Watching Taku Ito gas up on Live this fine Friday morning, I was once again reminded of how much strategy goes into winning an Elite Series tournament, especially on a prolific, complicated and expansive fishery like the St. Lawrence River. Every little decision has the potential to ripple out in life-changing ways. Even non-decisions can be stumbling blocks. A week after we saw Ed Loughran win by a single ounce, that long-existing reality is even more self-evident.
After a long haul, do you get gas before you make a cast, or do you wait until you have five in the box?
What if there is already someone at the pump? What if there are several somebodies waiting?
And how do you pay? Is it painful to wait for the antiquated credit card reader to process when you could just throw a wad of bills at the dude on the dock?
Then comes the weather. Knowing that it’s expected to blow tomorrow, did the anglers who ran to Lake Ontario yesterday and today help themselves or hurt themselves? And did those who camped on a single spot sore mouth a bunch of fish that would’ve helped them as the tournament progresses?
So much depends on each single decision, and there’s no way to revise history to see what would have happened if you’d zigged instead of zagged. This morning on the way out, AOY contender Chris Johnston said, “I know I’m throwing at 28 pounds all day.” Unlike horseshoes and hand grenades, however, just being around the target doesn’t help. Did he make good decisions today? Perhaps he did, salvaging a tough bite and slow start with a 20-11 limit. But you are what your record says you are, and he fell 16 places.
“I got spun out,” Johnston said. Surely he’s second guessing his decisions now, but at least he has another day – or possibly two if he can work some magic – to make things right.
Jacob Foutz didn’t make it easy on him, but he caught nearly 2 pounds less than yesterday and fell to 9th in the tournament. He too knows that it’ll come down to good decisions, and admitted that he may have to call an “audible” tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Classic champ Justin Hamner stubbed his toe, falling from 29th to 62nd in the tournament. His season is over. As I’ve stated before, the first and most critical piece of strategy is to just get to the next day in one piece and in contention. The next task is to do it again. Four days of big waves and big weights really make it impressive to be the last man standing.
On a day when we saw belly pats, meat wagons and Heisman poses, here are my thoughts from the last Friday payday of the 2024 Elite Series season:
Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose – Rick Clunn (69th, 38-4) announced that this will be his last Elite Series tournament, which means that today was his last day. “My heart doesn’t want to quit but I’m finally listening to my brain,” he said. The first professional event I ever attended was Day Three of Clunn’s fourth Classic win, on Virginia’s James River. I rode with him at the 2005 Classic. The tour will feel incomplete without his presence. The greatest hope we have for the future of the sport, however, is reflected in the way that the other anglers, the industry and the fans have recognized his superlative achievements. We often fail to give our history its due respect, but Clunn’s legacy will live on. If you do one thing today, tell someone – an angler or non-angler – about him and what made him different than any other athlete in my lifetime.
Clark Wendlandt (44th, 41-5) on Clunn – “I got into tournament fishing a lot because of Rick Clunn.” To show how just how long Clunn has been considered an esteemed veteran, Wendlandt fished his first BASS tournament in 1992, before many members of today’s field were born. He finished 9th in that event, here on the St. Lawrence.
Mark Menendez (70th, 38-1) on Clunn – “It’s a tough day when you lose a friend.” Menendez fished his first BASS tournament a year before Wendlandt did. His first BASS event on the St. Lawrence was in 1999 – he finished 18th.
Ray Hanselman (52nd, 40-11) on Clunn – “He’s probably the truest instinctive fisherman there’s ever been.”
How do you get fired on your day off? – Clunn’s exit from the Elites – he cautioned us not to call it a “retirement” – is a reminder that as some anglers close in on career goals this week, others will be falling short, leaving, or otherwise seeing their dreams dashed. Some will miss the cut today or tomorrow and then have to wait to let others decide their fate. Others will reside on the bubble until someone else elects not to return, or wins an Open, and then get another chance at an Elite spot or Classic berth. On the one hand, I hate to see someone’s career ended. On the other hand, this is a competitive endeavor, and if it’s ever to rise to the level of other sports, then relegation is a sometimes-painful ugly necessity.
Everybody’s working for the weekend – What makes champions great? Two past AOYs, Brandon Palaniuk (96th, 31-5) and Kyle Welcher (76th, 36-12), suffered through tough tournaments and unexpectedly challenging seasons, yet both mentioned onstage that they spent the length ride back to weigh-in not ruing what could have been, but rather trying to figure out ways to make next year better.
The path to 100 – Four anglers are on pace for 100 pounds. Of the six anglers who’ve previously earned bronzeback Century Belts, only Cory Johnston (T-1st, 52-7) and Taku Ito (4th, 50-6) are on pace to do it again. The closest one of the other four behind them is Patrick Walters, in 6th with 48-15. Jay Przekurat, Kyoya Fujita and Chris Johnston are in 10th, 22nd and 31st, respectively. Among the others on pace to hit 100, Shane LeHew (3rd, 50-9) earned a Century Belt on largemouth at Lake Fork in 2022, when he finished 4th with 100-9.
Please be seated – We’ve seen more butt seats the past two weeks than we have the entire rest of the season.
Practice makes perfect – Taku Ito’s son looks much more confident handling spastic smallmouth onstage than he did last week.
Cut weight – Last year we hit the cut weight theory on the nose. Fiftieth place on Day One was 19-15, and it took twice that plus a pound (39-14) to fish on Day Three. This year, 20-12 was 50th on Day One, and it took 41 pounds even to sneak in. That’s two times the Day One weight, minus a half pound.
The headlines could write themselves – Gee Whiz, Gee Willikers, Gee Money, Gee Wagon, Ain’t Nothin’ But a Gee Thing. Gerald Swindle needs to protect his existing trademarks.
Speaking of Gee money – Gee is in position for his third straight top three finish, and fourth top four finish of his rookie season and his bank account reflects that – he’s won $122,500 in Elite competition so far. That effectively ties him with JT Thompkins (33rd, 43-10), but has him approximately $60,000 behind Trey McKinney (5th, 49-4) and John Garrett (21st, 44-8). The difference, of course, is that both of those rookies have six-figure wins. Nevertheless, if Gee goes on to win, he still won’t win the ROY trophy, but his consolation prize will likely be the knowledge that he won more 2024 Elite dollars than any other first year.
Joey Cifuentes – “I know that sophomore slump thing must be real, right?” After failing to make a check through the first seven events of the season, Cifuentes finished 16th last week at Champlain and seemed have completely righted the ship with 24-01 on Day One at the St. Lawrence. That had him in 10th place and included the big bass of the day, a 6-15 smallmouth. Then the wheels fell off today as he weighed 10-8 and fell to 87th.
Zona talks fish management – “One thing I know about smallmouths. They don’t like pinholes in their mouths the next day.”
Gerald Swindle (97th, 28-8) – “I’m ready to go somewhere and turn all my electronics off and break every pole in my boat.”
Jason Christie (94th, 31-7) on missing the 2025 Classic – “It’s like having a big party down the street and nobody invited you.”
Steve Kennedy (95th, 31-6) – “I learned something today. ‘Light and variable wind’ doesn’t mean it’s going to be calm on this river.”
Hunter Shryock (41st, 41-15) – “It’s saying 25 knots, so I’m not going to run to the lake for that reason.”
Carl Jocumsen (23rd, 44-7) – “Super-stoked, super-stoked.” Not only did he survive to fish another day, but he also indicated that he doesn’t believe he’ll be relegated.
Kyle Patrick (72nd, 37-12) – “I vow to never stay in the river again.”
Cooper Gallant (85th, 34-14) – “I was nine minutes early today. Does that offset it?” But for a 9-pound penalty yesterday, he would’ve made the cut.
Shane LeHew – “We went with old school rock on Spotify all day.” The Creed-heavy soundtrack produced a 25-12 bag and took him higher, from 5th to 3rd.
Bye Felicia. See you Saturday.
