Man, the Johnston brothers are good.
If you didn’t realize that before, you should now, as they’re in first and fourth at Champlain with a day to go and on track to bring home a third consecutive Angler of the Year trophy to Thanksgiving dinner. (Note to geographically chauvinistic Americans like me: Canadian Thanksgiving is October 12 this year.)
It’s not like Trey McKinney faltered, or that he or Drew Cook can’t still win the title. But this late in the season, you’re going to have to do something exceptional — or hope one or two of the ex-hockey players suffer some sort of force majeure — to beat them.
But even if the season-long battle is coming into slightly clearer focus, this particular tournamentis far from decided. Chris can probably feel Bryan Schmitt’s aura right behind him, while everyone should be wary of Seth Feider’s smoke.
As Lee Livesay said onstage, “Anybody in the top 10 has a shot.”
The difference between 1st and 10th is a mere 4 pounds, 5 ounces. That’s tight, but a tough hill to climb from top to bottom on Champlain.
It won’t be over until it’s over.
When Aaron Martens came back from 19th place on the final day of a weather-shortened 2017 event here to win by 14 ounces, he had a 3-1 deficit to make up. Right now, the anglers in 2ndthrough 6th are all within the “Martens Window.”
Here’s what I saw, heard, thought and dreamt as 50 pros toughed it out on a windier Champlain today:
Twenties – Six of the top ten and 10 out of the 50 still competing had 20 pounds or more today, topped by Bryan Schmitt’s 23-8 and Lee Livesay’s 23-1. It was the only day so far that either of them exceeded 20. Everyone in the top 10 has had at least one 20-pound day, but Cory Johnston is the only one who has done it all three days – 20-8, 20-8 and 20-2.
Twenty Ones – What’s really scary is that everyone not named Johnston in the top five has topped 22 pounds on one day of competition while the brothers’ biggest single-day individual weight is 21-8, and their smallest is 19-14. One of them is primed to bust a giant bag tomorrow.
A Different Kind of 20 – Through 86 Bassmaster events, dating back to his college days and the Opens, Justin Atkins had 28 finishes of 19th or better, and one 30th, but he’d never finished in 20ththrough 29th. With today’s 24th place finish, he broke that odd streak.
Seth Feider (5th, 60-6) — “I’d rather win this than the Bassmaster Classic.” The two-time Elite Champlain runner-up is 2-7 off the lead.
The Cut to 10 – The cut weight was 58-8, an average of 19-8 per day.
Just a Bit Outside – Five anglers missed the cut by a pound or less. Ten missed it by 2 pounds or less.
The Quest for 80 – Six anglers are on pace to top 80 pounds over four days, but none of them are on track to top Kyoya Fujita’s 2023 winning weight of 86-12. Leader Chris Johnston’s three-day average extrapolates out to approximately 83-12, which would become the second-highest Champlain winning weight in Elite history, beating Tim Horton’s 2007 winning weight by a couple of ounces.
The Son Also Rises – Beau Browning sits in 9th place after Day 3 with 58-14, which guarantees him the top Elite Series finish of his young career – to date the rookie’s best Elite finish was 36thin Muskogee. It also situates him such that he is certain to beat his father Stephen’s best Bassmaster Champlain finish. The elder Browning has had an illustrious career, with 10 Classic appearances and four BASS wins, but in six Bassmaster cracks at the big NY/VT lake his best result was 17th in the 2006 Elite event.
Cody Huff (47th, 50-8)– “I’m just tickled to death we got to run around and not get our brains beat out all week.”
Ageism – In an era of youth excellence, the average age of this week’s Top 10 seems uncharacteristically high at 38.1, with half of them 41 years or older. Beau Browning, 24, is the only twentysomething in the bunch. Some may attribute that to the prohibition on forward-facing sonar in this event, but that’s debatable. It turned out to be a tough week for those 50 and older. After strong starts by Greg Hackney and Jason Christie, 52-year-old Hank Cherry (26th, 55-9) ended up being the top finisher in his age class.
The Scales Help Those Who Help Themselves – After sitting in 16th on both Day 1 and Day 2, Trey McKinney fell to 21st and his tournament is over. Meanwhile, his fellow remaining AOY aspirants Cory Johnston and Drew Cook stayed steady — Johnston remained in 4th and Cook fell from 9th to 10th. Each has the opportunity to gain more points tomorrow.
Schmitt’s Creek – With a day’s best 23-8 limit, Bryan Schmitt jumped up to 2nd place with a three-day total of 62-10. He’s averaging 20-14 per day. Add that again and he’ll have 83-8, but he needs only 15-11 to match his winning weight of 78-5 from 2021.
Wire-to-Wire? – We’ve yet to have a single angler lead every day of an Elite Series tournament this year. At Guntersville and Murray, there were four different daily leaders, while at the other five events the eventual winner grabbed the pole position on Day 3. That trend will continue this week as Carl Jocumsen, who led Days 1 and 2, fell to 7th, 3-5 off the lead.
Carl Jocumsen on the Ride Back to the Ramp — “It was an hour thirty five of not fun.”
Bests and Worsts – Four members of the top 10 had their best day today – Chris Johnston, Bryan Schmitt, Brandon Lester and Lee Livesay. Meanwhile, three of the others had their worst day: Cory Johnston, Carl Jocumsen and Beau Browning.
Big ‘Uns – Caleb Sumrall’s (3rd, 61-8) 6-pound, 10-ounce largemouth yesterday is the biggest bass landed at Champlain in Elite Series history. The previous top dogs were twin 6-6 bass caught by Mike Wurm and Seth Feider in 2006 and 2020, respectively. Feider had the third biggest as well, a 6-4 that helped his cause in 2017, along with a 6-0 in 2024 that squeaked into the top 10 overall. Today Cory Johnston and Drew Cook further altered the historical leaderboard with a 6-7 and a 6-5. However, the biggest Champlain bass in Bassmaster history was a 6-15 caught by Nation angler Frankie Appalucio in 2024.
Personal Best – Sumrall joined the Elite Series in 2018 and through nearly nine seasons on the circuit this is his fifth top 10 finish – three of them in New York, two here on Champlain. If he can hold his position or improve tomorrow he will beat his prior best Elite finish of 4th, earned at Guntersville in 2019. His traveling partner Lee Livesay also made the top 10 that week, as he did again this time. Four of the top 10 from that week no longer compete on the Elites and Matt Arey is on a medical leave of absence.
Ups and Downs – Leader Chris Johnston seems to be peaking at the right time. He’s the only member of the top 10 whose weight has gone up every day. Carl Jocumsen is the only one whose weight has gone down every day.
The bottom line is that no one can rest tonight. After tightening bolts and restringing reels, they’ll need to mull over how to turn a 4-pound average into just a bit more apiece. Everyone’s fighting for something, whether it’s a title, a blue trophy, a spot on the tour in 2027 or some combination thereof.
The Johnston brothers want to run the table. Don’t bet against either of them, but it’s not like they have a bunch of dead weight on their tails. The Martens Window is open, but it won’t take more than a little bit of Champlain’s cruel wind to slam it shut.
