With less than three hours left in the 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series season, two anglers have unofficially passed the 100-pound mark and will earn all-smallmouth Century Belts again on the St. Lawrence River. Jay Przekurat and Cory Johnston did this last season. Cory’s brother Chris Johnston and Patrick Walters have done so today according to BassTrakk. The weights won’t be official until the B.A.S.S. tournament scales lock in at the end of the day, but the hard work for these two anglers is done in regards to catching 100 pounds.
Still, two other anglers are in great position to do this as well: Taku Ito and Kyoya Fujita. The two Japanese anglers have around 98 pounds apiece, two 5-pound bites each away from the century mark.
Despite a miserable morning full of mechanical setbacks, Kyle Welcher could still get there with a late-day rally, now that he finally swapped over to fellow Elite Pro Justin Atkins’s boat two hours ago. Welcher started the day in 2nd place, a 20-pound, 11-ounce bag away from 100 pounds himself. Outside of these five anglers, it will take better than a 25-pound bag for someone to get there; a feat that has been accomplished 24 times this week already. So, I’m saying there’s a chance.
