When Micah Frazier went into the Sunday top 10 final last year at the St. Lawrence River, he was the last man in. But he trailed leader Chris Johnston by only 4 pounds, 10 ounces, and he made the unlikely leap from 10th to first with a 25-pound, 9-ounce five-bass limit on the last day.
That won’t be happening this year. It’s a testament to what leader Paul Mueller and second-place Chris Johnston have accomplished over the past three days of the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at the St. Lawrence. Mueller, with a three-day total of 76-15, and Johnston (74-12) have a chance to do something that has never been done in Elite Series history — top the 100-pound mark on a four-day, five-fish-per-day smallmouth bass fishery.
“It would be nice,” Mueller said. “It’s doable. A lot of big fish live in this place. It’s a special, special fishery.”
In third place is Chad Morgenthaler, who is seven pounds back of Mueller. The rest of the top 10 is at least 10 pounds behind.
The answer to who wins this seemingly two-man race and whether anyone tops 100 pounds is literally blowing in the wind. It’s predicted to blow all night on the big waters of Lake Ontario, where Mueller and Johnston have caught their fish this week.
“You never know up here,” Mueller said. “The wind gets to blowing here and it turns evil pretty quick. I’ve seen it go in 15 minutes from okay to oh, boy!”