2022 Bassmaster Elite Series Event On Mississippi River Day 3: Chris Johnston Continues Lead!

Canadians Gustafson 26th & Cory Johnston 52th.

Chris Johnston of Otonabee, Ontario, is leading after Day 3 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River with a three-day total of 48 pounds, 10 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS) 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

LA CROSSE, Wis. — Chris Johnston believed in his sweet spot enough to give it a second chance, and that call paid off in a big way, as the pro from Otonabee, Ontario, tallied a three-day total of 48 pounds, 10 ounces and maintained the lead on Day 3 of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River.

 

After tying for fourth place on Day 1 with a limit of 16-4, Johnston added 15-10 on Day 2 and took over the top spot. He entered Semifinal Sunday 2 ounces ahead of Texan Keith Combs — and with a third-round limit of 16-12, Johnston now heads into Championship Monday with an advantage of 1-13 over Combs.

 

“I ran to a spot that I’d fished in the morning, but I never got a bite because it was raining,” Johnston said. “There was a lot of bait in the area, and I think the rain had the bait all pushed down to the bottom and the fish weren’t active.

 

“I stopped there again with about 15 minutes to go because I know there’s a lot of fish in there. It’s just hard to get them to bite.”

 

Johnston said he usually has to see fish blowing up (surface feeding) in the spot’s matted grass, but his first cast drew a bite. He missed that fish, but five casts later he caught a 3 1/4-pound largemouth a little before 2:30 p.m.

 

“It was hard because the wind was blowing in, but they were in these little pockets,” Johnston said. “The wind had my frog kind of going across sideways, but that (3 1/4-pounder) grabbed a hold of it and that was huge.”

 

Johnston’s key spot comprised a break in the vegetation with sand next to a current edge. The week’s rainfall has raised the water level, and Johnston said that has expanded the spot’s opportunity.

 

Bradford Beavers Wins 2017 Costa FLW Series Championship with 45-12bs!

Shallow bar key to limits

by Jody White

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Big topwater key to win. (Photo: FLW)

On a tough and topsy-turvy Kentucky Lake, Bradford Beavers ground out about 15 pounds per day and came away with his first big win in the Costa FLW Series Championship. Totaling up 15 bass for 45 pounds, 12 ounces, the up-and-coming Ridgeville, S.C., pro earned a $50,000 prize package and qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup for the second year in a row.

Beavers started decently and managed to stay consistent every day, basically playing the shallow bar game that Kentucky Lake is known for in the fall. He essentially had two or three spots that produced for him the whole tournament, with one real sweet spot, and he found them all on the last day of practice just north of New Johnsonville.

“I wanted to fish down there because I saw it had more shallow water, and that’s where the grass used to be from what I read,” says Beavers, who needed 35 hours in practice to catch his first keeper. “But when I saw the forecast I was a little bit scared of the wind. I know it gets rough out here, so I practiced the first three days within reasonable range. It was so bad, I talked to my dad every night and said, ‘this could be embarrassing.’ It was that bad. So, I said to heck with it, I’m gonna go where I want to go. And I caught three fish and found that spot.”

Beavers’ three spots were nothing too remarkable – shallow bars (one with some stumps, two without) on the main lake, but not right on the channel. Beavers estimates he caught most of his fish in less than 2 feet of water. Though the places were unremarkable, he did try and avoid pressure somewhat by staying on the back of his bars, where he figured fewer people had gotten to, and he also tried to be super stealthy.

“I had to run my trolling motor on like 25 to keep from spooking them,” says Beavers. “Every once in a while you’d spook one with the boat and see the puff of sand with him going by. It’s hard to be that stealthy in shallow water, but I tried move low and take advantage of the wind and use the Power-Poles. I covered my best spot yesterday and spent six hours to go 300 yards to get 15 bites.”

Beavers did the majority of his damage off one bar the first two days. On the final day, he split his efforts between it and his third spot.

Throwing a bone and chrome-colored Heddon Zara Spook accounted for his fish on days one and two, but he made a key change to a pearl white Zoom Magnum Fluke midway through the final day.

“Yesterday I had 15 bites and only caught six of them. Today I had 12 and caught six of them,” says Beavers. “They got very smart in that spot. This morning I’d throw the Spook out there and they would blow up behind it; they wouldn’t even hit it. So, I picked up a Fluke, and right away I caught one, and then I had three other bites on it and I lost them all. So, I changed how I rigged it, and it caught two more there.”

Starting out with his Fluke simply Texas-rigged worked for one fish, but adding a treble hook as a trailer was the change that enabled Beavers to win. After finishing out his best spot, he moved on to spot No. 3 and finished his limit and culled with a 4-pounder.

“I’m speechless. I never thought I’d win one of these,” says Beavers. “I won a BFL this year, and I thought that was unbelievable. I’ve been in the top 10 in four of these, and my fish have always fallen off on the last day. It’s just unbelievable.” 

Top 10 pros

1. Bradford Beavers – Ridgeville, S.C. – 45-12 (15)         

2. Todd Hollowell – Fishers, Ind. – 37-7 (11)       

3. Larry Stoafer – Leavenworth, Kan. – 34-13 (11)

4. Tim Fox – Meridan, Miss. – 34-0 (10)   

Big Topwaters for Big Bass part 2

By Luigi De Rose

The most popular of all topwater plugs is a popper. Poppers or chuggers are versatile in cover and open water. With a minnow profile and large concaved mouth, poppers spit water and pop distinctly. Traditionally, poppers where meant for still evening with the bait gently worked next to lilies in a gentle plop, plop, plop fashion. This is fine, but poppers are much more versatile. David Chong a seasoned bass tournament angler and topwater nut from Thornhill loves hunting the mid-depths with poppers. He’s always done well with poppers and last year it helped him seal a victory on Stoney Lake. Stoney, a clear lake with thousands of rocky outcrops is nestled along the northern edge of the Kawarthas. Working both a Frenzy and Splash It popper he landed numerous four pound plus smallmouth all in five to eight feet (1.8 to 2.7m) of water.
Worked next to cover, poppers can be chugged slowly to agitate big bass into striking. With a lot of slack in the line, about two feet, snapping the rod tip will cause the bait to jump a few inches at a time. This way poppers remaining in the strike zone until they’re goggled up. Although great at slow speeds, popper are also fantastic zipped across the surface at lighting speed. Zell Roland, a highly successful tournament angler and topwater guru, resurrected the Rebel PopR popper to superstar status in the mid 1980s. He popularized skittering poppers across the water at high speeds. Anytime the fish are scattered or suspended off mid-range structure anglers can really mop up with this bait. With the rod tip held high, snap the rod tip in 1-foot intervals and collect slack line with half turns of the reel handle. The popper will sputter water as it zigzags towards the boat. As the lure nears the boat, drop the rod tip closer to the water line and continue popping the bait along. Lure cadence should vary according to the furiousness of the bass. Most work the bait in a pop, pop, pause, pop, pop, pause routine. If the bass are eager, anglers can skip the pause altogether. Poppers will draw in fish from great distances especially in clear water, which is ideal habitat for big smallies. One trick to keep the bait running true is to use heavy monofilament line. You need the stretch of mono, but most important is that heavy line like 17lb test, which floats a bit keeping the bait on the surface. It’s not uncommon for smallies to strike two, three, four times and still catch nothing by air. To transforming those misses into solid hook ups add a Storm Suspend dot or strip on the belly of the lure just up from the back hook. The weight keeps the tail section slightly lower. Instead of lying horizontal, the bait sits diagonally making it easier to be sucked in. Be careful not to add too much weight. Lowering the bait’s tail can also be done but replacing the back hook with a slightly larger one. The weight of a larger hook, just one size larger, should be enough to bring the tail down, but not as drastically as the lead strips. Another great modification is adding a feathered trailer to the back hook. Most poppers already come with some type of trailer. Bucktail is common, but feathers are far superior. When making your own trailer add a few strains of mylar for added flash. The trailer should be lively and undulate with the slightest rod movement. A shimmering feathered trailer can be just enough to make a bass eat.