WADDINGTON, N.Y. — It’s the perfect place at the perfect time – the St. Lawrence River in the second half of July, six weeks after the last Bassmaster Elite Series event on Arkansas’ Lake Dardanelle. When the four-day Huk Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence presented by Go RVing begins Thursday, it will mark the home stretch of the schedule, the seventh of nine regular season events.
It’s the fishery itself that tends to bring out the accolades from these 109 anglers.
“This really is just a unique place,” said Edwin Evers, who won in 2015, the last time the Elite Series came here. “There’s nothing else that I know of like this in the United States – current, and lots of it, clear water and awesome smallmouth fishing. We fish a lot of smallmouth places, but nothing with this kind of current and water this clear. And it fishes really big. There are just miles and miles of fishable water.”
That combination has produced some dramatic moments in Elite Series history. When Evers won here in 2015 with 77 pounds, 10 ounces, it marked his second victory in a row, as he was coming off a win at BASSfest on Kentucky Lake. It also re-established a connection with lure-maker Andy Vallombroso, who started working with Evers to design the jig that Evers won the 2016 Bassmaster Classic with at Oklahoma’s Grand Lake. No one could have foreseen that, but in retrospect it looks meant-to-be.
“The way it all happened, the way it put me in contact with Andy to get those jigs, then winning the Classic, no doubt, it all fell into place,” Evers said.
And in 2013, on the previous Elite Series stop here, Brandon Palaniuk overcame a heartbreaking disqualification on the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wis., by taking a wire-to-wire victory with a total of 88 pounds, 12 ounces.
This year, much of the talk has been about the historic 100-year-high water levels in the Great Lakes. But as the Elite Series anglers gathered for the pre-tournament briefing Wednesday, the word was that this river will probably produce its usual big smallmouth bass/big drama scenario. In other words, not much has changed.
“It’s no different,” Palaniuk said. “These fish are used to a ton of current, so I don’t really think it has changed anything. It will take at least 20 pounds a day to win it – at least. I think it’s fishing a little bit better than 2015, but not quite as good as 2013.”
Ott DeFoe, the current Angler of the Year points leader, finished third here in 2013, but didn’t make the top 50 cut in 2015. DeFoe thinks the river is different this time, and the high water level has given him some difficulty in practice.
“It depends on where you are in the river,” DeFoe said. “Where I’ve been, it’s about two feet higher. That definitely changes a lot of stuff. It’s aggravating because places I remember fishing, where you could see stuff that was barely visible before, you can’t fish it as good now because you can’t see it.”
DeFoe agreed with Palaniuk on what it will take to win this week – somewhere higher than Evers’ total of 77-10 in 2015 and less than Palaniuk’s total of 88-12 in 2013.
Evers’ feat of back-to-back wins in 2015 marked the first time it had been done on the Elite Series. Steve Kennedy has a chance to make that a two-man club, coming off his win at Dardanelle in June. He was third when Palaniuk won in 2013.
“I’m getting some big bites, just like I have every time I’ve been here,” Kennedy said. “They’re not in exactly the same places they’ve been before, but it’s similar.”
Kennedy understands why some anglers are dealing with high water levels on one end of the St. Lawrence, while others aren’t noticing much difference from the past at the other end of the tournament waters.
“It’s tilted, just like it was at Dardanelle,” Kennedy said. “The lower end is a foot or two lower than what I remember the last time. If you go up toward Alex Bay, the water is up in the boat houses and the docks are under water.”
These factors – the Elite Series experiences, the uniqueness of the fishery and locally historic high water levels – will make for another memorable week on the St. Lawrence River.