WADDINGTON, N.Y. — Rookie standout Robert Gee distanced himself from seasoned veteran Cory Johnston geographically and, more importantly, statistically to tally a 3-day total of 78 pounds, 2 ounces and take over the Day 3 lead at the Humminbird Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River.
Day 2 found Gee and Johnston tied for the top spot with 52-7 each. Now, the young angler from Knoxville, Tenn., heads into Championship Sunday with a 13-ounce lead over Johnston.
“It’s been a blessing; everything’s just going right, and I can’t do anything wrong,” Gee said. “I’m going to keep riding this train as far as it will take me and just give God the glory.”
Chris Johnston, Cory’s younger brother, won the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year title with 758 points. The first Canadian to win a Bassmaster Elite Series tournament — the 2020 event at the St. Lawrence River — Johnston also owns the distinction of being the first Canadian to win the Bassmaster AOY title. For this honor, he claimed a top prize of $100,000.
“I couldn’t have done it in a better place,” Johnston said. “Waddington has been great to me.”
Making his home in Otonabee, Ontario, Johnston posted a Day 1 weight of 23-2 and landed in a three-way tie for 15th place with Keith Combs and Jake Whitaker. Johnston added 20-11 on Day 2 and slipped to 31st.
Righting the ship, Johnston caught a Semi-Final Saturday limit of 29-5 and tied California pro Bryant Smith for the largest limit of smallmouth caught in a B.A.S.S. event. Smith set his mark at last year’s St. Lawrence event.
“I remembered how to catch bass today and man, did it ever feel good,” said Johnston, who sits in fourth place with 73-02. “I got spun out the past two days with just too much going through my mind. I was thinking about where I need to run to catch 27 to 28 pounds.
“Today I said, ‘It’s too rough on the lake and I know two spots in the river that have the potential to get the 25 to 30 pounds I need. I put my head down and just went fishing. It’s amazing what happens when you just go grinding.”
Gee, who has notched three Top 10s in his first Elite season (second at Smith Lake, third last week at Champlain and fourth at the season-opener at Toledo Bend), spent most of his first day in Lake Ontario and caught a second-place limit of 25-12.
Shifting gears, he did all of his second-round work just inside the river, where he targeted isolated boulders and shelves along a point running out from Carleton Island. This spot yielded 26-11 — Gee’s personal best smallmouth limit.
Returning to his river deal, Gee added a third-round limit of 25-11.
“I’m on probably the best spot in the river,” Gee said. “I’m going to sit there all day and hopefully I can catch five, because they’re all big.”
Noting that his spot has been loaded with hefty fish, Gee attributes the mix of quality and quantity to a vibrant habitat.
“There’s a lot of life on that spot; there’s a lot of drum, there’s a lot of carp and there’s a lot of bait,” Gee said. “There’s a lot of gobies, too, because I’ve seen them rise up off the bottom and come check out my bait.
“It’s the first main big point facing into the current at the mouth of the lake. It’s just a money hole.”
Gee said he has been rotating through about seven waypoints in the general area. He’s catching his fish on a jighead minnow rig with a 5-inch bait that mimics the gobies.
“They sit on those rocks and shelves, and I just go down and go back, go down and go back,” Gee said. “I have to keep the bait above the fish for them to bite it.”
Also hailing from Otonabee, Ontario, Cory Johnston braved the huge waves of a wind-whipped Lake Ontario to sack up a third-round limit of 24-14. Along with his first two days’ limits of 25-0 and 27-7, Johnston sits in second with 77-5.
“It was as big as I’ve ever seen it out there,” Johnston said of the lake’s turbulence. “There were definitely some 10-foot (waves); lots of 8s and lots of 6s. It made things really difficult, but we managed to catch five of the right ones.
“I’m going to go out there tomorrow and do it again. I came back probably 40 minutes early, so I’m going to have an extra 40 minutes tomorrow. We’ll see if we can go catch five great big ones.”
Johnston, who won the year’s fourth Elite at the St. Johns River, has been targeting an 80-yard stretch of bottom in about 40 feet. He’s rotating through four different baits and has caught fish on each.
Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., is in third with 73-6. Turning in daily weights of 23-10, 25-10 and 24-2, McKinney stayed in the St. Lawrence and caught his fish on drop shots and a jighead minnow rig with a Strike King Baby Z Too in Tennessee Shad.
With this performance, McKinney secured the Dakota Lithium Elite Series Rookie of the Year title with 734 points and collected the $10,000 award.
After becoming the youngest angler to win an Elite title in the season’s second event at Lake Fork, the 19-year-old McKinney was disqualified from the Smith Lake Elite tournament for a rules violation. Taking his year’s totality into consideration, McKinney said he considers it all a learning experience.
“To see the highs and lows this year, this (award) means so much,” McKinney said. “This rookie class is so good, it’s an absolute honor.”
Chris Johnston earned the $1,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award for Day 3 with his 6-7.
Joey Cifuentes III is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the tournament honors with his 6-15.
Chris Johnston leads the CrushCity Monster Bag of the Tournament standings with his 29-5.
The Top 10 anglers advance to Championship Sunday. In addition to the $100,000 top prize, the winner earns an invitation to fish the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors March 21-23 on Lake Ray Roberts in Fort Worth, Texas.
Sunday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7 a.m. ET at Whitaker Park. The weigh-in will be held at the park at 3 p.m.
Coverage of the Humminbird Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River will air on FS1 on Sunday on FS2 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET. Bassmaster LIVE will be streaming on Bassmaster.com.
The St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce is hosting the tournament.
