Elite

Big bass of St. Johns River 2024

Posted on
Captions by
Mike Suchan
The inconsistent nature of Florida fishing was evident in the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River. Anglers followed a good day with a bad one, and vice versa. Only Cory Johnston managed four fully productive rounds, giving him a runaway victory. Take a look at the big bass that made a difference.
Mark Menendez, who’s had a pair of top five finishes on the St. Johns River, started hot, catching almost 15 pounds early to take the lead on BassTrakk. He came in with 20-13, one of the eight bags topping 20 pounds on Day 1, to start in seventh. The Paducah, Ky., pro had about half that weight on Day 2 but made the cut to finish 18th, which moved him 26 spots up the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings to 38th.
Wes Logan had two catches of 5-0 on BassTrakk, and they helped him weigh 22-0 to stand third after Day 1. The Springville, Ala., pro caught less than half that over each of the next two days to finish 29th, but he gained 15 AOY spots to 60th.
Wisconsin’s Caleb Kuphall tied for the fourth-best limit on the day with 21-0. His bag included a 7-2, but without a big he fell to 12th with 12-0 then only three fish for 11-0 on Semifinal Saturday knocked him to 23rd.
Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., started off sixth with 20-14 to increase his AOY lead, but he was assessed a 90-minute penalty for a running infraction through an unmarked no-wake zone. With his late start on Day 2, the 19-year-old missed the early bite and came in with 9-1, falling to 26th. He came back with 15-12 to finish 17th. That cut McKinny’s lead in the year-long points race to five as second-place Jordan Lee took 12th.
Matt Arey of Shelby, N.C., tied Kuphall for fourth with 21-0, aided largely by this 7-1. Weighing 18-2 pushed Arey to second after Day 2, and he survived a 9-3 on Semifinal Saturday as the 10th finalist. Finishing with 16-8 moved him up a notch to ninth, and that helped him climb from 37th to 18th in AOY.
More than a third of Brandon Card’s Day 1 weight came from this 7-4, which had him 13th with 19-1. The Salisbury, N.C., pro fell to 34th after weighing 11-4 and 10-6, but he stayed well inside Classic contention by gaining three spots to 27th.
Canada’s Cooper Gallant was thrilled to land this 7-5, but his other four totaled 10-4 to have him start 19th. With smaller limits the next two days, Gallant finished 31st, moving four places to 13th in AOY. Jeff Gustafson, the 2023 Classic champ, is the only one of four Canadian Elites outside the mark to qualify for the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors. Gussy slipped badly at St. Johns, suffering a 101st-place finish that dropped him 33 spots to 59th in AOY.
Jake Whitaker posted the eighth 20-pound limit on Day 1 behind this 7-15, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day. Weighing 15-1 on Day 2 kept the Hendersonville, N.C., angler in the Top 10, but four for 5-6 plummeted him to 33rd. Whitaker did move up nine notches in AOY to 43rd, just outside the projected Classic cut.
Fishing for bedding bass in Salt Springs, Cory Johnston took the BassTrakk lead twice on Day 1. He consistently posted 4-plus pounders throughout the day, and they ended up being a bit bigger as the 38-year-old wound up second with 23-3.
Caleb Sumrall, also in Salt Springs, posted a 6-0 and 6-4 on BassTrakk before a late 5-6 gave him the lead with more than 25 pounds. At the scales, the pro from New Iberia, La., put in a bid for the Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag with 28-8. However, Florida’s fickle finger of fishing hit on Day 2 – he only managed one fish for 3-11, dropping to 17th. Sumrall caught 10-8 on Semifinal Saturday to finish 26th and move up 18 notches to 50th in AOY.
Another Louisiana pro, Logan Latuso, reversed his fortunes positively. Standing 74th with 11-1, Latuso jumped up to 18th with 21-2 on Day 2. Another 20-3 gave him his second Elite Top 10, the first coming at Okeechobee in 2023. Latuso finished 10th, which bumped him up 28 AOY spots to 48th.
Texas’ Ray Hanselman, sitting in 20th after the first day, posted a 5-8 and 4-12 back-to-back in his Day 2 19-10 to jump into fifth. Despite being among the eight who didn’t catch limits on Semifinal Saturday, he stayed in the Top 10 and wound up seventh. After earning just 51 points in the first three Elites, he garnered 96 to climb 14 spots to 85th in AOY.
Fifty-six was big in Jason Christie’s numerology in Florida. He started the St. Johns 67th but catapulted 56 spots with 21-13 on Day 2. Two more solid days gave him a seventh-place finish, his second Top 10 in the Sunshine State. He got healthy on the swing, jumping 56 places to 23rd in AOY.
Bob Downey of Detroit Lakes, Mich., missed the Harris Chain event for the birth of his child, Jett, who weighed 7-13. The proud dad was almost as proud to bring in two “Jett-sized” bass on Day 2. His 7-10 and 7-0 came in a 22-11 limit that moved him from 28th to third. Only three bass the following day dropped him to 15th.
John Cox of Debary, Fla., also made a Day 2 move, and 41 was his big number. Behind an 8-0, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day, he weighed 20-15 and climbed 41 spots to ninth. Cox finished 22nd, but his Classic chances improved after his home state events, moving up 41 spots in AOY to 28th.
Cory Johnston’s big number on Day 2 was seven. A 7-10 gave him the lead early in the morning, and the day’s best bag came in at 27-8. With 50-11, Johnston led Matt Arey by 11-9. Ridiculous to note, but Johnston was also on pace for 100 pounds, which if accomplished would have made him the third angler to earn Century Club belts on smallmouth and largemouth.
It was good news, bad news for Steve Kennedy. The Auburn, Ala., veteran was 12th after his 19-4 on Day 1, then he fell to 20th. On Day 3, the good was Kennedy landed this 7-7; the bad was he only had one other bass and dropped to 28th. It could have been better, but he moved to 41st in AOY, up from 75th before the Florida Swing.
Two-time AOY Brandon Palaniuk said something clicked for him on Day 3. He made the 50 cut in 41st, then passed 25 others with his 18-8 limit. After a 95th at the Harris Chain dropped Palaniuk to 71st in AOY, he climbed back into Classic contention at 44th.
Chris Johnston, the younger brother of Cory, bolted up the leaderboard on Day 2 with 21-7 then added 18-14 to stand third, although almost 16 pounds back. Catching some of his fish in Salt Springs, Chris left it to “Big Bro” since he had a chance to win. Chris wound up fifth in the event, moving to third in AOY after standing 16th before Florida.
Alex Redwine of Blue Ash, Ohio, had two solid bags before his 19-4 gave him a three-day total of 48-5, tying Matt Arey in 10th. Because he had a bigger bag, Arey won the tiebreaker and went on to fish Championship Sunday. Redwine’s Day 3 move was fruitful in AOY as he gained 33 spots to 37th.
Jacob Foutz has apparently found his groove. After a controversial offseason, the Charleston, Tenn., pro continued a run with seven consecutive cuts and three Top 10s. His best of consistent bags in the high teens came on Day 3 at 18-12. He moved up a spot to finish third, which pushed him eight spots to seventh in AOY.
After 11-1 on Day 1, Logan Latuso stood 74th. With 21-2, he moved to 18th then jumped into fifth with Day 3’s 20-3, aided by a 6-4. After two poor events closer to his Gonzales, La., home, Latuso got well in Florida, entering 90th in points and leaving in 48th.
Like Latuso, Brad Whatley of Bivins, Texas, was in bad shape in AOY, standing 94th before Florida. Like Latuso, his Day 1 at St. Johns wasn’t up to snuff with only two fish, a 6-9 and 2-0, putting him 95th. An even 20 pounds on Day 2 saw him climb to 36th, then Whatley busted out big-time late on Day 3. A 5-12 on BassTrakk was followed by an 8-7, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day and the event, then a 7-6. At the scales, Whatley weighed 31-4 to take the Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag’s $2,000 bonus and jump to second, 14 pounds back of the lead. Whatley finished second with 72-4 and, combined with his 10th at the Harris Chain, vaulted 61 spots to 33rd in AOY.
Greg Hackney likes Florida. Hailing from Gonzales, La., the Hack Attack was in the hunt all week. With 19-5, 16-13, 15-9 and 16-4, he finished sixth at St. Johns. Combined with his 13th the week before, Hackney moved up 51 spots in the AOY race to 21st.
Drew Benton saved his best for last. The Panama City, Fla., angler was 37th after two days but finished with 20-14 and 21-8, including a 6-8, to post a fourth-place finish. After falling to 51st in AOY with a 74th at the Harris Chain, Benton moved up to 29th in points.
The bite was stingier for Cory Johnston on Day 4, but having Salt Springs to himself produced this 7-12 that took Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day. Leaving the shallow spawning beds, Cory made several culls to total the day’s second-best limit of 19-9. It gave him a total of 93-6 and the second-largest Elite margin of victory at 21-2. Johnston, who won the 1000 Islands Open in 2021, moved five spots to fifth in AOY, a title he nearly won in 2019. Most importantly, by getting the blue trophy schneid off his back, he won’t have to hear any more guff from his little brother.

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