WADDINGTON, N.Y. — If you didn’t know any better and just looked at Michael Neal’s recent tournament results at the St. Lawrence River, you would think he was raised in upstate New York.
The Dayton, Tenn. pro won a major professional tournament last August and hasn’t finished lower than 17th in the last five visits. That streak of top finishes is on pace to continue at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open presented by SEVIIN after Neal brought 23 pounds, 14 ounces to the scales on Day 1, which has him sitting just outside the Top 10.
The St. Lawrence River has set lofty standards, and Thursday’s opening round certainly didn’t disappoint as 54 bags over 20 pounds crossed the stage and 26-5 is leading the tournament. After two days of practice, Neal expected a 20-pound bag to be a competitive limit. Then on Friday, he had his best day of smallmouth fishing ever.
“It was one of those magical days,’ Neal said. “I don’t know if this place keeps getting better or if we’re just getting better at catching them.”
Early on in his pro career, Neal struggled mightily in smallmouth country, trying to apply largemouth concepts to brown bass. Because of the strength of the current, however, Neal has been able to translate some of his extensive Tennessee River knowledge to the St. Lawrence River.
“I wanted to make them be like largemouth,” Neal explained. “Largemouth live on something. They live on a rock, a brushpile, a dock post. Smallmouth live around things. Here, they still live around things, but the current narrows it down. You can mix a little bit of the Tennessee River back into it. It fits my style.”
Not only has he been able to use his strengths on the St. Lawrence River, he also executes a remarkably simple approach almost every time he comes to upstate New York. A Big Bite Baits Fuzzy Stick rigged on a drop shot is what he is throwing 99 percent of the time. This week, he has doubled the number of different baits on his deck, adding a jighead minnow into the mix.
One five mile stretch is responsible for much of his success, and Neal has been able to pinpoint which zone the smallmouth prefers based on the time of year.
“I feel like I know every rock, every turn and every break,” he said. “You have to rotate a bunch of places and look around for them instead of (focusing) on one spot.”
Although shad do not live in the St. Lawrence River, there are baitfish smallmouth will chase down, and Neal has been able to use that to his advantage as well.
“You’ll get out there in places and see big clouds of baitfish. Some of the clouds are 30 feet tall and 30 feet wide. Last year when I won, I could see them spitting up those baitfish, so I keyed into those colors.
“But, a smallmouth is a smallmouth. They are aggressive. As long as you get something that looks similar to something they can eat, they will bite it.”
Other Notes from Day 1
- Ryan Lachniet’s 7-5 smallmouth is the biggest bass weighed in Bassmaster competition at the SLR since Paul Mueller caught a 7-13 in the 2020 Elite.
- Former Elite John Hunter Jr. also landed a 7 on Day 1.
- The last time the Opens visited in 2023, 31 anglers caught 20 pounds or better on Day 1. That number was 54 this go-round.
- Over 2,508 pounds of bass crossed the stage. Most were smallmouth, but a couple of largemouth found their way back to Waddington.
- Three Elite anglers, Kyoya Fujita, Cory Johnston and Evan Kung are all in the Top 10.
- Tomorrow is the final full field day of Division I competition. With weights tight, it may not be until Saturday’s final weigh-in until we know the 50 anglers advancing to the Elite Qualifier round.