Wind and waves may have made life difficult for anglers on AFTCO Bassmaster Elite Series at Lake St. Clair, but over half the remaining pros still managed to bring 20 pounds of smallmouth to the scales on Semifinal Saturday.
Every angler who punched their ticket to Championship Sunday has caught over 20 pounds each day of the event and a remarkable 4,916 pounds of bass have been caught over the course of three days.
No one has been able to separate from the field. Just over 3 pounds separates 10th-place Frank Talley (65-4) and leader Luke Palmer (68-7), which will no doubt make for an exciting Championship Sunday.
Ito Dialed In
Lake St. Clair was the site of Takumi Ito’s second Top 10 finish as an Elite Series angler and in his return, he is even more dialed in than he was in 2020.
Using his Garmin LiveScope, the Japanese pro is targeting larger-than-average smallmouth in Anchor Bay. Not only is he targeting better quality smallmouth, he isn’t even casting to bass under 4 pounds.
“I’m looking and then sometimes I can relax and then I’m back to looking,” Ito said. “I am looking at graph and I spy a 3-pounder, no. I pass it. 3 ½, no. A 4, that is okay, I’ll cast. A 5 and 5 ½, that’s a big one, and I cast.”
A noted hater of grass, Ito has also managed to avoid fishing for smallmouth that are gravitating to the cabbage in St. Clair.
“No grass casts,” he said.
Schmitt Finds Redemption
In Bryan Schmitt’s mind, he should be leading this event. But one bad decision has him sitting in fourth with 67-2. After catching 23-3 on the first day, the Mayland pro caught 20-12 on Day 2 in the same area but decided to go sample other areas in hopes of finding more smallies
“At 10 a.m., I had the cut made and I wanted to sample some other stuff,” Schmitt said. “I ran out of my area and sampled some other stuff knowing the best fish I caught all practice was in the area I had just left. I gave three hours away and that was a big, big mistake. Two more pounds yesterday and I am leading this thing.”
Schmitt stayed in his primary area all day on Day 3 and caught another 23-3. Although he is trailing Palmer, Schmitt is optimistic about his chances on Championship Sunday. If things go perfectly tomorrow, he feels 25 pounds could be in the cards.
“I’m very excited for tomorrow,” Schmitt said. “I think you have to turn your brain off and just go. I went to areas today I don’t have any tracks on and that was the key, as well as not being around any boats. I got two of the right bites.”
Gallant, Cifuentes all in
While the waves made it difficult for Joey Cifuentes III to find bass in his primary area with his LiveScope, the Arkansas pro still managed to catch 21-1 to maintain his second-place standing on Lake St. Clair.
Regardless of conditions, Cifuentes is all in on his Canadian waters and will go to that same area again on Championship Sunday.
“I was going to go anyway,” he said. “Hopefully I can have a little redemption out there. I’m all in on that thing. We’ll see what happens.”
Cooper Gallant also had a slower Day 3 than anticipated and did not catch any smallies over 5 pounds. With that said, the Canadian rookie still caught 22-1 on Saturday to advance to the final round and will be employing the same strategy in the same area he has used all week.
“We stuck to the game plan and stayed on that flat. We struggled a little bit today,” Gallant said. “There are so many boats out there and the fish have had boats running over them and LiveScope pinging at them all week. They are getting educated.
“But (Sunday) will be the same as the first three days, just go out and LiveScope, fish that same flat, keep exploring it and try to find fresh fish. Hopefully, it reloads a little bit. Regardless, it has been a fun week.”
Hackney lurking
Quietly, somehow, Greg Hackney has had a fantastic tournament and heads into Championship Sunday in 9th place with 65-6. While many view him as a shallow-water largemouth expert, Hackney has a fantastic track record in smallmouth events and whenever the Hack Attack is lurking in the shadows, it’s a dangerous proposition for the rest of the field.
Weather Watch
Fortunately for the Top 10, the winds are supposed to lessen on Championship Sunday and sunshine is back in the forecast. That should generate more giant bags of big brown fish.
