Chris Johnston had gotten himself into a bit of a bad position through the first three events of the season. Johnston started the year off with a 35th place finish at the St Johns River, a respectable showing. But the wheels started to fall off as he stumbled on the Harris Chain, finishing 63rd. By the time Johnston left the third stop of the year in 52nd place at Santee Cooper, qualifying for the Bassmaster Classic wasn’t looking good, much less any Angler of the Year hopes.
Still, Johnston kept fishing and started to turn things around. With a 20th at Chickamauga, 10th at Fork and 19th at Pickwick, Johnston was rocketing up the points standings. He had righted the ship for the Classic cut, but was still miles away from AOY contention.
Then came the St Lawrence, where all eyes were on Chris and his brother Cory. The Johnstons didn’t disappoint, as Cory finished 2nd and Chris added a 6th place finish to his increasingly impressive resume on the year. Onto Lake Oahe, where Johnston finished runner-up to Austin Felix, while several of the top contenders in AOY stumbled.
After the St Lawrence, Johnston sat in 7th in AOY points, 110 points back of Brandon Palaniuk. After Oahe, he was in 3rd, narrowing the gap to 46 points. As we approach the midway point of the final event of the season, Johnston is now in the lead of the event and in second in Progressive Angler of the Year race, four points behind Brandon Lester and four points ahead of Brandon Palaniuk.
What a scrappy comeback by Chris Johnston. An impressive climb no matter how this one turns out, and certainly doing all he can do to win this thing.
