will be held back at the park at 3:15 p.m. After Friday’s weigh-in, only the Top 45 anglers will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.

Live coverage for each day of the event can be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms. FS1 will also broadcast live with the tournament leaders beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.

The Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River is being hosted by the Village of Waddington and St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce. This tournament is supported by a Market New York grant from I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism awarded as part of the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. The tournament and all associated festivities are being planned to ensure the safety of anglers, marshals, staff and fans. 

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Bass Pro Shops, Garmin, Huk Performance Fishing, Marathon, Rapala

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Conservation Partner: AFTCO

2021 Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River Local Hosts: Village of Waddington, St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Bryan Schmitt talked all week about “special little things” that were happening to help him maintain the lead at the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain.

But the most special one happened just 15 minutes before Sunday’s final weigh-in, as Schmitt landed a 3 1/2-pound smallmouth that gave him a 12-ounce upgrade and allowed him to secure his first Elite Series win with a four-day total of 78 pounds, 5 ounces.

Call it luck. Call it fate. But the win seemed meant to be for the second-year Elite Series pro from Deale, Md.

“I pulled up to a buoy cable this afternoon right before time to come in and saw two fish on my (Garmin) LiveScope,” Schmitt said. “I threw that drop shot in there, felt the bite and didn’t really think it was a bass. But it turns out it was a bass — and without that fish I don’t win.

“When things like that are happening, man, it’s a special week.”

Schmitt talked each day about a waning bite, but he still managed to catch 21-11, 21-5 and 19-4 the first three rounds. Then on Championship Sunday, things did get tougher and he only managed to bring in 16-1.

That barely helped him stave off a hard charge from Texas pro Keith Combs, who finished with 77-13 — just 8 ounces behind the leader.

To catch his bass, Schmitt used a Spro Spin John, a Neko-rigged Missile Baits Quiver Worm and a Missile Baits Ned Bomb on a drop-shot rig.

“I caught a couple of key fish on the spinbait, but the Quiver Worm produced the bulk of my fish for sure,” he said. “I was fishing it on a Hayabusa Spin Muscle Guard Hook with a little nail weight just to get it down.

“These fish are smart, I guess. You could throw a jig in there and they wouldn’t bite it, but they would eat that Quiver Worm.”

For the Neko setup, Schmitt used a 6-9 Fitzgerald Stunner Rod and a spinning reel spooled with 10-pound braid and a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader. For the drop-shot rig, he used a drop-shot wacky hook from Hayabusa, a 1/4-ounce Reins Tungsten sinker with 8-pound fluorocarbon on the same rod. The only time he picked up a baitcaster was when he used the spinbait.

Another special element for Schmitt this week was the ability to overcome several unfortunate moments.

On Saturday, he had two key fish break his line. Then on Sunday, he lost several bass because of something he says he should have never allowed to happen.

“Today, it took me three lost fish to realize that the point on my drop-shot hook had bent in,” he said. “That’s not a smart move. Out of those three, I’ll bet you at least one of them was a big one because they were on a spot where I had caught three 4-pounders this week.

“I was able to overcome those kinds of mistakes — somehow.”

Even as he was standing in the weigh-in line, Schmitt said he thought he’d blown his chance with only 16-1 in his bag.

“I thought it was over, no way,” he said. “I knew one of these guys was going to have a good day — and Keith (Combs) did.”

Combs, who was in 16th place going into Saturday’s semifinal round, dialed in a topwater strategy for big smallmouth and caught 20-14 to jump into third heading into Championship Sunday.

The topwater pattern, which included a Strike King Sexy Dawg and another unnamed walking bait, produced again Sunday, as Combs caught 19-3 and held the unofficial lead on BassTrakk for a while.

Combs, who also used a couple of different jerkbaits, caught a pair of large fish that swallowed his lures so deeply he was forced to release them for fear of receiving a 4-ounce dead-fish penalty at the scales.

“With those two fish, I might have actually had enough to win,” Combs said. “I hate that it worked out that way, but it is what is.”

Minnesota pro Seth Feider, who came into the event just needing to avoid a total crash and burn to maintain his lead in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings, did far more than simply survive. He finished in fourth place behind Schmitt, Combs and Texas pro Chris Zaldain.

With his fourth Top 10 of the season, Feider now has 699 points and holds a commanding lead over his closest competitors, Patrick Walters of South Carolina (644) and Canadian Chris Johnston (630).

Feider believes it will take something catastrophic to keep him from winning the AOY title now — and for that reason, he plans to stay close to the takeoff site during next week’s season-ending Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River.

“I’m not going to take any chances, and that definitely means I won’t be making the long run to Lake Ontario,” Feider said. “I probably won’t get more than 30 miles from the takeoff site anytime during the week.”

Another Minnesota pro, Austin Felix, took Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day honors with a 4-13. Oklahoma pro Dale Hightower had Big Bass of the week with the 5-15 he caught on Day 1.

Combs took home an additional $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, while Zaldain earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

Combs also earned $2,500 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Yamaha Power Pay program, while Zaldain claimed an additional $1,500 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Hank Cherry now occupies some rare air in the sport of professional bass fishing, and he has the bank statements to prove it.

The Lincolnton, N.C., pro, caught five bass Sunday that weighed 13 pounds, 1 ounce and won the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk with a three-day total of 50 pounds, 15 ounces.

He is only the fourth angler in the 51-year history of the Super Bowl of Professional Bass Fishing to win the event in back-to-back years. He earned another of the iconic Classic trophies and his second $300,000 check in 18 months.

Another North Carolina pro, Matt Arey, finished second with 49-1 and lost at least one big bass on Championship Sunday that might have put him over the top.

“I feel bad for Matt, and I told him I’ve been where he was,” Cherry said. “I had the same thing happen to me and mine happened a lot closer to the boat.

“I’m not giving it back — not apologizing for it. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.”

Cherry, a nine-year veteran of the Bassmaster Elite Series, finished third in his first Classic back in 2013 on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees. Like Arey, he lost a crucial fish in that event that would have given him the trophy.

He went through a tough stretch in the Classic after that, finishing no higher than 27th in three tries. But then he put the bad memories of 2013 behind him last year on Lake Guntersville when he caught 29-3 on the first day and rode that mammoth bag to a wire-to-wire victory.

He didn’t quite go wire-to-wire this year, starting in third place on the first day with a limit of 20-4. But as suffocating heat moved into the area, the fishing got tougher and Cherry remained consistent enough to stay on top with a Day 2 catch of 17-10 and a final-round bag of 13-1 that was just enough.

He caught the bulk of his weight during the week flipping flooded bushes along the shoreline and throwing a jerkbait around riprap along the dam.

“The bite in the bushes is going away,” Cherry said. “It’s so hot out there right now. The water temperature was 71 degrees when we got here for practice, and I saw it as high as 87 today. A lot of those bushes are starting to break down, and those fish just don’t want to be there.

“I was fortunate to get enough out of them to win.”

For flipping the bushes, Cherry used a 3/4-ounce tungsten weight with a 4/0 flipping hook and a variety of soft-plastic baits, including a Berkley Pit Boss, a craw lure and a beaver-style bait.

“I would just alternate between five or six baits, back and forth,” he said. “That probably wasn’t as much for the fish as it was for me. Whatever I was using, I was doing the same thing. But it felt like I was doing something different.”

When the bass got extremely lethargic in the 99-degree heat Sunday, Cherry did actually make a change to his flipping setup, switching to a 1/4-ounce tungsten weight with a 3/0 hook. He had two fish in his livewell at the time but caught three bass to fill his limit within 30 minutes after making the switch.

“I caught maybe the dumbest bass in the lake,” Cherry said. “I flipped into a bush and instead of going into the bush, that lighter bait kind of ricocheted off of it. The bass actually swam out of the bush to get the bait and swam back in with it.”

That fish weighed almost 4 1/2 pounds and helped Cherry recharge on a day when he said sweat was constantly rolling into his eyes and blinding him.

When Cherry fished the rocks along the dam, he used a new jerkbait called a Berkley Stunna in the stealth shad color. He believes he caught the tail end of the jerkbait bite, just as he did with the flipping bite.

“The bushes I was fishing, if the lake was at normal pool, they wouldn’t even be in the water,” Cherry said. “So, you know the fish are probably itching to move away from there and go offshore.

“I think the same is true around those rocks. The heat is just radiating off those things — and if it makes us miserable, you know it probably makes them miserable, too.”

Cherry joins Rick Clunn (1976-77), Kevin VanDam (2010-11) and Jordan Lee (2017-18) as the only back-to-back Classic winners. This marks his fourth victory with B.A.S.S., including last year’s Classic, an Opens win on Smith Lake in 2012 and an Elite Series victory on Muskegon and White Lakes in 2013. He was the 2013 Bassmaster Elite Series Rookie of the Year.

Cherry said he enjoyed his reign as the 2020 Classic champion even though the year was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic and many of the personal appearances he might have made as Classic champ didn’t happen.

Whether this next reign will be different, he couldn’t say for sure.

“I don’t know what to expect, I really don’t,” Cherry said. “I’ll just take it as it comes — and I’ll never doubt just how blessed I am.”

Frank Talley of Temple, Texas, took home Berkley Big Bass honors and an additional $2,500 for his 8-3 caught on Day 1. 

As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, sixth-place finisher Scott Canterbury of Odenville, Ala., earned a $20,000 bonus.

Cherry took home an additional $7,500 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, and Chris Jones of Bokoshe, Okla., earned $2,500 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

The Bassmaster Classic was hosted by the Fort Worth Sports Commission and Visit Fort Worth.

FORT WORTH, Texas — The 54 anglers competing in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk had planned to start fast and take advantage of an early-morning shad spawn bite that has been extremely reliable this week on Lake Ray Roberts.

But Mother Nature threw up an electric stop sign.

Freak thunderstorms with dangerous lightning delayed the tournament by more than two hours and negated much of the morning bite. While many of the Day 1 leaders struggled, North Carolina pro Hank Cherry landed 17 pounds, 10 ounces to move from third place into the lead with a two-day total of 37-14.

The winner of last year’s Classic on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, Cherry will now begin Championship Sunday with nearly a 5-pound lead and a chance to become only the fourth angler in the 51-year history of the event to claim back-to-back titles.

“There was definitely more pressure to win the first one last year,” Cherry said. “Winning is one thing, but to win it twice, it’s got to all go right.

“What’s eerie about this is that it’s the same feeling as last year. I’m out there on the dam today and people are stopped all the way down the dam getting out watching me fish — it just feels the same.”

Despite the late takeoff, Cherry got off to a fast start, catching two bass in the 4-pound range flipping a jig into wooden structure. The fish came only four or five casts apart and gave Cherry the shot in the arm he needed to fish confidently all day.

That was especially important when he lost a big bass later in the day on a jerkbait.

“Of course, Day 2, in Hank Cherry fashion, I lose the biggest fish I’ve hooked in the two days of competition and it breaks me off on a jerkbait,” Cherry said. “I don’t know how big it was, but I’ve caught thousands of them on a jerkbait and I know when they bite how big they are. When I set the hook, it didn’t move. When it started diving down, I knew it was gonna go right to the rock and brush.

“It would have been a great fish to have, but I didn’t let it bother me.”

Cherry said he’s taking the same approach with the pressure of leading the Classic once again going into the final day.

“I’ve played in a lot of big games,” Cherry said. “I’ve won this big game — and I’m not going to cry if I don’t win it tomorrow.

“I’ve got my trophy at home. I’ll hand the trophy to the winner tomorrow and go hard at it again next year.”

The biggest mover of the day was B.A.S.S. Nation qualifier Justin Kerr, who rose from 22nd place to second with four bass that weighed 19-12. Kerr put together the day’s biggest limit flipping submerged bushes and using an Evergreen JackHammer ChatterBait.

Though his bag was one shy of a limit, one of his bass weighed 7-2 and another weighed 6-12.

“I have this one area that has a bunch of big ones in it, and I got two bites there yesterday and lost one of them,” Kerr said. “Today, with the half day that we had, I was hoping for two bites that would put me in the 11-pound range, but they just happened to be 7-pounders.”

An Arizona resident and longtime successful angler in the western United States, Kerr has not been exploiting the early-morning shad spawn bite like much of the field. That’s a big part of why he weighed in only a small five-bass limit (13-6) on Day 1 and missed a limit on Day 2.

But he believes he’s around the bass to win — he said he’s seen another bass in the 10-pound range this week — and he realizes the gravity of his situation.

Kerr is vying to become just the second Nation qualifier ever to win professional fishing’s biggest event. Connecticut angler Bryan Kerchal claimed the title in 1994 on North Carolina’s High Rock Lake but was killed in a plane crash months later.

“To represent the Nation this way is an awesome deal,” he said. “It shows that people like me who don’t get the opportunity to fish the Elites or get on tour because of financial or personal reasons … It doesn’t matter who you are, you can get a chance to compete in the Classic.

“It’s a pretty humbling experience to be in this position, for sure.”

Perhaps no one was hurt more by the late start than Auburn, Ala., pro Steve Kennedy.

After catching a big limit of 23 pounds — mostly before 7 a.m. — on Day 1, Kennedy managed just four bass that weighed 9-11 Saturday and tumbled to third with 32-11. He said he plans to spend all day on Championship Sunday fishing for deep suspended bass he found in practice.

He lost a bass he estimated at 8 pounds fishing that way Saturday.

“It was on a jig on standing timber out in the middle of the lake,” Kennedy said. “I got him to the boat without a problem, and the way I remember it, he just kind of laid there for a second like he wasn’t even going to fight. Then he took off and pulled off. Huge fish.”

Though Kennedy had major success fishing the early-morning shad spawn bite on Day 1, he said he may mostly forego that action Sunday to target those big suspended bass.

“I may spend 30 minutes up shallow,” Kennedy said. “But I’ve had this other deal in my back pocket, and you only get so many chances like this. There aren’t big numbers out there, but those big females are there.

“Those are the ones I want to fish for.”

Frank Talley of Temple, Texas, still holds the lead for Berkley Big Bass of the week with the 8-3 largemouth he caught on Day 1. Chad Pipkens of Holt, Mich., came close to topping that mark Saturday with an 8-1.

The Top 25 anglers will take off at 6:15 a.m. CT Sunday from Lake Ray Roberts State Park – Isle du Bois Unit in Pilot Point, Texas. The weigh-in will be held at 4 p.m. at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

The winning angler will claim a life-changing title, a $300,000 first-place check and the iconic trophy that only a handful anglers have ever had the privilege to hold.

The final day of the annual Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo will be held Sunday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Exhibitors are on-site selling a variety of merchandise for fishing, hunting, camping and more. As part of the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo, the Go Out{side} Experience will offer fun options for families, including inflatable archery, cornhole, jumping dogs and knot tying. Kids can even catch their first fish at an on-site catfish pond.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Steve Kennedy caught a five-bass limit that weighed 23 pounds Friday to take the lead during the opening round of the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk.

And the scary thing is, he said he didn’t even get to go to the biggest bass he found in practice.

The Auburn, Ala., pro made the most of an early-morning shad spawn bite, putting the bulk of his limit in the livewell before 7 a.m. Then with the winds blowing hard across Lake Ray Roberts, he decided he wouldn’t be able to proceed with the second part of his game plan.

On Saturday, he hopes to exploit that morning bite again — and hopefully move on to Phase 2.

“I kind of got stuck up on one end of the lake because the wind was blowing so hard,” said Kennedy, a 10-time Classic qualifier who has finished as high as second in the event. “I didn’t go anywhere near where I was planning on fishing my second deal.

“Maybe I will tomorrow. Maybe I won’t have to. If I don’t have to show that until the final day, I sure don’t want to.”

During Kennedy’s final day of practice, he said he got 18 bites the first two hours of the morning. But those came during cloudy conditions — and since he didn’t know if there would be cloud cover Friday, he said he tried to cover water as quickly as he could.

“I was trying to condense that two hours into 30 minutes,” he said. “I was fishing a jig, and they were just eating it like crazy. The morning went just like I had hoped it would.”

After the morning bite died down, Kennedy had hoped to move to deeper water and target larger bass with big glide baits. But the weather nixed those plans.

“It was extremely rough,” he said. “My core was hurting. There were times when I was on my tippy-toes and times when I was on my heels trying not to go over.

“I was headed to my other fish and taking waves over the bow. If I had gone all the way there, I might not have been able to stand up.”

South Carolina pro Patrick Walters is right on Kennedy’s heels in second place with 22-7 — and like Kennedy, Walters found the morning conditions much more favorable.

“I was really hoping for an afternoon bite, but the wind made that nonexistent,” said Walters, who earned his first Bassmaster Elite Series victory last season on Lake Fork in Texas and finished second in another event on Fork earlier this year. “I planned to spend the entire afternoon fishing offshore, but you really couldn’t position on the fish and present your bait the way you needed to.”

That left him to rely on the early-morning bite — and, as it was for most of the field, that was short-lived.

“The shallow bite is good first thing,” Walters said. “But then about 9 o’clock, it cuts off like a light switch. I don’t know what happens, if they just move out or what. But you have until about 9, and then you have to go do something different.”

Walters — who earned Bassmaster Century Belts in both Fork events with four-day limits that weighed more than 100 pounds — did so by targeting big suspended bass in standing timber. He said Ray Roberts features a different kind of structure than Fork, but he’s counting on those same suspended fish to earn the biggest win of his career.

“You have to cover so much water out there offshore just to get a bite or two,” Walters said. “If you can’t fish efficiently, it’s just not worth it.”

But if conditions allow, Walters said the tournament could certainly be won offshore.

“You’re talking about isolated bass that are eating white bass and crappie instead of the ones up shallow that are eating little shad,” Walters said. “A fish that suspends owns the water column. When they get up that high in the water column, they’re usually pretty big fish — and in Texas, they’re especially big.

“I only need 15 fish to win this tournament, so those are the ones I’m looking for.”

A familiar name — reigning Classic champ Hank Cherry of North Carolina — finished the day in third after landing five bass that weighed 20-4.

“This was actually my worst day since I’ve been here,” said Cherry, who caught 29-3 on the first day of last year’s Classic at Lake Guntersville. “I never got comfortable today. The situation, the water color, the wind.

“I kept second-guessing myself and thinking I should be somewhere else.”

It was a midmorning revelation that finally made Cherry feel at home.

“I kind of slowed down and started kind of retracking how the morning went and noticing that I got more bites on the trees than I did in the bushes,” Cherry said. “So, I picked up a jig and kind of went back to that and started getting bit.”

Though he weighed in 20-plus pounds, Cherry said fans shouldn’t confuse Friday’s bag with the big opening-round total he weighed in last year’s event.

“This was a lot of work,” he said. “I spent a lot of time wondering what was going on, and I tried to force it. I tried to get up on some of those shallower points and really fish it, but I just wasn’t comfortable there.

“I figured out what I needed to be doing, and I’m not leaving the area I fished today.”

The full field of 54 anglers will take off again at 6:15 a.m. CT Saturday from Lake Ray Roberts State Park – Isle du Bois in Pilot Point, Texas. The weigh-in will be held at 4 p.m. CT at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. After Saturday’s weigh-in, only the Top 25 anglers will advance to Championship Sunday with a chance at the $300,000 first-place prize.

FOX network will broadcast four hours of live coverage with tournament leaders beginning at 7 a.m., and full event coverage is available on Bassmaster.com.

The annual Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo will be held Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Exhibitors are on-site selling a variety of merchandise for fishing, hunting, camping and more. As part of the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo, the Go Out{side} Experience will offer fun options for families, including inflatable archery, cornhole, jumping dogs and knot tying. Kids can even catch their first fish at an on-site catfish pond.

The Bassmaster Classic is being hosted by the Fort Worth Sports Commission and Visit Fort Worth.

Angler                   Hometown              No./lbs-oz  Pts   Total $$$

1.  Steve Kennedy          Auburn, AL               5  23-00    0
  Day 1: 5   23-00   
2.  Patrick Walters        Summerville, SC          5  22-07    0
  Day 1: 5   22-07   
3.  Hank Cherry Jr         Lincolnton, NC           5  20-04    0
  Day 1: 5   20-04   
4.  Chris Jones            Bokoshe, OK              5  17-02    0
  Day 1: 5   17-02   
5.  Drew Cook              Cairo, GA                5  16-10    0
  Day 1: 5   16-10   
6.  Jamie Hartman          Newport, NY              5  16-04    0
  Day 1: 5   16-04   
6.  Matt Robertson         Kuttawa, KY              5  16-04    0
  Day 1: 5   16-04   
8.  Jordan Wiggins         Cullman, AL              5  16-03    0
  Day 1: 5   16-03   
9.  Cory Johnston          Cavan CANADA             5  16-02    0
  Day 1: 5   16-02   
10. Chris Johnston         Otonabee Ontario CANADA  5  16-00    0
  Day 1: 5   16-00   
11. Drew Benton            Blakely, GA              5  15-14    0
  Day 1: 5   15-14   
11. Hunter Shryock         Ooltewah, TN             5  15-14    0
  Day 1: 5   15-14   
13. Todd Auten             Lake Wylie, SC           5  15-12    0
  Day 1: 5   15-12   
14. Frank Talley           Temple, TX               4  15-10    0
  Day 1: 4   15-10   
15. Cody Bird              Granbury, TX             5  15-08    0
  Day 1: 5   15-08   
16. Ed Loughran III        Richmond, VA             5  15-08    0
  Day 1: 5   15-08   
17. Matt Arey              Shelby, NC               5  15-05    0
  Day 1: 5   15-05   
18. Paul Mueller           Naugatuck, CT            5  15-01    0
  Day 1: 5   15-01   
19. Scott Canterbury       Odenville, AL            5  14-11    0
  Day 1: 5   14-11   
20. Brandon Palaniuk       Rathdrum, ID             5  14-04    0
  Day 1: 5   14-04   
21. Chris Zaldain          Fort Worth, TX           4  13-11    0
  Day 1: 4   13-11   
22. Justin Kerr            Lake Havasu, AZ          5  13-06    0
  Day 1: 5   13-06   
22. Luke Palmer            Coalgate, OK             5  13-06    0
  Day 1: 5   13-06   
24. David Mullins          Mt Carmel, TN            5  13-03    0
  Day 1: 5   13-03   
25. Austin Felix           Eden Prairie, MN         4  12-15    0
  Day 1: 4   12-15   
26. Stetson Blaylock       Benton, AR               5  12-13    0
  Day 1: 5   12-13   
27. Trevor McKinney        Benton, IL               5  12-12    0
  Day 1: 5   12-12   
28. Clent Davis            Montevallo, AL           5  12-11    0
  Day 1: 5   12-11   
29. Seth Feider            New Market, MN           5  12-10    0
  Day 1: 5   12-10   
30. Jason Williamson       Wagener, SC              5  12-07    0
  Day 1: 5   12-07   
31. Chad Pipkens           Dewitt, MI               4  12-05    0
  Day 1: 4   12-05   
32. Brandon Card           Salisbury, NC            5  12-02    0
  Day 1: 5   12-02   
33. Taku Ito               Chiba JAPAN              3  12-02    0
  Day 1: 3   12-02   
34. Kyle Welcher           Opelika, AL              4  11-14    0
  Day 1: 4   11-14   
35. Bryan New              Belmont, NC              4  11-08    0
  Day 1: 4   11-08   
36. Clark Wendlandt        Leander, TX              5  11-01    0
  Day 1: 5   11-01   
37. Keith Carson           DeBary, FL               5  10-15    0
  Day 1: 5   10-15   
38. Shane LeHew            Catawba, NC              5  10-11    0
  Day 1: 5   10-11   
39. Chad Morgenthaler      Reeds Spring, MO         5  10-03    0
  Day 1: 5   10-03   
40. Matt Herren            Ashville, AL             4  10-02    0
  Day 1: 4   10-02   
41. Brock Mosley           Collinsville, MS         4  08-10    0
  Day 1: 4   08-10   
42. Jeff Gustafson         Keewatin Ontario CANADA  4  08-08    0
  Day 1: 4   08-08   
43. Bill Lowen             Brookville, IN           3  08-04    0
  Day 1: 3   08-04   
44. Brandon Cobb           Greenwood, SC            3  07-05    0
  Day 1: 3   07-05   
45. Brandon Lester         Fayetteville, TN         2  05-15    0
  Day 1: 2   05-15   
46. Jake Whitaker          Fairview, NC             2  05-10    0
  Day 1: 2   05-10   
47. Masayuki Matsushita    Tokoname-Shi JAPAN       3  05-09    0
  Day 1: 3   05-09   
48. Buddy Gross            Chickamauga, GA          2  05-08    0
  Day 1: 2   05-08   
49. Brad Whatley           Bivins, TX               2  04-10    0
  Day 1: 2   04-10   
50. John Cox               Debary, FL               3  04-00    0
  Day 1: 3   04-00   
51. Pat Schlapper          Eleva, WI                2  03-09    0
  Day 1: 2   03-09   
52. Micah Frazier          Newnan, GA               2  03-00    0
  Day 1: 2   03-00   
53. Tommy Williams         Shepherdsville, KY       1  01-05    0
  Day 1: 1   01-05   
54. Blake Sylvester        Plaquemine, LA           0  00-00    0
  Day 1: 0   00-00   
———————————————————————–
Totals
Day   #Limits    #Fish      Weight
 1        32       224       648-05
———————————-
          32       224       648-05