Elite

A look at St. Lawrence River 2024

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Captions by
Mike Suchan
Just two days after crowning a champion on Lake Champlain, the 101 Elite pros start 2024’s final tournament Thursday at the Humminbird Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River, an event with so much on the line.
This is the 26th B.A.S.S. visit and 10th Elite tournament at the famed smallmouth fishery, which again tops Bassmaster Magazine’s 100 Best Bass Lakes rankings. The fishery produced the first 100-pound totals of smallmouth in 2022, and four topped that mark last year. There are good chances for three in a row, weather permitting.
Most of the anglers are familiar with the St. Lawrence River, part of the 1,900-mile St. Lawrence Seaway that connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. They know most of the monster bags come from Lake Ontario, which creates a huge risk-and-reward scenario this time.
The past two years, the Elites launched from Clayton, N.Y., some 60 miles closer than this year’s blastoffs in Waddington. That city’s Whitaker Park, 100 Park Lane, is tournament central, with takeoffs Thursday-Sunday at 7 a.m. ET and weigh-ins at 3 p.m. ET. All B.A.S.S. events are free to attend.
While Canada’s Cory Johnston officially became the first to top 100 pounds at St. Lawrence in 2022, Wisconsin rookie Jay Przekurat won that event with 102-9. He provides a rundown. “I expect it to be almost a repeat of last year,” he said. “It’ll be about looking for the better pods of fish.”
Since that’s most likely in the lake, time management and risk assessment loom large. “There will be many more factors in getting to the fish, and you’ll only have three to four hours to fish for them,” Przekurat said. “If the conditions are so nasty that a guy cannot get out to the lake, or he gets out there, but he does not have a lot of fishing time, a guy could win in the river.”
Despite Ontario roaring on the first day last year, Bryant Smith reaped rewards with a 29-pound, 5-ounce limit, which broke Chuck Economou’s smallmouth B.A.S.S. record of 29-1 caught at Pickwick Lake in 1998.
Behind 28-5 on Day 3, Patrick Walters took the lead en route to winning last year with 105-0. Three others earned Century Club belts: Chris Johnston (103-12), Kyoya Fujita (102-5) and Taku Ito (101-7). Kyle Welcher, who wrapped up the 2023 Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year title with his fifth-place finish, finally experienced the wrath of Ontario on Day 4 when mechanical issues hurt his shot at a belt – he was 4 ounces shy – and a potential tournament title.
For the second consecutive year, the Elite at Lake Champlain was postponed a day due to weather. On Championship Monday, Ed Loughran III won his first B.A.S.S. event with 80-12, edging Canada’s Chris Johnston by 1 ounce. The runner-up finish, however, earned Johnston 102 points and gives him a better shot to win the 2024 AOY title on his home waters.
Alabama’s Justin Hamner, who tops the AOY standings with 671 points, is vying to become the third person to win the Classic and the season-long point race in the same season. Before Champlain, Hamner said Chris Johnston “scared the hell” out of him. Johnston gained 26 points at Champlain and now stands 13 points back of Hamner with 658.
Tennessee’s Jacob Foutz is also hot on Hamner’s tail. With his 11th consecutive cut, an eighth-place finish at Champlain, Foutz gained 20 points on Hamner and sits just 19 back. Foutz was 42nd at St. Lawrence last year and 27th in 2022. Hamner’s results at St. Lawrence are mixed. In 2021, he was 45th then was 80th in 2022, but last year he figured out the fishery and finished eighth.
Johnston, who lives on the north side of Lake Ontario, excels at St. Lawrence, and Hamner said he can just about be penciled in for a Top 10. Johnston became the first Canadian Elite winner there in 2020, was runner-up in 2019 and last year, and has never finished lower than sixth in five Elites. Hamner can prevent the first Canadian AOY if he finishes 13th or better, something concerning since weights are always so tight.
In the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Rookie of the Year race, JT Thompkins overtook Trey McKinney by one point (634-633) with his 17th-place finish at Champlain and McKinney’s 42nd. McKinney was leading AOY and ROY until having his weight disqualified on Day 2 of Smith Lake last month. John Garrett (622) and Wesley Gore (621) are also within easy striking range of ROY.
While many are sweating a finish above 70th in points to requalify for the Elites, anglers like Taku Ito, who won here in 2021, have the Classic in mind. With two double qualifiers, the mark to earn a spot in the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors on Texas’ Lake Ray Roberts is 42nd. With 440 points, Alex Wetherell stands as last man in. There are a dozen or so behind him who can total the estimated 495 points. In 26th with that point total, Wes Logan is perhaps the last man safely in before St. Lawrence.
Winds are a critical part of competing at St. Lawrence. Forecasts look relatively calm until Saturday and Sunday thunderstorms, which can produce high winds.
Big smallmouth are a given at St. Lawrence. In the 2020 Elite, Paul Mueller landed a personal best 7-13 that was 7 ounces shy of the New York’s state record. Kyle Patrick, 16th in AOY and among the nine rookies inside Classic qualification, got even closer in Tuesday’s practice, landing this 8-1. Patrick, of Cooperstown, N.Y., hopes to have similar fish show up during competition. The winner receives $100,000 of the $766,500 event payout. Combined with $578,000 in Progressive AOY payouts, there is $1.34 million on the line.
Expect great crowds in Waddington — the venue has exchanged Elite attendance records with Orange, Texas. If you can’t be there, be sure to follow the action on Bassmaster.com. Bassmaster LIVE kicks off Thursday and Friday at 8 a.m. ET on Bassmaster.com, and FS1 airs the broadcast from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.

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