Elite

Big Bass of Lake Champlain

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Captions by
Mike Suchan
The field in the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain couldn’t top the previous biggest bass there- Seth Feider’s 6-6 in 2020 — however, three anglers eclipsed the previous best total. There were 1,290 bass weighing close to 4,600 pounds, for an average of 3-9. With his 20 smallmouth averaging just over 4-5, Japanese rookie Kyoya Fujita bested the 101 others with 86-12. Here’s a look at the big fish that made a difference.
John Cox weighed in a 4-14 largemouth but his total of 16-10 had him outside the cut in 59th. While largemouth were expected to play as they had in past events on Champlain, they proved to spotty and ended up second fiddle to smallmouth. With 17-10 on Day 2, Cox finished 60th and dropped six spots to 10th in the Progressive Angler of the Year standings.
Ed Loughran III caught one of only three 5-pounders on Day 1. His 5-0 put him 29th, and another above-average fish helped him make the Top 50 cut. By finishing 35th, Loughran moved up to 80th in AOY and needs a great finale in this week’s Minn Kota Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River to requalify for the Elites.
Shane LeHew was among the anglers just shy of 5 pounds with a 4-15 on Day 1. With 19-9, LeHew stood 23rd after Day 1 when there were 17 bags topping 20 pounds. The North Carolina pro couldn’t top that benchmark, finishing 38th and dropping a spot to 12th in AOY, a great season for the Catawba, N.C., fifth-year pro.
Rookie Bryan Smith of Roseville, Calif., was in the hunt, starting fifth with 22-1. Another 22-0 pushed him to second, but he couldn’t top 20 again, catching 19-13 and 19-3 to post his best Elite finish at fourth and earn his best B.A.S.S. payout of $25,000. Smith, who rose six spots to 14th in AOY, stands third in a strong rookie class that has five inside the Classic cut.
Also weighing a best of 4-15, Justin Atkins was fourth with 22-6 after Day 1. The pro from Florence, Ala., followed with 21-6, 21-3 and 20-7 as one of only two anglers to top 20 pounds all four days. Atkins finished with 85-6, just 1-6 shy of the winning weight. Finally gaining some traction on the Elites, Atkins jumped 19 spots to 52nd in AOY with an outside shot to make the Classic after being on the bubble to requalify for the series.
Second-year pro Jay Przekurat from Wisconsin landed the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 1, a 5-4 that helped him to 22-11 and third place. He was in the hunt with 21-1 then 20-11 but 18-9 on a rare Championship Monday – the second round was weather-delayed from Friday – saw him finish fifth, 3-12 back of the winner. The 2022 Rookie of the Year moved up to fourth in AOY, 36 points from the lead as the circuit heads to St. Lawrence, where he won last year with 102-9.
Alex Redwine had a 4-15 in his second-place limit of 22-14 on Day 1. The second-year pro from Blue Ash, Ohio, caught a 5-3 in his Day 2 bag of 21-14 to hold his spot and improve his outlook.
Cody Huff landed a 5-0 in his Day 1 leading limit of 23-3. The pro from Ava, Mo., slipped three spots with 20-10 but regained second with 21-1 on Semifinal Sunday, starting the final day 2-13 from the lead. With 20-6, Huff was the second pro to top 20 pounds all four days but was 1-7 short of the top weight. He was one of three who topped the previous best Champlain winning weight of 83-10. Standing 69th after the Sabine, Huff’s 20th at Lake St. Clair and third at Champlain has him 42nd in AOY, the first man out of the current Classic cut.
The 17th angler with more than 20 pounds on Day 1, Matt Robertson had a pair of “dandies” in his Day 2 21-3 that pushed him to eighth. The Kuttawa, Ky., pro had 20-0 on Day 3 to make the Top 10 in ninth. He fell to 10th, but is now 16th in AOY after a slow start that had him in the 70s.
Stetson Blaylock continued his consistent season behind 20-4 on Day 2, which helped him finish 22nd. The pro from Benton, Ark., is one of only two anglers who had made all nine Top 50 cuts, which has him ninth in AOY.
Kyle Welcher is the other Elite to make each cut this year. He came into Champlain one point back of AOY leader Brandon Cobb, but he fell to third after starting 60th on Day 1. The Opelika, Ala., pro rallied to 34th on Day 2 with 21-0 to get himself back in the race, although others are lurking behind him and Cobb.
Drew Cook is the closest, just 30 points back. The pro from Cairo, Ga., who has been in the AOY Top 10 all year, moved up two spots with his 13th-place finish at Champlain. Cook had 20-7 on Day 2 then caught a 4-14 to weigh 20-0. He was 22nd and 24th in his last two events on St. Lawrence.
Fujita was ninth after Day 1’s 21-5 then took the lead with 23-14, the VMC Monster Bag of Champlain. The first-year Elite from Minamitsuru extended his lead on Day 3 with 22-9, going into Championship Monday 2-13 ahead of Cody Huff and Justin Atkins.
Mark Mendendez had the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of 5-1 on Day 2 in a 19-4 limit. However, his Day 1 weight of only 14-13 was too much to overcome. He finished 63rd to drop to 54th in AOY. He can still reach his seventh Classic, needing a Top 5 to reach the estimated 522 points to qualify or a win at St. Lawrence that offers an automatic berth.
Bryan Schmitt, hoping to repeat after winning the 2021 Champlain Elite, started with 20-4 but was in 16th. With a largemouth bite that didn’t hit on Saturday, he dropped to 19th with 19-1. However, he busted Day 3’s Phoenix Boats Big Bass, a 5-1 largemouth, to finish 17th. Schmitt moved up two spots to ninth in AOY, 52 points back of the lead.
Hanging just outside the Top 10 after two days, Austin Felix had the second biggest bag on Day 3 at 21-10 to go into Championship Monday in seventh. Only 18-4 saw Felix finish ninth, but he busted his Classic bubble with a 15-spot climb in AOY to 28th.
Welcher, whose BassTrakk was dark on Day 3, made another move. While Cobb struggled and dropped 14 spots to 32nd, Welcher caught 20-2 on Day 3 to finish 25th and regain the AOY lead by 6 points. Both Welcher and Cobb have mixed results at St. Lawrence, where either could excel to win the $100,000 title or falter and leave the door open for another to rally.
Patrick Walters has a shot at AOY, standing 39 points back in fifth. The South Carolina pro topped 21 pounds the first two days at Champlain en route to finish seventh. Walters has been among the most consistent anglers, posting three top 5 finishes in the past three AOY races.
Redwine, who is road roommates with Przekurat, couldn’t eclipse 20 pounds the final two days to fall to sixth. The finish helped his requalification push as he jumped 10 spots in AOY to 69th after being 90th after the Sabine River. The top 70 finishers requalify.
Jacob Foutz worked closer to requalifying by recording a Top 10 at Champlain. The pro from Charleston, Tenn., climbed from 20th to ninth with Day 2’s 21-7 then was the last in Championship Monday. With the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of 4-13 in his limit going 20-10 — only the third bag on the day to top 20 pounds — Foutz finished eighth, which propelled him 14 spots in AOY to 72nd. After the Sabine, Foutz was 97th in AOY but has rallied on smallmouth.
Fujita slipped some on Day 4 with 19-0, but his total of 86-12 gave him a 1-6 margin over Atkins and 1-7 over Huff. It was the rookie’s first B.A.S.S. title and his fourth Top 10 in the Elites. With Joey Cifuentes’ wins at Seminole and St. Clair and Will Davis’s Lay Lake title, rookies have won half the Elites in 2023. Fujita moved into eighth in AOY, 57 points back, but he trails Cifuentes by only 15 points for the Dakota Lithium Rookie of the Year title.

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