Elite

Elites practice at St. Lawrence

Posted on
Captions by
Shaye Baker
Practice is underway for the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at St Lawrence River. We made our way around the Elite Series anglers’ social media accounts and have compiled this photo gallery to give fans an inside look at how practice has gone so far for the seventh stop of the 2022 Elite season. Carl Jocumsen starts us off with this nice smallmouth.
A look at Brandon Card’s weapons of choice for the week. 
And here’s a peek at where Card is staying in Clayton, New York.
Our most recent Elite Series champion Brandon Lester looks to be back on big ones. 
A look at the floor of Brandon Palaniuk’s Skeeter Boat as the water gets rough out on Lake Ontario and the waves continue to crash in.
It’s so rough in fact that many anglers like Chad Pipkens seen here have to take Dramamine to prevent sea sickness. 
Brock Mosley with a grown one. There’s been a lot of talk this week about a record setting event. And we’re certainly seeing several big ones in practice so far. 
Derek Hudnall with a nice one as well. 
And Hudnall releases another good one. 
Bernie Shultz with a big one, up shallow it appears as he puts this smallmouth in the boat using a spinnerbait and a baitcaster. 
A look at Clent Davis’ boat as he makes the transition from down south to up north fishing. Lots of anglers having to do a good bit of tackle to get ready for the Northern Swing. 
Darold Gleason giving us an impressive view of how rough it is out on Ontario. 
But the views from Gleason’s boat aren’t all bad. 
A look inside Drew Cook’s rod locker as he reveals his arsenal for the week. 
Here’s a look at Jason Christie’s rig as he rolls into town.
Christie even offered up a weather report. He and the rest of the field are pretty excited about getting to wear hoodies in July. 
Frank Talley chimes in on the weather too, making all of us south of the Mason Dixon Line pretty jealous. 
Hunter Shryock with his hoodie on as he boat flips a bass. 
John Crews is not impressed by the size fish he’s found so far. 
Clifford Pirch on the other hand is on the right size smallmouth it seems. 
Greg DiPalma has found a quality bite as well. 
A look at what Josh Douglas has rigged up for the week. It appears as though the anglers are catching fish in various stages of the spawning process and at varying depths. 
Matt Herren rolls into town and sets up shop in preparation for practice. 
Herren is one of a handful of Elite Series anglers that opts for the camping life. 
Though choosing to camp can save some serious money, Herren shows the pain at the pump is making it hard on the campers as well right now. 
Proud new papa Lee Livesay checks in on his little girl from 1,400 miles away. He’s quite smitten by this little lady. 
Gerald and LeAnn Swindle made sure everyone along the way up form Alabama new where they were headed. 
Ed Loughran with another look at how rough the water is getting.
Seth Feider posted a video on how he plans to take extra good care of these big smallmouth in the rough water. Cutting pool noodles to fit into his livewell, he created a floating cushion that will soften the blow of the big waves. 
Justin Atkins got a little pre-practice practice in on Champlain during a product shoot. Many of the anglers decided to head north a little early to get into smallmouth gear on other fisheries until the tournament waters for this week opened up Sunday for official practice. 
Matt Robertson has located a good one.
And another for mister “ON ‘EM”.
Seth Feider’s locked in and holding on as he rides the waves. 
A look at what Luke Palmer will be offering them. Lots and lots of spinning reels on deck for the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at St Lawrence River. 
Justin Hamner readies his deck as well. 
And promptly shows us a big one.
Mike Iaconelli with a good one as well.
A shot from Derek Hudnall’s boat as the sun goes down on another practice day. Long hours this week for the Elite Series anglers as they have about 16 hours of daylight to work with. Practice has passed the halfway point now. Only a short time left to go and we’ll see who has figured out what on Day 1 of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite on the St Lawrence. 

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