Rookie Jay Przekurat extended his lead from 1 pound 13 ounces to 2 pounds 15 ounces today, despite weighing in the smallest of his three limits so far. He remains the only pro on track to crack the long-awaited 100 pound bronze century mark, and if he catches tomorrow what he caught today, he’ll do it with nearly two pounds to spare.
The only thing that made me nervous for him was when he told Dave Mercer, “I can almost do nothing wrong out there.” That seems to be a karmic recipe for disaster, and despite the fact that everyone except Bob Downey is at least 4 pounds behind him, it doesn’t yet seem that anyone left is completely out of it.
Shane LeHew weighed in a day’s best 27-6 to jump up from 35th to 9th, and Chris Zaldain sacked 27-4 to move from 28th to 6th. There’s a 30 pound bag swimming out there, and that would likely mean a victory for anyone with the fortitude and good fortune to make it happen.
In the meantime, here are the bronze morsels that stood out for me today:
Big’Uns – After seeing seven bags over 26 pounds on Days 1 and 2, the halved field produced two more today, and a total of seven limits over 24 pounds. It was an absolute freak show from the word “go.” The first two anglers weighed in over 25 pounds apiece and we didn’t see a bag under 23-3 until Patrick Walters weighed in eighth with 21-8. Matt Robertson followed that up with 22-1, and then the tenth angler to weigh, Jacob Foutz, the Day 1 leader, was the first to miss the 20-pound mark. He looked disappointed with 18-4, and rightfully so as he fell to 27th.
What Did It Take? – The cut weight for tomorrow is 71-10, which extrapolates into an average of 23-14. Everyone in the Top 10 had at least one bag of 24-10 or more. The smallest limit weighed in by anyone in the top ten was Shane LeHew’s Day 1 18-13. In fact, among their collective 30 limits, that was the only one under 20 pounds. He made up serious ground with 25-9 on Day 2 and 27-6 today.
Bowling A Perfect Game – All 90 anglers caught limits each of the first two days of competition. All 47 who fished today accomplished that again. We’re 50 bass away from perfection.
20/20 Vision – Thirty five of the 47 anglers who competed today weighed in 20 pounds or more. That’s over 74%, a higher percentage than we saw on Day 1, when 60 of 90 (about 67%) reached that mark.
Home Field Advantage – Many of us, myself included, assume that there’s a substantial local advantage for the anglers with massive experience on the St. Lawrence, yet Chris Johnston (2021) is the only “local” to win here in the last decade. Kevin VanDam (2017) is the next closest, and his home in Kalamazoo is over 600 miles away. Micah Frazier (2019) and Edwin Evers (2015) both live over a thousand miles away. Brandon Palaniuk (2013) and Josh Bertrand (2018) both drove over 2000 miles to earn the big Happy Gilmore check. And of course Taku Ito (2021) lives halfway around the globe. For the record, Stevens Point, Wisconsin sits about 835 miles from Clayton, New York.
Not So Close – Jeff Gustafson revealed onstage that he’s most certainly not a local. It’s a shorter drive from his Ontario home to Lake Fork than it is to Clayton.
A Little Patience – Axl Rose famously sang that you should “take it slow and it’ll work itself out fine.” The notorious late riser was likely not speaking to anglers, but the point is well taken. Today we once again saw anglers heavily reliant on their drag systems, slowly wearing down massive brown fish. It reinforced the massive change in the fishing landscape – a generation ago, anglers used mid-level spinning gear out of occasional necessity, but today it’s a key part of the arsenal.
Fast Starters – Kenta Kimura was the first angler to 20 pounds today. Thanks to this week’s 18th place finish, he continues his career-defining season full steam ahead, even with a Classic berth secured.
Slow And Steady (And Heavy) – As of 10 a.m., BassTrakk reported that only six bass of 5 pounds or more had been landed. Bob Downey, who had only four fish at that point, had two of them. Those fish proved to be the building blocks of his 25-10 limit, one ounce short of what he weighed yesterday. Downey enters Day 4 in 2nd, just under 3 pounds behind Przekurat.
International Trade – I’ll admit it, I spent some time on the internet today trying to buy some of the “Norie’s Bite Bass Liquid” that Taku showed on camera. Fearing the consequences, I made no searches for his special white powder.
Un-edumacated – “That’s the easiest fishing I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Seth Feider, referring to the fish in Lake Ontario. Mid-day today was the first time he’d visited them.
Fantasy Fishing Toss-Up – Did you pick the right Johnston? You won’t know until tomorrow. They’re 3 ounces apart.
Buy A Vowel – In addition to being smallmouth heroes, what do Chuck Economou (who weighed in a 29+ pound limit of five smallmouth at a B.A.S.S. tournament on Pickwick in 1998) and Jay Przekurat have in common? They were likely the only kids in their first grade classes who couldn’t spell their own last names. Przekurat hopes that the comparisons stop there – Economou did not win that tournament, Mark Menendez did, and the rookie from Wisconsin can distinguish his legacy by closing this one out tomorrow.
