Fantasy Fishing: It's a race to the finish

Written by

Coy Greathouse

We pick up at the final event of the 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series on the St. Lawrence River, the official home of all the B.A.S.S. smallmouth records. As we wrap up, there are two primary stories that are worth considering as you make your selections.

First, the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race has really come down to two, maybe three anglers. Hamner is currently in the lead by a slim margin and if he finishes just a dozen or so places ahead of his nearest pursuer, he’ll be our Classic Champion and Progressive Angler of the Year. However, there is one glaringly obvious problem with that scenario. The guy breathing down his neck is Chris Johnston, one of the few guys who has both won on this fishery and who consistently dominates when we go to these smallmouth fisheries. Not to mention he just finished 2nd on Champlain… but I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll get into that in more detail below, rest assured.

The other aspect to keep an eye on is the Classic cut line. There will inevitably be a mix-up with anglers scrambling to keep their position and those who are clambering to find their way in. There are a few big names to keep an eye on like Feider, Felix, Fujita and Gustafson to name a few who are knocking at the door.

Both stories should give us plenty of excitement, so make sure you tune in to BASS Live and FS1 for all the action.

For the last time in 2024, let’s jump into some picks.

BUCKET A: CORY JOHNSTON

Look, I know this pick is not a surprise at all. But understand, you can throw a dart at your computer screen and hit someone that will finish in the top-20. It seems like somehow, the majority of the smallmouth heavy hitters managed to find their way to Bucket A by the end of the season, making this a much wider conversation than usual. However, Cory Johnston’s record is flawless, except for in 2019 where boat issues kept him from being able to get to his fish, leaving him very near the bottom. However, after swapping out his boat, he still managed to catch enough monster bags to climb into 36th. That is insanely hard to do when you can’t catch a 10-pounder to make up ground. Every other finish here has been single digits. The reason I’m giving him the nod is because his brother Chris accounts for most of the ownership in the bucket. If Cory can out-pip Chris by one or two spots, I’ll catch a few points on nearly half the field.

Don’t Forget About: Chris Johnston

Chris Johnston arguably has a better record than his brother with five straight single-digit finishes, included a win in 2020. What may cause me to lean towards Chris over Cory come game-day is potential to lock up the Bassmaster Angler of the Year title, in which he is just 13-points behind Justin Hamner. All indicators would say that Justin has his work cut out for him to maintain that position, but don’t think for one second that Chris will play it safe and settle for just the AOY race. He’s going to do everything he can to win both titles this week.

BUCKET B: ITO

With a second blue trophy to his name from Smith Lake earlier this season, Taku Ito has some fantastic momentum going into this final event. He struggled early in the season and by all accounts, it was assumed this would just be a tough year for him. However, this five-year veteran turned his season around up north, grabbing his win plus a 6th in the Bassmaster Open on St. Clair and a respectable 30th on Champlain. Assuming the weather is good, he’ll be making the run to Ontario and will battle it out for a fast limit of big brown ones.

Don’t Forget About: Brandon Palaniuk

Historically, Brandon Palaniuk becomes very predictable when certain things happen, specifically unforeseen hardships. In 2013, he needed a win to make the 2014 Classic and was poised to snag one on the Mississippi River, but due to a culling infraction, he lost his catch for the day, resulting in a dismal finish. Did that stop him? Heck no! He went straight up to the next event on, you guessed it, the St. Lawrence River and won that event in style.

Last week on Champlain, his Day 1 catch unfortunately expired due to a livewell issue and he was forced to quit fishing. His Classic berth was on the line, but he came back swinging on Day 2 and gained enough points to stay just inside the cut-line. That Day 1 blunder would be enough to shake the rest of us, but not BMP. My prediction? He’ll be vying for the win on Championship Sunday and will lock up that berth to the 2025 Bassmaster Classic.

BUCKET C: FEIDER

For whatever reason, Seth Feider has been having an uncharacteristically difficult last couple of seasons, enough so that I swapped him out at the last second on Champlain, expecting the trend to continue. However, after leading Day 1 with a massive 23-pound bag, I’m hoping that sparks his memory enough to get him back on top in smallmouth country. All but one of his finishes have been solid except for last year where he never found the big ones and finished 82nd.

Don’t Forget About: Kyoya Fujita

Kyoya Fujita has been on a rollercoaster this year with finishes from the Top 10 all the way to triple-digits. This event will set up well for him. What we have to remember is that while they will have the ability to catch them on FFS, the smallmouth are in full-blown spawning mode. Fujita’s edge will be in his ability to finesse fish for these heavily pressured bass.

BUCKET D: WENDLANDT

In Bucket D, I will be going with Clark “Eagle Eyes” Wendlandt. He has built his career sight fishing, which can lead to some monster catches. But the ace up his sleeve is his willingness to go power fishing up shallow. So many anglers will get lost out in the middle zipping around looking for one fish at a time, leaving all those hyper aggressive shallow fish for the handful of guys who choose to fish for them. In his five trips here with the Elites, three of them were ninth place or better finishes.

Don’t Forget About: Paul Mueller

Paul Mueller certainly has the scraps to catch them on this river. You just have to wonder which Paul is going to show up. He tends to make a statement when he really has no evidence that would point toward him as a favorite. In this case, he has several middling finishes here, but not many high finishes to speak of. But, he knows his electronics as well as anyone and is a phenomenal deep-water angler. By all accounts, he should at least finish in the top half of the field…but he might also win.

BUCKET E: ROBERTSON

Every angler in the Elite field has had a tough season at some point in their career. This year was Matt Robertson’s year, which is why he is down in Bucket E. He is well outside the Classic cutline, but he is incredibly stubborn and is refusing to go down without a fight. At Champlain, he rallied after a slow start and caught enough to find himself all the way in 4th place. He loves to fish offshore and his FFS skills are getting better. In 2022 and 2023, he did very well, narrowly missing the final day both times.

Don’t Forget About: Joey Cifuentes III

It’s difficult not to assume Joey Cifuentes won’t keep right on doing what he did at Champlain, where he finished in 16th. This season was not on par for the sophomore who won not one, but two blue trophies in his rookie season. However, he’ll be one to watch out for due to his momentum from the last event and his very particular set of skills. He will find them. And he will catch them. Bet on it.