WADDINGTON, N.Y. — The worst-case scenario possible for a Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year title is the one facing leader Justin Hamner in the season finale at the Humminbird Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River this week. It’s a 13-point lead over northern waters smallmouth expert Chris Johnston.
Consider Johnston’s B.A.S.S. record at the St. Lawrence since 2019: a win in 2020, two second-place finishes, plus fifth-, sixth- and seventh-place finishes. That’s six events with a worst of seventh place, and that one came in a three-day Bassmaster Open in 2021.
Wait, there’s more. Johnston, 35, from Otonabee, Ontario, Canada, in that total of five Elite Series tournanents – 20 competition days total – has been in the Top 10 at the end of every day and in the top three in 15 of those 20 days. That’s some white-hot heat.
Hamner has previously competed on the St. Lawrence only three times in his Elite Series career, finishing eighth at last year’s event in Clayton, 80th at Clayton in 2022 and 45th at Waddington in 2021. However, it was the eighth-place finish last year that seemed to ignite Hamner’s career. The 33-year-old from Northport, Ala., opened the 2024 season with a 14th-place finish at Toledo Bend, third at Lake Fork and then the Bassmaster Classic Championship at Oklahoma’s Grand Lake.
Only two other anglers have won the Classic and the AOY title in the same year: Mark Davis in 1995 and Kevin VanDam, twice, in 2010 and 2011. Hamner has a chance this week to become the third.
While it’s easy to see this tournament on the St. Lawrence as a two-man battle, Jacob Foutz is lurking only 19 points behind Hamner. Foutz, 26, from Charleston, Tenn., is one of only two anglers that have made all eight Day 2/Top 50 cuts this year. (Cody Huff is the other. He’s eighth in AOY points.) Foutz’s streak actually dates back to last year and is now at 11-straight Day 2 cuts. He’s coming off an eighth-place finish at Lake Champlain. He was 42nd at the St. Lawrence in 2023 and 27th in 2022. Both of those events were out of Clayton.
Longshots in this AOY race are two rookies, fourth place JT Thompkins, 37 points behind Hamner, and fifth place Trey McKinney, 38 points back. It’s just extremely difficult to pass three or four anglers ahead of you in the season-ending event.
There’s another major focus point for this tournament – Bassmaster Classic qualification. Every Elite Series angler lists that No. 1 in determining whether his season has been successful or not. There’s a win-and-you’re-in bonus for the season finale. So no matter where you are in AOY points this season, you’ll have a chance to qualify for the Classic.
The AOY Classic cutoff starts at 41st place. It’s now at 43. Justin Hamner, the current Classic champ and well inside the AOY points cutoff, and Jay Przekurat, as Lake St. Clair Open winner and sixth in AOY points, are double-qualified.
Based on the current standings, Alex Wetherell, with 440 points, is the last man inside the cutoff in 42nd place, and Bob Downey, with 432 points, is the first man outside the cut in 43rd. There are 10 anglers separated by 30 points on either side of the current cutline, from 36th-place Drew Cook, with 455 points, to 45th-place Jeff Gustafson, with 425 points.
It’s hard to overestimate how much the Elite Series season-ending tournament means to so many of the 101 anglers competing on the St. Lawrence River this week. And we haven’t even mentioned the AOY top 70 ranking that determines who will be invited back to the Elite Series in 2025. The four-day event begins Thursday.
