What in the world happened this weekend! First Canadian to win 2 Elites (and in 1 season), first Canadian to win AOY, Rick Clunn retired, Zona "retired" (from Elite coverage – and Tommy Sanders got choked up), and rookie JT Thompkins got DQ'd. I mean – dang! Gotta be the most that ever happened at one Elite??

Once I get the tourney coverage wrapped, I'll hit the rest – except the JT deal. From my own experience – as a news reporter and then when I used to chase such stuff down in the early BassFan days – the only person who really knows what went down is JT and maybe the guy who protested him. Let's see what happens man. Anyone else is just speculating and trying to get you to watch/listen.

Spiritually-speaking, in both the Old and New Testaments we are told and warned not to gossip. What is gossip? Been wrestling with that myself – it can apply to a whole lot.

Big thank you to everyone who emailed about the Kumars maybe moving to TX – wow! Lots of folks love it there, good to see. Anyone who thought I meant Los Angeles when I said LA – hahaha no, Louisiana!

Any more TX suggestions, keep 'em coming. So far everyone is recommending we move south, north or east of Dallas...😁

St Johns, St Lawrence, St Elsewhere – Cory Johnston's got that number! 😁

2 Ws in 1 season – not too bad eh? Never a surprise when the Johnstons do well in smallmouth country so that part's not a huge surprise I guess – but 2 wins in 1 year 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 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."

He also used an Aqua-Vu cam in practice. Typically they are used to check fish species and size.

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."

1. 2 wins in 1 year! Why were you on fire this season?

> "I don't think it's any different than any other season. I just closed the deal a little better this time around. I had some close opportunities in the past and wasn't able to do it, and this year I just got the job done."

2. Did you work on any parts of your game in particular in the offseason?

> "No I don't think I picked up a fishing rod. I was hunting, playing some hockey, hanging out with the kids. I don't care to pick up a fishing rod [in the offseason]."

3. Since Canadian bass are under ice half the year, how do you guys get so good??

> "I think it's just the diversity that we have up here. A lot of people don't understand that a lot of out inland lakes look like FL: full of grass, reeds and pads.

> "Smallmouths weren't as prevalent as they are now, and they weren't as big as they are now. So in tournaments you were largemouth fishing. Once the smallmouths came around, we had to learn the whole thing.

> "I think it's just a lot of time spent on the water and the diverse fisheries we have here made us what we are."

[Asked Chris the same Q below to see if they had different answers....]

4. You just made it real hard for your brother to claim he's a better fisherman. How much of your motivation to win was to make sure of that? 😁

> "[Laughs] I mean I was just hoping he would win AOY. We talked about it – go catch enough to win AOY and I'm gonna win the tournament. We didn't actually plan it like that, it's just how it worked out in the end. It couldn't have been any better."

5. The Van Halen brothers were musical geniuses that made incredible music together. So with you and Chris, who would be the guitar player and who would be the drummer?

> "I don't know...good question. Both of us are totally musically 'handicapped,' I guess would be the world. I gotta think that I'd be the drummer – because learning how to play guitar is too hard."

[Lol either one of those VH bros would be crazy hard!]

Wow what a year Chris Johnston had. Won AOY after a 4th and 2nd in the last 2 events, had a couple more top 10s and won that TAA "jackpot" tourney. He's on such a roll you might think he'd enter a few more tourneys (his brother Cory is), but he says he'll fish 1-2 local derbies and that's it.

Here's 5 with the first Canadian to ever win an Elite and now AOY. That should mean he's more famous than Wayne Gretzky in Canada now? 💪😁

1. The first Canadian to win an Elite, the first Canadian to win AOY – what other Canadian firsts do you have?

> "I don't even know. I was the first Canadian to ever win a Toyota Series AOY . I was 19 years old [in 2009 – believe it was the EverStarts back then?]. ...at the St Lawrence I finished 2nd – it was the 1st time I was ever on it."

2. Can you now just go ahead and say you're a better fisherman than your brother and Gussy? 😁

> "[Laughs] I will for bragging rights for sure, but I think we're all good in our own ways. We've all got our own titles to brag about. We can fire back and forth with each other."

3. Not including FFS, what is the most important technique or bait that someone needs to make a run at AOY?

> "The most important technique I feel like is you gotta be able to power-fish. Going down the bank, skipping a jig, cranking, covering water – you've got to be able to throw at sight-fish when you come across one. You've gotta be able to be effective [doing that] and covering water.

Foller-up: Why do you say that since everyone thinks it's all FFS and the minnow now?

> "I would say that half the tournaments I probably fished with no LiveScope. When they're out there you have to be able to use it, but when there's bedding bass or it's pre-spawn or post-spawn – when they're around the bank – you definitely still have to catch them with no LiveScope.

> "Cover water – half the year that's how I had to do it. But once they get off the shore, you better be able to ping a minnow."

4. Since Canadian bass are under ice half the year, do you have to fish like crazy those other 6 months to get good? How do you do it??

> "To be honest, growing up I fished almost every day mid-June to the end of September, and a very good thing about where I live is it's so diverse. You could go flip reeds, flip milfoil, frog pads, go out deeper for smallmouth and use your electronics...find rockpiles.... I just dialed in all those different elements.

> "...I still fish every day in the summer, but I'm practicing for tournaments – honing those skills for local tournaments. Where I live, every weekend there's a tournament. So when I go out fishing, it's practicing for a tournament. l'm aways looking for new water...spots only last a few years now...."

5. Why were you so "on" this year?

> "I feel like I'm usually a pretty consistent angler. I may not win a lot of tournaments, but over my career I feel like I'm pretty consistent.

> "To be honest a few tournaments this year I would like to have changed out...thought it cost me AOY, like at Fork....

> "I don't have a good answer. I've worked as hard as I've done every other year, and it kind of fell into place. But I always want to do better. I'm never satisfied...I always want to do better."

Bonus Q: Is there anything in your game you feel you've gotten better at or anything you feel like you need to improve on?

> "I feel like Iv'e gotten better at the whole LiveScope game. I love how people call me a Scoper because that's the furthest thing from the truth. But I use it and I'm learning just like everyone else. ...I'm better at Scoping with a jerkbait and minnow now than what I was at the start of the year.

> "I went down to TX 2 weeks early this year, and all I did was practice [FFS]. ...where I live it's mostly grass fishing – we don't Scope a lot. I went to lakes that I could try and Scope with a jerkbait and minnow because I knew I needed to utilize it this year. ...I'm a lot more confident in it."

Did not get Trey McKinney (3rd).

2nd: Robert Gee

[Robert finished the last 3 Elite 2nd, 3rd and 2nd – pretty dang good!]

> "...every fish came on a jighead minnow on a ledge with boulders and shelf rock in 35'. The key bait was a 5-inch Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm in the 'natural shad' color.

> "I was throwing it on a custom-made tungsten jighead using Garmin LiveScope. On an 842 G Loomis Conquest Rod with a Shimano Excense 3000 Reel."

> "At Champlain I caught them on a jighead minnow (1/4-oz, same 5" Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm) and 3/16-oz Juice's Jigs Hair Jig (Gee's TN shad).

> "I was catching roaming fish and perch-eating smallmouth...on the bottom in 40' and coming up to eat alewives high in the water column. The key depth was 30-45' at Champlain."

4th: Chris Johnston

> "I used a variety of baits. My main bait – what I weighed that 29-something on – was a jighead minnow.

> "Day 1 I caught 2 good ones on a jighead minnow out on the lake, then a couple on that CJ Smasher dropshot. I found that the fish had gotten highly educated to a dropshot so I had to use a bottom-contact bait. I used a Ned bait and that minnow most of the rest of the tournament.

> 3.5" SPRO Sakura Worm (gp) on a 3/8-oz Woo Tungsten Ned Head (gp).

> 5" Z-Man Scented Jerk Shadz (shiner) on a 6.2g Gamakatsu Horizon Head with a 2/0 hook.

> Both fished on a 7' 1" Daiwa Tatula Elite Chris Johnston signature Ned Rod, Daiwa Exist Reel (3000), 15-lb Seaguar Smackdown Flash Green Braid to 8-lb Seaguar Tatsu fluoro.

> "The shallowest I went was 15' and the deepest was 45'. A couple of the spots were breaks. They'd go from 50' up to 40' and they'd be sitting on the break, and the other spots were rockpiles.

> "My more sneaky spots were clear spots...on a dead-calm day you can see down 20'...just a clear patch, like a limestone or sand. They suspend off them and people find them with LiveScope."

He said he was "Scoping the break," not really the fish because so many drum and walleye were mixed in. Because of that he did use an Aqua-Vu camera in practice:

> "...I dropped it down. ...my spot out in the lake [had] 5- and 6-lbers I could fish for by myself. [But at the river community hole]...so many other fish were there it was so hard to tell [what they were] on your LiveScope.

> ...how many [smallmouths are] actually there, it's hard to tell on your graph. You don't want to catch them [in practice] so I dropped [the camera] down."

5th: Jordan Lee

> Dropshot: Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm (natural shad), #1 and #2 dropshot hooks, 3/8 (when it was calm) and1/2-oz (windy) weights, 6-lb Berkley X5 Braid to 8-lb Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, Abu Garcia Zenon Reel (30), 7' M Abu Zenon Spin Rod.

> "Fished in the mouth of Lake Ontario, Canadian side, targeted big rocks in 23-25'. Caught them off 5 rocks for 3 days...3-5 fish per rock but the right size.

> "The fish were on the upcurrent side of a shoal. Not many fish and you could only catch one per rock at a time. It would get tricky after you reeled one in – you would have to move and come back."

1. OK: 1st Costa bass tourney on Grand on Oct 11

Do not be surprised if you see KVD there (lurking...lol).

2. CA stocked kokanee in 15 lakes this year

Kokanee salmon create giant fat bass!

3. Bass Pro Shops laid off 10% of aluminum boat peeps

Dang that stinks. Sounds like about 100 folks:

> Inflationary pressures coupled with a dramatic increase in interest rates are contributing to a downturn in the economy, creating stiff headwinds in the recreational boating industry. With slowing consumer demand, we must lower production and regretfully must make the difficult decision to reduce our workforce.

4. Daiwa profit and sales down in FY Q1

> Globeride – the Japan-based owner of the Daiwa fishing brand – has reported a 7.7% slide in sales for the 1st quarter of the financial year...also saw its operating profit decline 47.5%...compared to the same period last year as a result of the decrease in revenue and an increase in expenses....

> ...its major market – Japan – has been showing a gradual recovery trend backed by an increase in consumption and the return to normal of economic activity, the future remains uncertain due to the high price of raw materials, rising prices due to the weak yen and a continued stagnant consumer sentiment.

> Overseas, although it has seen a recovery in spending mainly in the US and Europe....

> ...market inventory adjustments in the Americas are settling down, but warned recovery is slow due to high interest levels. "In this environment Globeride has made efforts to expand US sales, mainly in the bass market, with products like the Tatula series," it said. As a result, sales revenue was 15.9% up year-on-year...and profit up...95.3%.

Globeride reminds me of this old Foghat tune – on the upstroke!

5. Did you know this about Minn Kota shallow anchors?

> ...anchor can be controlled directly from the transom with the unit's physical buttons or on the go via remotes, the foot pedal of a Minn Kota trolling motor, One-Boat Network App or from a Humminbird fish finder.

Dang son!

Here's MK shallow-water anchors on TW.

6. PA: Allegheny River dredging found a junkyard

Pretty much:

> In less than 4 hours, the excavator had recovered 40,000-50,000 lbs of vehicle parts – the equivalent of about 20 cars – from the river...scores of bicycles and skateboards, thousands of feet of fishing line, and 1 mattress.

Sounds like catfish/snag paradise....

7. Few org chart changes at Brunswick

> Aine Denari has been named executive VP and president, Navico Group, and Brunswick Chief Technology Officer. Denari was previously president, Brunswick Boat Group, a role she assumed in October 2020.

> Brenna Preisser is named EVP and president, Brunswick Boat Group, succeeding Denari. Since January 2019, Preisser has been EVP and president, Business Acceleration, the division housing Freedom Boat Club, Boateka, and Brunswick's financial services and related businesses.

> Will Sangster is promoted to SVP and president, Business Acceleration, succeeding Preisser, and will be responsible for the continued growth of the exciting portfolio of businesses within the division. Sangster was most recently president of Mercury Marine in EMEA....

Line of the Day

...sea animals like crabs and shrimp have also tested positive for cocaine near the United Kingdom.

Who is testing crabs and shrimp for recreational drugs?? Anyone checked on Aquaman?

PSA

Didja miss the most recent Abu Garcia REVO Top 5 of the Month? Here ya go!

Good co-angler tips for this FFS era

Helpful 'n timely stuff on the MLF site ^ from AR co Scott Parsons:

> "When they're scoping shallow water it's no big deal because you can still cast to targets and fish your strengths like normal. One thing I'll do if my partner goes down the bank looking for fish is cast directly behind the boat. The bass often get spooked, then circle back and go right back to the bank. If you can make a very long cast, you can pick up a few more bites if you're willing to break off a few lures here and there."

> As for open-water situations..."When your boater is scoping and chasing individual fish, you have to watch what he's doing so you can make the best casts.

> "Typically I'm always trying to throw something different than my partner. But if they're throwing a single swimbait in open water, I'm throwing it because it works so well for suspended fish.

> "Normally I'd fish a lighter head, something like a 1/4-oz. But when my boater is scoping and moving around more, I want a heavier head to keep that bait down and in the strike zone. I'll use a tungsten head that's a 1/2- or 3/4-oz [with]...2.8-inch Keitech Swing Impact FAT Swimbait to keep the bait down deeper.

> "The other thing I'll throw, which is really good for these fish, is an Alabama rig. You'll also want a dropshot rig and jerkbait ready to go."

"I am so disappointed in the fishermen. They should be using it to see and catch fish, but most are just using it to know the depth."

- Carl Lowrance talkin' to a young Ricky Clunn in 1977 – about the OG depthfinder/fishfinder. Here's some of what Rick posted about FFS:

> The only known, for me, is that it has taught me more about real bass behavior in the last 3 years than the other 47 years combined.

> I view it as further evolution of our sport. As an angler I must evolve too.

> It all has made a huge difference in my understanding and approach. Sometimes success isn't measured by how many lbs you put in the livewell. I am still learning but I trust more what I am looking at than I ever have.

> I would love to win an event using this new equipment and this style of angling. This is my goal for the future.

So...Rick ain't retiring from competition!

Elitist rookie Kyle Patrick caught this GIANT 8-01 smallmouth in practice on the St Lawrence – dang! Said it came on a 3.5 Missile Spunk Shad (frosted purple) on a 1/4-oz Queen Tackle tungsten head: "It was actually above some grass."

Fishers of Men Tournament Trail

Bass Chaplain podcasts

Contact Chris Wells the Bass Chaplain

CullGear.com - Versaweb

Advanced Angler

StrayCasts crazy web show!

BassEdge Radio

Champion Jigs

Trophy Bass Co.

National Professional Anglers Assoc.