None of the top ten at Lake Champlain saved the best for last.
Really. Not one of the anglers who competed today had his best day of the tournament. The guy who won it had his worst. At times the blue trophy seemed ripe for the picking by anyone who would just reach for it.
But as Chris Zaldain presciently stated on Thursday, “Champlain’s an absolute marathon.”
Bryan Schmitt had just enough final kick. Again.
He knows something about winning these things with less-than-spectacular weights. When he won here in 2021, his four-day total was less than 80 pounds. This time, he hoisted the trophy with 81-7.
Schmitt’s 18-3 today was the biggest “worst bag” among the top 10. Every other angler in the final field weighed less than that at some point during the week.
That’s the thing about a marathon. Champlain wasn’t won by producing the biggest bag. It was won by avoiding the smallest one. That was the difference. The Maryland charter captain and past Champlain winner just kept plodding along as one by one they fell by the wayside.
Here are a bunch of things I noticed that you probably didn’t as we waited for the dust to settle on an increasingly breezy Lake Champlain:
Caleb Sumrall – “It looks like I’m back in love with bass fishing again.” His 4th place finish ties the best Elite Series result of his career and may very well keep him on the tour.
Winning Weight Metrics – Schmitt’s 81-7 this week is the third-highest Champlain winning weight in Elite Series history out of seven events. It’s just 11 ounces over 4th and 20 ounces over 5th.
The Money Game – With his six-figure check, Schmitt will go over $900,000 in career BASS winnings. Had Drew Cook won, he would’ve gone over a million. Now he’ll have to wait at least until the St. Lawrence, but more likely until sometime next year. Five members of the top 10 already had a million or more in BASS earnings.
Twenties – The final 10 anglers produced 15 bags over 20 pounds out of a possible 30 over the first three days of competition. Today, Drew Cook was the only one to reach that mark. Schmitt becomes the first Champlain winner in a four-day tournament to have fewer than two 20-pound bags since Denny Brauer in 2006. Aaron Martens had only one in 2017, but that tournament was shortened by weather to three days. The only angler to top 20 three times in a Champlain Elite win is Kyoya Fujita.
Excellent Sponsor Placement – While Schmitt did much of his damage with a Missile Baits worm, he also mixed in a SPRO RkCrawler. SPRO is not only his personal sponsor but was also the title sponsor for the event.
Margin of Victory – When Timmy Horton won the famous “pizza at the dock” tournament in 2007, his margin of victory was 12-13 over Skeet Reese. A year earlier, Denny Brauer beat Brent Chapman by 7-14. Since then, the largest margin was 1-6 for Kyoya Fujita over Justin Atkins in 2023. Schmitt’s 1-pound margin this week is only the fourth-tightest Champlain finish in Elite Series history. The closest, of course, was 1 ounce, when Ed Loughran edged out Chris Johnston just two years ago.
Speaking of Atkins – The 85-6 that Atkins weighed in to finish 2nd in 2023 would have been enough to win every other Champlain Elite. Cody Huff’s 85-5 would’ve been enough, too. Bryant Smith’s fourth-place weight of 83-1 would’ve won all others except for Horton’s 2007 victory.
AOY Points Implications – With only 10 anglers left, there wasn’t much room for movement, but the two guys with the most at stake made the biggest moves. Drew Cook climbed five spots while Cory Johnston fell three, as did Carl Jocumsen.
Back-to-backs – Chris Johnston has consecutive runner-up finishes at Champlain to go with his consecutive AOY titles. He joins Seth Feider in that latter club, as the Llama did the same in 2017 and 2020.
Johnstons at Champlain – Through five Elite events at Champlain, neither Johnston has missed a cut to Day 3. The worst finish for Cory was 48th (2021) and the worst for Chris was 30th (2020).
• Cory’s average finish: 16.6
• Chris’s average finish: 13.8
• Combined average: 15.2
This is the second time in a row that they both finished in the top 10. Cory also finished in the top 10 in 2020.
Caleb’s “What If” – Sumrall bounced back from the disastrous Day 1 that had him in the 80s with a tournament best (and Elite Champlain best) 24-4 on Day 2. Over the final three days he amassed 63-11, an average of just under 21-4. If he’d hit that number on Day 1 and the other days had progressed as they did, he would’ve won by over 3 pounds.
Beau Browning – “Top 10 days are not for the weak.” His 8th place finish marked the best of his young Elite Series career and the best Elite Champlain finish for the entire Browning family. The last time anyone in the family did better in Elite competition was when his dad Stephen came in 3rd at the Harris Chain in 2011. Beau was 9 at the time.
Chris Johnston on his brother’s AOY quest — “If he doesn’t win, I don’t want to be around him for the next year.”
Fashion Statement – Feider’s unwashed rainsuit looks more appropriate for a commercial fisherman heading to the Flemish Cap than for the modern-day blow-dried bass pro.
Tommy Sanders at 2:30 pm – “All we’ve got left is the sandbag factor.”
Deuces Wild – Seth Feider avoided a 3rd runner-up finish at Champlain, but not in the way he would’ve liked. While he’s won an AOY title and competed in seven Classics, it’s hard to believe that he’s never won a regular-season Elite Series tournament, despite winning two postseason reduced-field tournaments. Those came on Mille Lacs and St. Clair, respectively. His other runner-up finish came in La Crosse. His best Elite Series finish in the south came at the St. Johns River in 2021 when he finished 3rd.
Jack Chancellor would be proud – The ball and chain made multiple appearances today. ¡Viva la Carolina!
Absentees – The top ten included zero Classic winners, zero anglers over 50, no one from Alabama or Japan, and no one who entered the tournament in the bottom 10 in the AOY race.
Tackle Need – SPRO Wacky Snack.
Not Dead Yet — Urchins
Davy Hite looking forward to the St. Lawrence — “We may have used up all of our calm days in New York this week.”
Get ready for Clayton.
There’s still lots of fishing left to go in this season. Well, not really. Four days of competition, to be exact, but if the St. Lawrence is anything like this week, it won’t be over until the last smallmouth spits up a crawdad.
I’ve got my hoodies and my rainsuit packed. And the latter is cleaner than Feider’s.
