How Cory Johnston won his 2nd Elite this year, at the St Lawrence River

Not bad eh? We all know that it’s never a surprise when the Johnstons do well in smallmouth country so that’s not a surprise I guess – but 2 wins in one year (the St Johns was the other one) is pretty dang stout. Here’s how he won this one.

Going in and practice

[Because Champlain ended on Monday they only had 2 days to practice for this one. Also, there’s been a bunch of St Lawrence/Lake Ontario tourneys.]

> “I was thinking I needed to win this tournament.

> “I had a really bad practice the first day, like really bad. I only could’ve caught 19 lbs. Day 2 I waited til the end of the day and ran some stuff that I figured they’d be on and they were – and just rolled with that for the tournament.”

> “Right from practice we learned that the fish were extremely hard to catch – harder than [ever]…strictly because of the pressure on this place. It’s gotten so pounded you can’t hardly catch one on a dropshot anymore. So you had to figure out how to catch ’em.”

Tournament

> “The 1st day was calm so I was able to run around [on the lake]. I caught half my fish that day on a dropshot with a Party Minnow, and the other half I caught on multiple different baits.

> “I covered a lot of water and tried to get a feel for what was going on. We only had 2 days of practice so I hit a bunch of stuff…checked a bunch of different stuff. I caught them okay but not awesome….

> “I ran stuff from 10′ all the way to 45′.

> “Day 2 I basically knew where not to go. I was able to spend more time in productive areas…. Same as day 1 – half on a dropshot, the other half on multiple different baits. Bottom baits.

> [No commonality to the spots he fished.] “I just knew which ones had the fish and which ones didn’t.”

> “Day 3 it was really rough [weather]. I made a long run back out to the lake and only had maybe 3 hours to fish. It was just a matter of getting there and being able to fish the 4 little spots I had – I just kept rotating them. One was shallow and the rest were 35-40′.” [Same baits.]

> “Day 4 was the exact same as day 3.”

Why he fished the lake when it was so rough:

> “I just know the lake very well. I know what lives out there. I’m sure I ran over a billion 30-lb bags to get out there…it’s just where I feel comfortable. I feel like the fish are more congregated in certain little areas…. I don’t like fishing the current [in the river].

> “I’m not saying I don’t fish the river – I just prefer to be on the lake if I can get on the lake. The first 2 days I ran a lot of different stuff because it was calm and I could run. The last 2 days I couldn’t…I just picked a couple areas I knew had a few groups of fish.

> “…the lake is what I like to do, same with Chris too. We’ve had these 2 special spots in the river for a million years than no one ever messed with. But when Chris won 4-5 years ago, it put that spot on the map and now everybody fishes it. …had to find new water.”

Baits

> Dropshot: 3″ 6th Sense Party Minnow (electric shiner), #2 Gamakatsu A-Mart G-Finesse Drop Shot Hook, 3/8-oz 6th Sense Tungsten Drop Shot Weight (tie on), 16-lb Seaguar JDM PEX8 Braid to 8-lb Seaguar Tatsu fluoro, Daiwa Exist Reel (3000), 6′ 10″ L F Daiwa BLX Rod.

> “…the first 2 days I would have to cast it out and not move it at all or they wouldn’t bite it. I’d leave it sitting there literally motionless. Days 3 and 4 I had to cast it out and drag it through there to catch ’em. If they saw it fall, they wouldn’t eat it.”

> Why dropshot a paddletail minnow: “We’ve been doing it for a million years and nobody knew about it. They just love it. We could literally catch every single bass we threw at with a little bait with a paddle tail on it. They just cant resist it. The paddletail doesn’t necessarily need to be kicking….

> “I also fished a jig a little bit, and a swimbait – a 6th Sense Whale (gp).”

Electronics

> “I ran the [Garmin] 1643 for my LiveScope [he was watching them eat] and for the rest I used the 12-inch EchoMap Ultras.”

Shoutouts

> “All my sponsors for the year, and all my family, friends and fans that came out to this tournament. It was a big crowd.”