PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Distance makes the heart grow fonder. That was certainly the case for Ed Loughran III, who missed the previous two Bassmaster Elite Series events due to medical issues.
Loughran has returned with a vengeance this week at the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain as the soon-to-be 54-year-old from Richmond, Va., claimed the Day 3 lead with a three-day total measuring 63 pounds, 14 ounces.
After landing a 19-1 mixed bag on Day 1, finishing the day in 38th, Loughran jumped into second with a 22-15 limit of largemouth before landing his 21-14 Day 3 limit of green fish.
“It was very painful to sit there and watch everyone fish at Wheeler and Smith Lake,” he said. “You never know how much you miss something until you aren’t able to be there. I’m happy to be back in good shape and hopefully tomorrow I’ll do the same as I did today.”
The 2021 Bassmaster Classic qualifier holds a 2-pound, 2-ounce advantage over Kentucky’s Matt Robertson while Canada’s Chris Johnston moved into third place with a three-day mark of 61-6.
Mother Nature continues to throw curveballs at the Elite pros this week. Anglers enjoyed sunny conditions on Day 1 before the remnants of Hurricane Debby brought heavy rain and wind to the area, delaying the start of Day 2 until Saturday morning.
Clouds and south winds moved into the area once again on Sunday, creating challenging fishing conditions. While weights were not as impressive as the previous two days, all 50 anglers landed a limit of bass.
Loughran has been making a run to the southern section of the lake to an area where he hasn’t seen many of his other competitors. There, he is fishing several different sweet spots in 5 to 10 feet of water that are located on a shallow rock ridge with grass on top. He has caught both smallmouth and largemouth each day, but the largemouth have been the heavier species for Loughran this week.
A homemade jig paired with a Missile Baits Craw Father trailer and a ChatterBait have produced most of his bites this week.
“It’s just a northern thing. You can do it on Oneida or any other northern lake. It is just some high spots with grass,” Loughran said. “You don’t know what you are going to catch on any given cast.”
The wind, along with a mudline and an increase in local fishing pressure created less-than-ideal conditions in Loughran’s area on Day 3.
“It started pretty slow. They were not biting my ChatterBait at all,” he said. “It was a total grind. But I know the area I’m fishing, and I know the little sweet spots. I had to share it with some locals which made it a little more difficult to try and figure out where I was going.
“I had all kinds of things going on.”
Despite the slow start, the Virginia pro slowly began adding bass to his livewell. Once a local angler moved away from one of his spots and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, Loughran was able to line up the cast he wanted and caught his biggest bass of the day, a 5-12 largemouth.
“The wind was blowing today in a direction that is difficult for this spot,” he said. “I was rarely in the good, controlled position that I wanted to be. Right before I caught that fish I happened to get into a really good spot. The place I wanted to cast was 45 feet away, and the wind had died down, so I put my poles down and the first cast out to the sweet spot, that bass hit.
“It was a huge cull.”
As the day progressed, Loughran landed two more key bass and expanded on his area. He thinks he will need another 20-pound bag to claim his first blue trophy. Sunny conditions improve his bite, but tomorrow’s forecast calls for more clouds.
“I think they are reloading and hopefully tomorrow there is another 20- or 22-pound bag in there and hopefully I can catch it. If I catch anything less than 20 pounds, someone is going to catch me,” Loughran said. “I really need sun and I’m not going to have it tomorrow. But who knows, the weather will come and go up here.”
Robertson has gone all-in on a largemouth-only pattern that has produced bags of 20-13, 20-13 and 20-2 for a three-day total of 61-12. The Kuttawa, Ky., native has fished around shallow docks with a big Berkley flipping jighead and a hand-tied black rubber skirt. A Chigger Craw is his trailer of choice, but he has caught some using different trailers as well.
“It’s as old school as it gets,” Robertson said. “The trailer doesn’t matter. You get it in there and the first one that sees it will bite it. These fish aren’t used to seeing a jig that big.”
There hasn’t been a particular rhyme or reason as to when Robertson gets a bigger-than-average bite. Some of the smaller bass he’s caught have been in some of the backwater areas, but he also landed a 5-pounder in that same area on Day 3.
“I’m fishing what’s in front of me,” Robertson said. “I had some docks where I got bit and shook a few fish off and I caught those. I keep forgetting about some of them, because toward the end of the day I remembered I got a bite (on a particular dock). I slid that big jig under there and caught a 5-pounder.”
After landing 20-0 and 21-14 the first two days of the tournament, the wind hampered Johnston slightly on Day 3 as the Canadian caught 19-8 on Semifinal Sunday.
“I started the day decently,” he said. “I was looking to get a couple 4-pounders in the first hour and I was just getting some 3s. I grinded away and never got that kicker. The wind blew up and I couldn’t present my bait right. I did lose one or two great big ones. They weren’t biting nearly as well today as they were yesterday.”
Johnston has specifically targeted smallmouth in deep water with a jighead minnow, varying the head size on the bait depending on the depth. He has used his forward-facing sonar to watch the smallmouth move up and down in the water column to feed on perch.
“There aren’t any big groups like last year, but you’ll get in an area, and you’ll go 200 yards and see seven or eight individual fish. But not any big wolf packs,” he explained. “They are gorging on perch. They’ll be 15 feet below the surface and then go down to 50 feet where all the perch are and come back up. It’s kind of different because normally when you catch a fish in 50 feet of water you’ll have to fizz them, but they go up and down so much they are used to it.”
Ashville, Ala., pro Matt Herren earned Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day honors on Day 3 as he caught a largemouth weighing 5-15 while New York rookie Kyle Patrick holds Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament honors with a 6-2 largemouth he caught on Day 1.
Patrick also claimed the $1,000 BassTrakk Contingency bonus for accurate weight recording.
Day 1 leader Seth Feider holds the CrushCity Monster Bag of the Tournament with his 23-11 limit of largemouth from Thursday.
2024 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors champion Justin Hamner still holds the lead in the Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year race after three competition days at Lake Champlain with 671 points while Johnston moved into second with 657 points. Tennessee’s Jacob Foutz is third with 654 points, South Carolina rookie JT Thompkins is fourth with 634 points and Illinois rookie Trey McKinney is fifth with 633 points.
Thompkins leads the Dakota Lithium Elite Series Rookie of the Year race followed by McKinney in second. Tennessee’s John Garrett is third with 622 points, Alabama’s Wesley Gore is fourth with 621 points and Tyler Williams is fifth with 594 points.
The Top 10 anglers will launch from the Plattsburgh City Dock beginning at 7 a.m. ET and return for weigh-in at 3 p.m. The winner will earn the $100,000 first-place prize and a coveted blue trophy. Bassmaster LIVE will be available on Bassmaster.com from 8 a.m. ET until the start of weigh-in at 3 p.m. Weigh-in will begin shortly after and will also be streamed on Bassmaster.com.
The Adirondack Coast and City of Plattsburgh are hosting the tournament.
