Elite

Slammin’ smallies with Cory Johnston

Catch up with Cory Johnston as he brings in the smallies Day 4 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River!

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Photography by
Andy Crawford
Canadian angler Cory Johnston began Championship Sunday in eighth place, but he had pushed his way into the Top 5 by the time we caught up with him fishing a cove off Canada’s Wolf Island.
Almost as soon as we pulled up, Johnston set the hook.
Body language told the story.
A solid 3-pounder was scooped up.
It was a measure of Johnston’s livewell status that this fish was quickly weighed and released.
Johnston was running a series of locations, so he moved to another spot.
And he was hooked up as we came off plane.
Johnston scooped the bass after a lengthy battle.
This 4-pounder allowed him to cull up a bit.
He flipped right back to a smallie he spotted …
… and the bass immediately struck, but Johnston’s line broke on the hook set.
After a quick re-rig, Johnston went on point trying to find the smallie, but the fish had moved on.
Johnston pulled out a bit, and found another willing player.
This was another bass that acted like it had some size.
Another solid bass crosses the gunnel.
Again, however, the fish didn’t help out Johnston’s striger and was released.
Johnston was making use of his forward-facing sonar to locate bass off the deep point, and fired baits as he pinpointed likely targets.
He hooked up again …
… and acted like this could be a heavy bass.
Johnston gets the bass in the boat …
… admires the girth of what turned out to be a 6-pounder.
Johnston put his two smallest bass on a beam to ensure he didn’t make any mistakes …
… and tosses back a solid 4-pounder. This cull pushed him to nearly 20 pounds, enough to move into second place, according to BASSTrakk.

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