By Pete Robbins, BASS Press Release
BUFFALO, N.Y. — With a limit of 27 pounds 1 ounce of Lake Erie smallmouth, Alex Korolof Fairport, N.Y., is one of three western New York anglers at the top of the leaderboard on Day 1 of the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Lake Erie presented by Battery Tender. But closing out the victory in his first Bassmaster Open is far from a done deal.
A remarkable 114 anglers topped 20 pounds today, and they’re tightly-packed down the leaderboard.
Forty-five of them will get paid tomorrow, and right now the 45th place angler has 22-5. A pound more than that was good for 22nd place while a pound less is enough for 73rd place.
B.A.S.S. hasn’t visited this part of Lake Erie since a 2008 Elite Series tournament won by Kotaro Kiriyama. In that event, eight anglers had 20 pounds or more on Day 1, led by Matt Reed’s 23-3. As noted above, that amount would have barely been inside the money cut today.
“I feel like they’re bigger now,” said former Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series champion Mike McClelland, one of the handful of anglers who fished that 2008 tournament and who is also competing this week. “Maybe we just have the technology to catch them better now.”
Forward-facing sonar is allowed in this tournament, the last of the four Division 1 Opens. Korol said that the technology is part of his game plan, but the key is the presence of baitfish in his best area, a half-mile stretch of water where he spent the day.
“There’s not much there otherwise,” he said. “It’s the bait that’s keeping them there.”
While he doesn’t reside far away, Korol has fished far more on Lake Ontario than on this portion of Erie, and on the limited occasions that he has been here it’s generally been in other months.
Lake Erie remained relatively flat by local standards, a seeming rarity when major tournaments come to town. The day started off cloudy, then got sunny.
“I feel like that helped,” Korol said. “Sun and smallmouth go hand-in-hand. I caught a 5-15 around 10 o’clock and then I left them biting at around 11. The wind made a 180-degree change and they still bit, so the weather doesn’t seem to matter. Bring it on. Those fish have been there for three days so I don’t see why they’d leave now.”
Joseph Ferraro III, a Buffalo resident, is in 2nd with 26-7. Like Korol, this is his first Bassmaster Open and he’s making the most of it, utilizing 20 years of tournament knowledge to differentiate himself from the 20-pound bags down the line.
“The difference is capitalizing on the right bites and making sure that your presentation is perfect,” he said. “A lot of the fish here will follow but not bite and you have to know where the best rocks are and how to make those bass bite.”
He made a long run to his primary area and did his damage early.
“An east wind usually makes it tough but I got it done in the first hour and a half of fishing. That’s good, because it just died at 9 o’clock.”
Ferraro also holds the Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with a 6 pound 8 ounce smallmouth.
Billy Gilbert of Hamburg, N.Y., completes the trio of New York residents atop the leaderboard with 26-6, just an ounce behind Ferraro and 10 ounces ahead of Elite Series rookie Aaron Jagdfeld – the top-ranked non-New Yorker so far. Gilbert caught 5-pounders on his first two casts to get started and dropshotted his way to the big bag.
“If I can get eight or nine of the right bites tomorrow I think I can do it again,” he said. “That’s the size of the fish that are there. If I can get the bites I think it will happen.”
It’s been over three months since the 2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens presented by Battery Tender Division 1 anglers took to the water — plenty of time to study and consider what this tournament means. While neither of the current top two are qualified to make the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour or Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers presented by Bass Pro Shops if they win, for others this is a chance to further their dreams to the next level.
This tournament is the final chance for anglers to move their way into the EQs for the opportunity to claim one of 10 invites to the 2027 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series. This season, 50 anglers took on both divisions, and 35 of them will advance to the Elite Qualifier round.
At the end of today, Tennessee’s Dillon Falardeau – who qualified for the 2026 Classic by winning an Open on the Chesapeake Bay – sits in first place in the combined Open standings, trailed by Brock Bila. Trey Schroeder, another past Classic qualifier, is in 3rd, and former Elite Series pro Darold Gleason is in 4th.
Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. ET at Buffalo Harbor State Park. The weigh-in will be held at the marina at 2:30 p.m.
Follow along with all of the action from the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Lake Erie presented by Battery Tender on Bassmaster.com.
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