Alarmist headline: “What’s wrong with the St. Lawrence River?”
I mean, it took us 28 anglers until we saw a 25 pound bag today. In other regards, things seem just a bit off in the initial counting. After seeing only 15 limits under 18 pounds yesterday, today we had 18 of them, including four under yesterday’s lightest weight (14-1). But rumors of the St. Lawrence’s demise – imagined or otherwise – were greatly exaggerated.
Just when things seemed dire early in the weigh-in, they cued up the polka music and Jay Przekurat dropped 25-8 on the scales. With 52-5, he could even slack off a touch and still hit 100, but I’m guessing that he’s still all gas, no brakes. Meanwhile, in his wake, the mega sacks started trickling in, and we ended up with eight of 25 pounds or more. They included two more bags over 27 pounds, from Stetson Blaylock and Drew Cook, respectively. Blaylock finished Day 1 in 32nd and jumped to 4th, while Cook vaulted from 66th to 17th.
Yes, some anglers’ weights were down, but we’re still watching history, and still potentially on the way to a bronze Century Belt.
Here are the facts, figures and quotations that caught my interest:
Twenty Deep – After seeing 60 bags of 20 pounds or more yesterday, today the field turned in 53, a still-remarkable number. If they’d done that on Day 1, and we hadn’t known any better, we would still have marveled just as much.
Twenty Two Is The New Twenty – A total of 19 competitors weighed in over 22 pounds each of the first two days. Six of them are between 22nd and 30th place.
Several Ways To Skin A Cat – While only two anglers weighed in 25 pounds or more each of the first two days, a total of three have averaged at least that much. Stetson Blaylock, who had the day’s big bag of 27-11, is 6 ounces off the pace.
Expected Cut Weight – Yesterday 47th place was 20-13, which led me to believe that the cut weight would be around 42-10 (following the old 2X+1 formula). With lots of water to fish, there was no reason to believe that weights would not at least remain consistent. The cut fell about a pound short of that today at 41-9, almost exactly double yesterday’s line.
Hopeful-Lee – Lee Livesay, who today moved from 31st in the standings up to 20th, also entered the day in 36th in the AOY race. While no one else in the field necessary wants to be beaten by the big Texan, there are more than a few who’d like him to maintain that position in the AOY race, or possibly improve upon it. If so, he’ll become a double-qualifier, thanks to his Opens win at Ross Barnett. Brandon Lester is all but a certainty to double-qualify, as are Kenta Kimura and Jason Christie. Someone or several someones will owe those anglers a steak dinner’s worth of gratitude at the end of the year.
Super-Clutch – “The more chaos around him, the more he seems to do well.” Dave Mercer, explaining why Palaniuk (19th place, 46-6) excels, particularly when there’s pressure on the line.
Mr. Consistency – For the second straight day, Austin Felix, currently in 3rd, weighed in exactly 25 pounds. Even the math-challenged among you can figure out what that would total if he can continue the consistency for two more days.
Satchel Paige Moment – Don’t look back, a Johnston may be gaining on you.
Another Warning – Don’t look back, it may be close to Taku time. With a 4-10 at 2:47 p.m., he rose to his eventual weight of 26-1. BassTrakk reported that he had nothing under 4-7 in the livewell. He may be in 9th, but he’s less than 4 pounds off the lead, with (potentially) two days left to go.
Ronnie-ism Of The Day – “That’s your best version of live sonar, your eyes.”
Seeking Arrangement – As Cory Johnston fought a fish, Davy Hite pointed out an action that straddles the line between strategic advantage and OCD moment: When Johnston hooks a big one, “He arranges his rods to make sure everything’s out of the way.” Have you ever hooked a 5- or 6-pound smallmouth. It’s typically a hair-on-fire moment of pure panic, but to tackle them correctly you have to not just be precise, but patient. Johnston knows he has time, but also that when the time comes to grab that fish he’ll need all of his ducks in a row.
Strikes Are For Show, Spares Are For Dough – Palaniuk told us that “In smallmouth events, it’s not judged off the biggest fish in your bag, it’s judged off your smallest fish.” Today he started off with a 6-pounder, but the key catch may have been his 5 with just a few minutes left to fish, which resulted in a 2 pound cull. Those pesky, uncullable 3- and 4-pounders can be dream killers.
Rickey Henderson Award – “Great decision, Kreiger.” Koby Kreiger, to himself, after catching a late-in-the-day fish to cull.
40/40 Club – There were eight anglers who managed to catch 40-plus pounds of bass over two days and will be going home (unless they decide to stay and get a little bit of revenge). That’s the ultimate bittersweet fishing experience.
Late Charge – Yesterday I reported that Masayuki Matsushita was the first angler to fail to weigh in at least 20 pounds, but today he got the last laugh with a 22-7 bag that snuck him into the cut (while 19 who caught 20 pounds or more yesterday will not compete another day).
Two Sport Star – Matty Wong: “I want to come back and free dive all these rockpiles with all these giant smallmouths.”
Random – Has there ever been a more Hardy-Boys-slash-superhero name in professional fishing than Cooper Gallant? With apologies to Mercer, Gussy and the Johnstons, he has the best Canadian accent of the bunch as well.
