Event: 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River
Scenario: Making his first visit to the St. Lawrence River, the young pro from Stevens Point began his St. Lawrence River debut with a less-than-hospitable greeting. Tournament days offered a little better picture, with that Wednesday’s super moon cracking the whip on smallmouth activity. However, practice found Lake Ontario fiercely guarding its riches.
“The weather was bad and I only had one whole day to explore the lake,” Przekurat said. “I found one main area and one backup area.”
That primary location was Black River Bay, south of the much larger Chaumont Bay on Lake Ontario’s eastern shore, south of the St. Lawrence. The specific target was a subtle protrusion that offered an intercept point for postspawners leaving the bay’s shallows.
“What I look for on the Great Lakes, in general, is a point,” said Przekurat, who grew up fishing Lake Michigan. “You have to have some type of feature on the bottom. That spot in Black River Bay wasn’t on our mapping, which helped.
“The bottom was a mix of sand and boulders. I think that was key — more isolated stuff.”
Recognizing a familiar and favorable scenario, Przekurat determined that the likelihood of consistent productivity was strong enough for an all-in commitment.
“Mainly, I thought there were more fish there, bigger fish, and I thought it could withstand three, maybe four days of fishing, if I had it to myself — and I did,” Przekurat said. “Also, I thought it would reload because those fish were feeding up and coming out from the spawn.”
The decision: Przekurat would wisely identify a backup spot with similar bottom characteristics outside of Chaumont Bay, but he left confident in Black River Bay’s winning potential. Admittedly, Przekurat’s limited look at a fishery he’d never before visited left him with few options, but he knew he had found a solid example of what he was looking for, so he decided to ignore the limitations and focus on exploiting the clearly promising potential.
“I thought I could catch 25 pounds there, but I didn’t know I would be able to do it every single day,” Przekurat said. “I caught that pretty fast the first day.
“In practice, I only caught a few good ones off that spot, but I caught them in about 30 minutes. That spot turned out to be the place you’d hope it would be in a tournament.”
While that subtle point in Black River Bay delivered most of his tournament-winning weight, Przekurat was thankful he had a backup spot. It’s never wise to put all of your eggs in one basket, if for no other reason than the requisite time-outs a primary spot will likely need during a multiday event.
Przekurat found this to be true, and beyond the simply functional breaks, spot No. 2 came through in a big way — one that, no doubt, gave him some much-needed breathing room.
“Around midday on Day 2, I decided to relocate, because the fish I was throwing at on Day 1 got smart really fast and they weren’t biting as well,” Przekurat said. “I didn’t catch a lot of quality fish on my secondary spot; each day, I caught one or two a day. You had to weed thought a lot of little ones.
“Fifteen of my (20 tournament weight) fish came off of my primary spot, but on Day 3, the secondary spot really bailed me out. I caught one that weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces. I was sitting on about 22 pounds, so that fish bumped me up to (nearly) 25 for the day.
By the numbers: Przekurat opened with his biggest catch of the event — 26-13. He added 25-8 on Day 2, 24-12 on semifinal Saturday and a final-round limit of 25-8. His four-day total of 102-9 edged Canadian killer Cory Johnston by 2-4.
Hoisting the blue trophy, Przekurat became the youngest angler to win an Elite Series event. At 23 years and 26 days old, he broke the record previously held by Casey Ashley, who won the 2007 Elite on Smith Mountain Lake at 23 years, four months and nine days old — also in his rookie season.
Przekurat’s winning total earned a spot in the prestigious Bassmaster Century Club, which recognizes a four-day total of 100 pounds. Most impressively, he reached that mark with all smallmouth, a feat never accomplished prior to that event.
(Technically, Johnston weighed before Przekurat on Day 4, so his 100-5 officially made him the first all-smallmouth Century Club entrant.)
Game changer: Przekurat’s no stranger to clear-water fisheries, but he caught a break by locating his key spot in an area where inflowing river water lowered visibility.
“The water clarity was actually pretty stained for what I like, but I think that helped me,” he said. “If there had been 20 feet of visibility, those fish wouldn’t have stayed, but my visibility was about 4 to 5 feet (in 12 to 16 feet of water). They couldn’t see me, and I couldn’t see them. Plus, all the bait was there.”
Noting a front-side success driver, Przekurat adds: “The key to my success was not being afraid to explore the lake in practice. If I had not gone out on Day 2 to battle those waves and find that area, I wouldn’t have won. I didn’t even make it out into the lake on Day 3 of practice it was so bad.
Takeaway: From the moment he debuted as a co-angler on the St. Croix Bassmaster Open scene in 2019 — the year he notched his first Bassmaster victory at Grand Lake — Jay Przekurat has been one cool character. Never appearing rattled, he’s displayed a confidence devoid of cockiness; rather, deep in competence.
Clearly, this measured demeanor helped him prevail at a venue that has a way of confounding even the most experienced pros.
“My biggest takeaway, was I was fishing so relaxed at that tournament,” Przekuratsaid in honest reflection. “I didn’t listen to the dock talk — the Johnstons (Cory and younger brother Chris) have all these spots, this other guy has been fishing here for 20 years and has all these spots.
“I didn’t let that get in my head. I just fished what I found and had confidence in what I found.”
Statistical note: Two years after finishing second to Przekurat at the St. Lawrence, Cory Johnston won the 2024 event on this storied fishery and claimed his second Century Club belt with a four-day total of 102 pounds — a 9-ounce difference from Przekurat’s 2022 winning total.
