John Garrett was in 38th place Friday after totaling 27 pounds over the first two days. Just over three hours after the 7 a.m. launch Saturday, he was motoring back to Palatka with five bass weighing 31 pounds, 6 ounces.
The 29-year-old second-year Elite Series pro from Union City, Tenn., rocketed into second place on Day 3 of the FXR Pro Fish Bassmaster Elite. Adding to the legendary stories of the St. Johns River, by noon Garrett was back at the Palatka weigh-in site, eating a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich, waiting for the official scales to open at 2 p.m.
“I went out today knowing I could only fall 12 places (in the standings),” Garrett said. “I had no pressure at all. I was fishing free. I saw that some stuff had changed. I scrapped what I’d been doing and did something different.”
Garrett realized the north winds of the past two days had stacked up a lot of water in the 310-mile river that flows north to Jacksonville. The current was flowing heavy in the main river channel north of Lake George.
“I didn’t plan this (Friday night),” Garrett said. “I didn’t even rig rods. I just planned to fish by the seat of my pants. The north wind the last two days kept the tide from going out. There’s been a lot of water pushed in. (Saturday) the wind didn’t blow, so all that water that was in the system was flushing back out.
“I noticed we had a lot of current, and a lot of fish had moved on to the main drag. I caught all my fish in canals the first two days and really struggled. I thought if they were ever going to bite in the main drag, today’s the day.”
It took a couple of false starts before Garrett found a sweet spot.
“When I pulled up, I found them on a jerkbait, but didn’t catch one,” he said. “I saw they were there. Then I picked up the exact same crankbait I won with on the Harris Chain last year.”
That was a Strike King 5XD in an olive shad color. Garrett won the third tournament of his rookie season by a margin of over 10 pounds with a total of 84-5 at Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes. Success came quickly Saturday, once he switched to the crankbait. He had a five-bass limit weighing over 25 pounds, then he made another lure change, mainly to conserve his spot for the possibility of Sunday’s final. He picked up a glide bait. That’s a story in itself.
“To be honest with you, I don’t even know what it was,” Garrett said. “I am so far from a glide bait fisherman. Back five years ago when they started getting hot, I spent way too much money on them. I had them in a tackle box I keep in my boat. I pulled the tackle box out and grabbed one that looked good. I don’t know the brand or the size – I have no idea.”
Pressed for details, Garrett said it was about a 6- or 7-inch long, hard-bodied lure.
“I knew it was going to take a big one for me to upgrade, but I didn’t want to show them what I’d been catching them on,” he said. “It was just, if I get a bite on that, it might be a big one.”
And it was – an 8-pound, 6-ounce largemouth that put Garrett over the 30-pound mark and sent him packing for Palatka and a PB&J sandwich.
It marked the 10th limit topping 30 pounds in Elite Series tournaments since Chris Lane set what is still the top mark of 37-9 on Day 2 in 2014. Garrett’s 31-6 ranks sixth on the list, bumping down a notch Brad Whatley’s 31-4 from last year, and leaving him one ounce behind Rick Clunn’s 31-7 in 2016.
Speaking of Clunn, his Day 4 bag of 34-14, second on the top 10 list, was caught on Day 4 in 2019, when he zoomed from eighth place on the final day to win. He was 9-13 behind leader Chris Johnston going into that final day and won the tournament by 3-12 over second-place Johnston. Seven of those top 10 bags have been caught on Day 3, only two on Day 4.
“I’m not saying I’m going to catch them (Sunday),” Garrett said. “When I left there were plenty of fish there. I don’t know if the water is going to still be rolling out of there. Nothing is ever as good as the first time you fish it.
“The good thing is, I’m going to be making that long run, looking forward to getting to my spot.”
| Rank | Big Bags | Day | ||
| 1 | Chris Lane | 37-9 | 2014 | 2 |
| 2 | Rick Clunn | 34-14 | 2019 | 4 |
| 3 | Clifford Pirch | 34-9 | 2019 | 3 |
| 4 | Patrick Walters | 32-15 | 2019 | 3 |
| 5 | John Cox | 31-15 | 2022 | 3 |
| 6 | Rick Clunn | 31-7 | 2016 | 3 |
| 7 | John Garrett | 31-6 | 2025 | 3 |
| 8 | Brad Whatley | 31-4 | 2024 | 3 |
| 9 | John Crews | 31-1 | 2019 | 4 |
| 10 | Scott Canterbury | 30-4 | 2019 | 3 |
