WADDINGTON, N.Y. — Patrick Walters won last year’s Elite Series tournament at the St. Lawrence River with 105 pounds of smallmouth bass over four days. Three other anglers topped 100 pounds. In 2022, Jay Przekurat won with 102-9, and Cory Johnston topped the 100-pound mark as well.
Walters thinks that trend will end this week in the Humminbird Bassmaster Elite at the St. Lawrence River. There are two reasons for that. The previous two St. Lawrence events were held in Clayton, which is roughly 60-plus river miles closer to Lake Ontario than Waddington. Secondly, the weekend forecast is for high winds, which will make capitalizing on the smallmouth bass in Lake Ontario even tougher.
Greg Hackney believes it will still take close to 100 pounds to win, just because big smallmouth bass are so abundant here. Hackney said he plans on making the run to the lake, but he thinks anglers will be spread out over 120 miles from Waddington into Lake Ontario.
Interestingly, there was a consensus among the few anglers interviewed Wednesday evening that it’s tougher to coax a bite than it has ever been here.
“They’re more educated, without a doubt,” said Walters. “That’s what worries me about going to the lake.”
Said Hackney, “I think the fishing is as tough as anytime we’ve ever been here. But at the same time, these guys are so good and we’re, uh, technologically enhanced.” (In case you didn’t get it, that’s a reference to forward-facing sonar.)
Jacob Foutz, who is third in the Progressive Angler of the Year race, 19 points behind leader Justin Hamner, has a concern with the toughness of the bite too.
“It’s definitely not as easy to catch them here as it has been in the past,” Foutz said. “That’s the scary part about going to the lake. You’ve only got about three hours to fish. You might not get five bites in three hours.”
Brandon Palaniuk won on the St. Lawrence out of Waddington in 2013 with 88-12. He made the long run to Lake Ontario then, and he plans to again Thursday. But his mind could change before takeoff. Practice was limited to two days this week instead of three because of the postponement day at Lake Champlain.
“It was one of the weirdest practices I’ve ever had here,” he said. “It was a lot more difficult to get bites. I’m torn. I’ll either stay in the river or run 130 miles. I think this tournament will even out over four days.”
Palaniuk believes the anglers going to the lake will have an advantage the first two days. But if the wind comes up, as predicted, over the weekend, the advantage may shift to the river.
“I think at least half the (103-man) field will go to the lake, maybe more,” he said.
Because the last two Elite Series events have been out of Clayton, that long run into Lake Ontario will be a new experience for many.
“There’s a lot of guys that don’t know what they’re getting into because they’ve never made that run,” Palaniuk said. “You’ve really got to be buttoned up to do it.”
Elite Series veteran Steve Kennedy has made that run to the lake before. And he’s had success in the river in the past, finishing in the Top 10 twice, but losing to guys who went to Ontario. Kennedy is in 76th place in the Angler of the Year standings. His only chance to qualify for the 2025 Bassmaster Classic is to win this tournament, which has an automatic Classic qualification for the champion.
“I’ve beat everybody in the river before,” Kennedy said. “Now I’ve got to beat everybody in the lake.”
