Patrick Walters averaged 5 pounds 4 ounces for each smallmouth he weighed in this week. That’s insane on its face, as is the fact that there were three other guys who averaged over 5 pounds apiece (plus one who came a goby or two short) who took home no hardware. They’ll be well-compensated for their efforts, but it still has to be a bittersweet paycheck at best.
I’ll have to wait until I’ve had a week or two to process this event fully before I assess the bigger picture. Otherwise I’ll just drown you in a sea of hyperbole. In the meantime, here’s what I thought and heard today as Championship Sunday unfolded:
Ripped from the Bassmaster.com bio of Patrick Walters –Favorite place to fish: ”Santee Cooper … but I’m starting to like Northern fisheries!” I’d say that his like-o-meter just got pushed a little bit more to the right.
Another international record established – Today marked the first time that two anglers from the same country caught over 100 pounds of smallmouth in the same tournament, as Kyoya Fujita and Taku Ito did it for Japan.
The prettiest bridesmaid – Walters knows what it’s like to top the Century mark and not win. After winning at Fork in 2020 with 104-12 – and a remarkable winning margin of over 29 pounds – Walters returned to the legendary Texas fishery the next year and tallied up four limits for 102-5….only to fall short of winner Lee Livesay by 10 pounds. So while he’s certainly not giving the trophy back, he can at least empathize with fellow Century Club members Chris Johnston, Kyoya Fujita and Taku Ito.
Next time at the St. Lawrence – Since the 2024 Elite Series schedule has not been released yet, we don’t know when we’ll head back to this exceptional fishery again in the future. I’m sure that many of the pros – even those who didn’t do particularly well, or for whom it’s a very long drive – hope that it’s next year and every year thereafter. It’s easy to think that if and when that happens, we’ll add more 100-pound-plus catches to the ledger, but it’s not necessarily that easy. This week the weather played into their hands after Day 1, which made the big catches more likely. Furthermore, it’s easy to fall short even when you’re on the right fish and have the right conditions – look what happened to Cory Johnston on Day 1, and Kyle Welcher on Day 4 — and you’ll realize what a special week this was.
Apples and oranges – It’s difficult if not impossible to compare two tournaments in two eras in two different parts of the country, for two different species, but it’s still fun to try. Where does this event stack up compared to the legendary 2008 Elite Series tournament on Falcon, where not only the winner topped 100 (Paul Elias weighed in 132 pounds, actually, an average of over 6 ½ pounds per fish), but so did the rest of the top 12 (now only 10 fish the final day)? The 12th place angler had 108-7 and the 10th place finisher had 113-3. If you think it’s bad to catch 100 and not win, what’s it like to drop 125 and come in 6th? Not to take anything away from this event, and despite what I just wrote in the paragraph immediately above this one, the Falcon event still feels like more of a unicorn. BASS could come back to the St. Lawrence next year and match or beat this year’s numbers, but I don’t think there’s a largemouth fishery anywhere today – not Falcon, not Fork, not OH Ivie – where the top 10 could all reasonably expect to come close to hitting 108. I’d love to be proven wrong on any of those counts.
First family of triple digits – Of all of the highly accomplished father-son and brother combos in the history of bass fishing – from the Brauers to the Hibdons to Alton Jones Sr. and Jr. to current day pairs like the Fraziers – none ever had two Century Club members. Today the Johnstons became the first, as both have now earned belts at the St. Lawrence River. As Davy Hite said, “They are mad at themselves if they’re not in the top five here.” I can’t be 100 percent certain, but I’d also bet a substantial amount that their combined 199 pound 12 ounces in this event has to be the largest two-member family weight in a single tournament in Bassmaster history. When Chris won in 2020, they combined for 178-01. Last year their 40 fish weighed 198-06. That’s not like saying Hank Aaron and Tommie Aaron combined for 788 homers (755 for Hank and 13 for Tommie). It’s not even like saying that Barry and Bobby Bonds combined for 1094 of them (762 and 332). It’s a very equal distribution. They both carried their weight.
Taku time – No angler is bigger than the sport, but for me having Taku Ito back on Day 4 after an unexpectedly-tough season (note: he still made the Classic – tough is relative) is must-watch TV. His attitude and technical skills and love of the game are infectious, and as his English continues to get better what was already fun to watch is now increasingly informative.
International tag team champs – Perhaps surprisingly, there were more Japanese anglers (3) than Canadian anglers (2) in the final day of competition. In an imaginary top two vs. top two cumulative total, the Japanese pros beat the Canadians by 4 pounds, 203-12 to 199-12. That’s Kyoya Fujita and Taku Ito, but if you substitute in Kenta Kimura for either of them they’d have less than 198.
Mental toughness – Early in the day on Live Mix, Bill Lowen said of Kyle Welcher: “I don’t think you could spin him out.” Indeed, Welcher himself emphasized the point when he finally got out to the fishing grounds and stated, “I’ve fished more three hour tournaments than anybody in the country probably.” He’d compartmentalized and put away what must’ve been an agonizing morning and reframed the problem in more bite-sized terms. It might not have paid off as he fell from 1st to 5th, but just think of how much worse it would’ve been if he’d had those same mechanical issues on Day 1 or Day 2. It likely would’ve cost him AOY.
Not to bum you out too much – Everyone is replaceable, not least of all anglers and fishing writers, but someday when Tommy Sanders and Mark Zona are gone from the Bassmaster broadcast we will realize how incredibly talented and valuable they’ve been for a long time.
In this case “Aloha” means “hello” – At risk of not requalifying for the Elites at roughly midseason, Matty Wong earned checks in three of the last four events. Two of them were top tens, a 3rd and a 9th, at two very different fisheries. The first was the Sabine River, where he averaged less than 10 pounds a day, while the second was here at the St. Lawrence where he averaged almost 24 pounds a day. On any two days here he weighed in more than he weighed in cumulatively over four days there. Up until then, his prior best Elite finish had been 14th last year at Chickamauga.
We’re all spoiled — “I just ran out of fish today,” said Scott Martin, who weighed in 21-5 and came in 10th. If that’s an accurate assessment, I’d like to run out of fish every weekend.
Hair care – After 50 or so years of conventional haircuts at the top of the leaderboard, two of our last three AOYs have had quality flow.
Buy them now – Megabass Hazedong swimbaits.
The shrinking road – For years I’ve assumed that the St. Lawrence is about a 9 or 10 hour drive from my Virginia home, but looking at Google maps today I realized it’s just over 7 hours to Clayton. I’ve been to many if not most of the greatest and most storied bass tournament venues in the United States, from Okeechobee to Rayburn to St. Clair to the California Delta, so I really have no excuse not to have fished the St. Lawrence. It has moved to the top of the list, with only Champlain and Clear Lake remaining in competition for that spot.
