Seth Feider is the 2021 Bassmaster Elite Angler of the Year!

Seth Feider wins with 792 points. Chris Johnston in second place in the Angler of the Year standings with 729 points. Former AOY (2017) Brandon Palaniuk of Rathdrum, Idaho, is in third with 702 points. (Photo: BASS)

BASS PRESS RELEASE

WADDINGTON, NY — Seth Feider of New Market, Minn., wrapped his arms around a lifelong dream as he kissed the Bassmaster Angler of the Year trophy on Day 2 of the Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River.

 

The seventh-year Elite Series pro currently sits in eighth place with a two-day total of 42 pounds, 3 ounces, so he’ll be competing for at least one more day. More importantly, though, his points total of 792 gave him enough of a cushion to secure the coveted AOY title no matter how he finishes the tournament.

 

“It’s a milestone; it’s a (lifetime of) work,” Feider said. “Ever since I was a little kid, every minute fishing was to get to this, it feels amazing.

 

“It feels like the weight of the world is off my shoulders now that it’s all over. It’s been a stressful last couple of months.”

 

While Feider can relax and make plans to spend the $100,000 prize that comes with the AOY title, there is still much to be decided this week.

 

Leading the event, Gainesville, Fla., pro Bernie Schultz overcame a painful loss Friday to maintain the top spot with a two-day total of 47-14. Schultz added 22-9 to the 25-5 he weighed on Day 1.

 

How painful? Put it this way: Schultz is one of the coolest heads on the water, but when Bassmaster LIVE showed a big fish that Schultz estimated at 5 pounds come unbuttoned right at the boat, the seasoned pro experienced an understandable moment of obvious exasperation.

 

Returning to the same 250-yard flat near Chippewa Bay where he caught his Day 1 limit, Schultz found the fish scattered over various sections of broken bottom comprising rock, gravel, sand and grass clumps.

2021 Bassmaster Elite St. Lawrence River Day 1: Bernie Schultz Leads with 25-05lbs!

Chris & Cory Johnston Tied for 2th & Gustafson 15th

Bernie Schultz, of Gainesville, Fla., is leading after Day 1 of the 2021 Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River with 25 pounds, 5 ounces. 

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WADDINGTON, N.Y. — A patient approach to what Bernie Schultz described as a slow area rewarded the Gainesville, Fla., pro with a five-bass limit that weighed 25 pounds, 5 ounces to lead Day 1 of the Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River.

 

“I found a spot near where I fished last year,” Schultz said of his upriver area, near Chippewa Bay. “I haven’t seen another tournament boat in two years and I hope I don’t — unless it’s a camera boat.”

 

Schultz, whose best finish on the St. Lawrence was sixth place in 2013, described his spot as a flat approximately 200 yards long with depths of 3 to 8 feet. Starting on one end of the flat in practice, he quickly caught a 4-pounder, and by the time he’d completed his drift, he had another 4- and two 3-pounders.

 

“It’s a really good area and it’s protected,” Schultz said. “That’s what I like about it — it has everything the fish want and it has everything I need to fish, no matter what the weather does.

 

“There are numerous islands and I’m cradled right in the middle of them. I decided to start there today and it was a good call. It started quickly and I left them biting.”

 

Despite an impressive performance, which included the day’s Phoenix Boats Big Bass — a 6-2 — Schultz said the spot he fished required such a laborious effort that he believes most anglers would have abandoned it.

 

“It’s a precise drift that I’m making,” he said. “It’s slow enough that if anyone practiced there, they probably would have gotten discouraged.

 

“The fish are in certain sections of the flat and I had to locate them today because they moved a little bit. I had a 5, that 6-2 and a 3-pounder pretty quickly, but after that I had to move around on the flat to find them.”

 

Schultz fished a diverse arsenal of baits including a 1/2-ounce Hildebrandt Drum Roller spinnerbait, a Shimano jerkbait (debuting next week at ICAST), a 1/8-ounce black Marabou jig, a drop shot with a green pumpkin Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm and a Ned rig with a 3-inch green pumpkin watermelon laminate Yamamoto Senko.

3 Scorching Hot Bass Tactics

When the temperature shoot up, the bass fishing can be equally as hot. Check out this video on how to capitalize on 3 scorching hot bass tactics. 

Bryan Schmitt Wins 2021 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain!

Bryan Schmitt, of Deale, Md., has won the 2021 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a four-day total of 78 pounds, 5 ounces. (Photo: BASS) 

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Bryan Schmitt talked all week about “special little things” that were happening to help him maintain the lead at the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain.

BASS PRESS RELEASE

 But the most special one happened just 15 minutes before Sunday’s final weigh-in, as Schmitt landed a 3 1/2-pound smallmouth that gave him a 12-ounce upgrade and allowed him to secure his first Elite Series win with a four-day total of 78 pounds, 5 ounces.

 

Call it luck. Call it fate. But the win seemed meant to be for the second-year Elite Series pro from Deale, Md.

 

“I pulled up to a buoy cable this afternoon right before time to come in and saw two fish on my (Garmin) LiveScope,” Schmitt said. “I threw that drop shot in there, felt the bite and didn’t really think it was a bass. But it turns out it was a bass — and without that fish I don’t win.

 

“When things like that are happening, man, it’s a special week.”

 

Schmitt talked each day about a waning bite, but he still managed to catch 21-11, 21-5 and 19-4 the first three rounds. Then on Championship Sunday, things did get tougher and he only managed to bring in 16-1.

 

That barely helped him stave off a hard charge from Texas pro Keith Combs, who finished with 77-13 — just 8 ounces behind the leader.

 

To catch his bass, Schmitt used a Spro Spin John, a Neko-rigged Missile Baits Quiver Worm and a Missile Baits Ned Bomb on a drop-shot rig.

 

“I caught a couple of key fish on the spinbait, but the Quiver Worm produced the bulk of my fish for sure,” he said. “I was fishing it on a Hayabusa Spin Muscle Guard Hook with a little nail weight just to get it down.

 

“These fish are smart, I guess. You could throw a jig in there and they wouldn’t bite it, but they would eat that Quiver Worm.”

2021 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain Day 3: Brain Schmitt Leads with 62-05lbs!

Chris Johnston 12th & Gustafson 15th

Bryan Schmitt, of Deale, Md., is leading after Day 3 of the 2021 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a three-day total of 62 pounds, 4 ounces. (Photo: BASS)

BASS PRESS RELEASE

To hear Bryan Schmitt talk there isn’t a single bass left in Lake Champlain. They’re all gone. Just vanished.

 

But don’t buy any of it for a second.

 

The perennially pessimistic Maryland pro caught another big limit Saturday — this time five bass that weighed 19 pounds, 4 ounces — to increase his three-day total to 62-4 and maintain his lead at the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain.

 

He’ll lead a field of 10 qualifying anglers into Championship Sunday with a chance to claim his first Elite Series victory and a $100,000 first-place prize. But of course, he sounded less than confident about his chances.

 

“I don’t even know how we got it done today, to be honest with you,” Schmitt said. “Tomorrow’s the day. Whoever catches the big bag tomorrow. It’s still anybody’s tournament.”

 

Schmitt, who has been either first or second all week long, said he spent Saturday’s semifinal round fishing the same areas he fished the first two days. The areas produced big bites, but Schmitt had big bass break his line twice and he admitted he was starting to feel a bit defeated.

 

After going to an area where he knew he could catch some small fish “just to calm down,” he revisited more familiar areas and put together the bulk of his weight with largemouth.

 

“I can’t get my smallmouth to go,” Schmitt said. “Yesterday, they were there but it was too rough to fish for them. Today, they were just gone, not even there. I saw one or two fish on my electronics, but I’m not even sure they were smallmouth because they wouldn’t bite.”

 

Schmitt’s five-bass limit included three largemouth and two smallmouth. Those two smallies came late in the day after he had abandoned his largemouth pattern.

 

“I caught a 4-pound largemouth that made me feel a lot better, but I started feeling like my largemouth were just burned,” he said. “So, after I caught that 4-pounder, I went smallmouth fishing and caught two that helped me upgrade.

2021 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain Day 2: Brain Schmitt Leads with 43lbs!

Gustafson 5th, Chris Johnston 25th & Cory Johnston 48th

Bryan Schmitt, of Deale, Md., is leading after Day 2 of the 2021 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a two-day total of 43 pounds. (Photo: BASS)

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Bryan Schmitt has insisted two days in a row that big smallmouth will be the key this week if he wins the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain.

 

But he just keeps catching big largemouth.

 

The second-year Elite Series pro from Deale, Md., caught a five-bass limit Friday that weighed 21 pounds, 5 ounces and moved from second place into the lead with a two-day total of 43-0.

 

Once again, his bag was anchored by a big largemouth — this time a 4-15.

 

“I’ve burnt my largies down,” Schmitt said. “I got some lucky bites today. They happened on some places that I like fishing, but I know they were lucky bites.”

 

One of those lucky bites came late in the day and helped him upgrade into the lead.

 

“I pulled up on a spot this afternoon and made a cast with a spybait,” he said. “As I was reeling it in, something boiled out beside me and a baitfish jumped out of the water. I cast over there and caught a 4-pound smallmouth.

 

“That, to me, is very lucky. Little things like that have been happening for me this week.”

 

Besides good fortune, Schmitt has also benefited from the generosity of fellow Elite Series competitor John Crews.

 

The Virginia pro and founder of Missile Baits gave Schmitt a “goody bag” that was filled with Quiver Worms in the green pumpkin flash color. Schmitt said both species have been eating the worms when conditions will allow.

2021 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain Day 1: Buddy Gross Snags Lead at Slugfest!

Gustafson 8th, Cory Johnston 38th & Chris Johnston 57th

Gross leads with 21-13lbs as 9 limits over 20 pounds hit the scales. 
(Photo: BASS)

BASS PRESS RELEASE

This time last month, Buddy Gross was struggling to walk after suffering a freak ankle injury while horseback riding.

 

His right ankle is still grotesquely swollen, but it didn’t slow him down on the water Thursday as he caught five bass that weighed 21 pounds, 13 ounces to take the opening-round lead in the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain.

 

“I made some good calls today,” said Gross, who weighed in four largemouth and one smallmouth. “I hit some stuff that I’d hit before and managed to catch a few.

 

“I had two smallmouth in my bag for the biggest part of my day, but I stopped on one more spot on the way in and caught another 4-pound largemouth to cull one of those fish.”

 

With three days left before the tournament is done, Gross didn’t go into specifics about where and how he was catching either species. But he did say he only hit about three of the 30 places he found to fish for largemouth during practice.

 

He had all but one of the bass he weighed in by noon.

 

“I’ve got a bunch of stuff left to fish, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be good,” said Gross, who picked up his first career Elite Series victory last year on Alabama’s Lake Eufaula. “They weren’t there like I expected them to be for most of practice, but they seem to be showing up now.

 

“If I can make it to Saturday when the sun is supposed to come out, I think it could be really good.”

 

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Happy Canada Day!

 

Hope you get on the water this Canada Day!