2022 St. Lawrence River B.A.S.S. Elite

No stop on the Bassmaster Elite Series excites me more than the Thousand Islands in Upstate New York. It’s beautiful there, and the fishing is fantastic. Both smallmouth and largemouth are plentiful throughout the system, and for such a short growing season, their average size is larger than normal.

Our tournament waters included the St. Lawrence River from the Massena Dam to Lake Ontario, into the lake’s eastern basin — which constitutes a very large playing field.

I’ve always done well on this waterway, and I fully expected that to be the case this time. But as you read the following, you’ll see things didn’t go quite as planned.

Practice Begins

On day 1, the wind was blowing 15 to 20 mph at sunrise. Seeing that, I decided to launch on the river at French Creek Marina, in downtown Clayton — our host city for the event. From there, I visited several nearby bays, hoping to find spawning smallmouth. But after several hours of looking, all I found were empty beds.

Apparently, we had just missed the spawn … at least in the river.

Next, I ran a number of shoals between Alexandria Bay and Wolfe Island. And though I caught fish at several of those stops, none showed any real potential for numbers.

As the day wore on, I made my way to the lake and fished the flats around Grenadier and Fox islands. My lure of choice was a Hildebrandt Tin Roller spinnerbait — making lengthy casts downwind and covering as much water as possible. Again, I caught some decent smallmouth, but the numbers and size just weren’t there. (Four pounders are a must at the Thousand Islands, and I wanted to be sure I was on that class of fish before the competition got underway.)

Late that evening — on my way back to the ramp — I stopped on a sandbar near Carleton Island. That’s when I found what I was looking for.

On a 100-yard stretch, I saw groups of big bronzebacks cruising the shallows. Rather than sore-mouth any of them, I punched the numbers on my Garmin GPS and kept moving.

On day 2, the wind increased to 25mph with gusts to 30. So I decided to avoid the lake and launch downriver at Chippewa Bay.

My first stops were to some matted weed beds where I caught largemouth using a hollow-body frog. Although they were fun, none were big enough to factor into my game plan.

Next, I ran a number of main-river shoals and sandbars. In several locations, I found 3- to 5-pound smallies cruising the shallows. They were receptive, too. Most responded to a Yamamoto Ned Senko in watermelon-green pumpkin laminate. Others fell for a Hildebrandt Drum Roller swimbait in the Houdini pattern.

It was fun, but I knew I needed to keep moving in order to find the motherlode.

My next stop was to a place I fished last year, where I led that event for two days. Sitting less than a hundred yards away, I watch as several competitors stopped to test the waters. (That’s the downside to B.A.S.S. LIVE coverage. While you’re gaining valuable exposure for your sponsors, you’re also giving up hard-earned fishing locations to anyone who’s watching.)

Seeing the amount of competitor traffic, I wrote the spot off completely.

On day 3. I returned to French Creek to expand my search in the areas I knew I’d commit to during the competition. And while I never found the bonanza I was looking for, I did learn a few things.

Tournament Time

Drawing out boat 14, I knew I had a shot at getting to my starting spot first. When my number was called, I throttled down and raced directly there.

Once in position, I dropped the trolling motor and made my first few casts. Minutes later, Brandon Palaniuk showed up with a camera boat in tow. Ten minutes after that, Seth Feider appeared.

Suddenly, my hot stretch of big smallmouth was now a community hole.

With the sweet spot secured, I started to put some key fish in the boat. Brandon, too, was boating some good ones. And that stung. When he drifted too close, I asked him to give me some room … which he did. Seth, too, gave me the room I needed. But no sooner did I have the exchange with Brandon when Cory Johnston showed up. Seeing his intent, I pointed the bow in his direction and fished toward him. Apparently, he got the message, as minutes later he pulled his trolling motor and left.

As the morning wore on, Brandon moved toward the lake. Seth ventured further downriver. I finally had the entire stretch to myself, and that’s when the culling began.

When I reached 20 pounds, I moved off the spot to fish nearby — keeping an eye on it from afar. When it was time to head in, I ran directly to Clayton and checked in with a beautiful limit of 4-pound smallies.

As weigh-in progressed, I began to realize my catch wasn’t enough to stay above the cutline. More than 50 pros registered weights of 20 pounds or more, leaving all of us in awe. It was clear I would have to up the ante in order to make it through to the weekend.

On day 2, the flights flip-flopped and I left take-off in the final group of boats. Racing to my starting spot, I wondered who would be there ahead of me. But as I got closer, I could see it was vacant. Surprised by that, I dropped the trolling motor and started scanning the flat for any remaining 4-pounders — eventually putting two in the boat, along with several 3-pounders.

Seeing no more potential there, I decided to run to my spots near Chippewa Bay. Because of pleasure boaters, the ride was bumpy and it took approximately 30 minutes to get there. But once I settled in, I could see the fish I needed.

Over the next few hours, I used a 3-inch Ned Senko to catch and cull to nearly 22 pounds. Thinking it was enough, I left them biting and headed back to Clayton for check-in.

Fishing on the Weekend

Having narrowly made it through the cut, my goal on Saturday was to climb the leaderboard. And I felt I had enough fish left to get near the top. But as the day unfolded, lost fish eliminated any kind of a charge.

Too many key fish managed to pull off or jump and throw the hook. And by the time the clock had run out, I was stuck with a subpar stringer of St. Lawrence bronzebacks.

It was a disappointing end to what could have been a great event. After the setbacks at the two previous events, I desperately needed the points. Now it’s down to the last two events — Lake Oahe in South Dakota and the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.

Stay tuned…