Fantasy Fishing: Gut check all around

Written by

Pete Robbins

After what seems like a decade since the last event, punctuated by the regular releases of dice baits and Steve Harvey sightings, the Elites are back, and they’re headed to a familiar playing field: Lake St. Clair.

There were Elite stops on the big Michigan/Ontario bowl in 2023 as well as 2020. Furthermore, there was an Open there last year won by current AOY leader Jay Przekurat. That amount of recent history seems like it should produce a lot of info and data from which to prognosticate. Oddly enough, it does not.

While 2020 seems recent, four of the top ten finishers from that tournament, including champ Bill Weidler, no longer compete on the Elite Series. At that point, forward facing sonar was certainly available, but I’d guess that less than half of the field had consistently made it a significant part of their game plan.

By 2023, FFS – love it or hate it – had become a key part of just about everyone’s deal (except perhaps John Cox, who finished 3rd in 2020 and 56th in 2023), shaking the foundations of what we knew. Now, we exist in a world where approximately a quarter of the field, including about a dozen anglers currently inside the Classic cut, qualified after the 2023 event. Several of them have never competed on St. Clair – but you could park them on any random mud puddle from Wyoming to Winnipesaukee and they’d come home with a limit.

We know a lot, but nobody really knows much at all.

That’s a short way of saying that this is a tough one to pick.

At this point, they’re all tough to pick. That’s not a cop out. It’s just a reflection of how versatile and solid the talent is from top to bottom. It’s also my way of saying that I’m not going to offer some unifying theory of St. Clair picks. I’m just going with my gut. The anglers, particularly those who are fighting for AOY, a Classic berth, or their Elite Series lives, would be smart to do the same.

BUCKET A – FAN FAVORITE

MICHIGAN HERO: Taku Ito finished 10th in the 2020 Elite at St. Clair and 3rd in last year’s Open. He continues to get deadlier, which should scare the hell out of anyone competing between now and whenever he decides to return to Japan. This is the type of water that sets up perfectly for him – regularly featureless, roaming fish, and pressured fish who typically respond best to finesse presentations.

SOLID BACKUP: Until proven otherwise, it just about always makes sense to consider Trey McKinney. He remains a not-so-dark-horse for the AOY race with four regular season top ten appearances (plus a runner-up in the Classic). He was tough not to pick, but Taku’s track record on St. Clair won me over.

BUCKET B – SORTA LOCAL

MICHIGAN HERO: Cooper Gallant doesn’t live close to St. Clair, per se, but he lives right next to places that fish quite similarly. He finished 4^th here in his rookie season of 2023 and is currently inside the Classic cut, although with not a lot of room for error. Expect him to produce in these last two events to make his fourth straight Classic.

SOLID BACKUP: In last year’s Open, Tucker Smith finished 15^th, and he only seems to have gotten better since then, as proven by his win at Lake Fork. For an Alabama kid, his Northern finishes have been exceptional, including a college win and college runner-up finish at Saginaw Bay. He should solidify his Classic berth in Michigan and lock it down in Wisconsin.

BUCKET C – ROOKIE RISING

MICHIGAN HERO: Unlike road housemates Paul Marks, Tucker Smith and Emil Wagner, Andrew Loberg is not currently inside the Classic. It’ll take a substantial effort to make it, but it’s not impossible. He’s shown just enough flashes of greatness, including a runner-up finish at Tenkiller, that I’m going to follow a hunch and pick him. It doesn’t hurt that he finished 26^th in last year’s Open.

SOLID BACKUP: Joey Cifuentes earned the second of two rookie season wins here at St. Clair, but since then he’s generally struggled to reclaim that first year magic. He’s one spot ahead of Loberg in the AOY race, so he could similarly make a late push for the Classic with a couple of top tens.

BUCKET D – OFF YEAR COMEBACK

MICHIGAN HERO: Without a win in La Crosse, it seems unlikely that Brandon Card will qualify for the 2026 Classic, which would be his eighth. Nevertheless, he has a ton of history on St. Clair – terrible finishes in 2015 and 2017, followed by 27^th in 2020 and 12^th in 2023. If he continues that upward trend he could be a brilliant fantasy pick.

SOLID BACKUP: This has likewise been a tough year for Jason Christie, who even struggled at home on Tenkiller. Like Card, though, he has lots of St. Clair history, much of it very good. He was 7^th here in an Elite in 2015, but won a prior Open as well as the 2023 Elite. A six figure check makes up for a lot of frustration.

BUCKET E – NEEDS HOME COOKING

MICHIGAN HERO: You have to scroll far down the AOY leaderboard to find Michigan’s homegrown Chad Pipkens. He’s only made one Elite check this season (30^th at Hartwell) and has only finished better than 76^thone other time. He didn’t do too well here in 2023, either: 91^st. He does, however, have an Open win in Detroit, and is fighting for his Elite Series life. That’s enough for me to pick him in Bucket E.

SOLID BACKUP: In the complicated algebra of relegation, I’m not really sure if Steve Kennedy is in danger of losing his tour card, but I’d love to see him win – especially with his new signature series glide baits. I’m not saying that’d be more fun than a fuzzy dice or minnow pinging victory, but any time we have SK on a Sunday it’s good for the sport.