PARIS, Tenn. – Before last week’s Zippo BASSfest on Kentucky Lake presented by A.R.E. Truck Caps, fans who follow the Bassmaster Elite Series might never have heard of Christopher Johnston.
But they know him now – and with the kind of first impression he made, they likely won’t be surprised if he’s back on the Elite stage again someday soon.
The 25-year-old Canadian from the Ontario township of Otonabee-South Monaghan caught 62 pounds, 5 ounces of bass in three days and missed making Sunday’s Top 12 cut by a single ounce. He was fishing just his fourth career B.A.S.S. event after qualifying for BASSfest through last year’s Northern Opens.
If you think he was happy just to make a good showing against the Elites, well, you don’t understand just how competitive the young man is.
“It’s disappointing,” said Johnston, who finished 54th, 34th and third in three Opens last year. “Going into the tournament, if I had known I was going to finish 13th, I’d be happy. But once you get in the tournament, you always want to win. If I had finished third, I would have at least wanted to be second, right?”
Missing the Top 12 cut by an ounce was especially difficult, Johnston said, because he lost a couple of key fish during the week that would have easily allowed him to fish on Sunday. Despite those near-misses, he came the closest of any of the 13 invited Open anglers to making the cut.
Before last week, Johnston’s most significant experience in professional bass fishing had come on Rayovac FLW Series Northern circuit where he’s fished 18 events the past six years.
He was the top-ranked angler on that circuit in 2009 with four regular-season finishes of 48th, eighth, second and 21st. He finished fifth in the circuit’s standings in 2011, second in 2013 and sixth in 2014.
Johnston has also had some big-time success in Canadian events, teaming with his brother to win the $40,000 first-place prize in the Kingston Canadian Open out of Thousand Islands three of the past five years. But his ultimate goal is to fish one of the two largest American circuits.
“For sure, I want to fish a major tour, whether it’s the FLW Tour or the Elite Series,” Johnston said. “I was going to fish all of the Opens this year and possible try and qualify for the Elite Series, but it’s a little tougher in Canada to get the sponsorship for tournaments in the states. That’s what holds me back a little bit. It’s not cheap.”
Johnston, who considers himself “right on the brink” of a major pro fishing career, said he’s been concentrating on accumulating sponsors in Canada and “trying to take them to the next level.”
He’s also running a charity bass tournament this summer in conjunction with Canada’s Boots and Hearts Music Festival, the second-largest music festival in North America. He’ll be working with country music stars like Brad Paisley and Justin Moore and several big-name NHL hockey players.
Once he makes it as a full-time professional angler in the United States, Johnston hopes to benefit from some of his distinctly Canadian tricks – just like he did at BASSfest.
“I was fishing beside Dean Rojas, using a drop-shot,” Johnston said. “I felt like I was getting a lot more bites because I was using straight braid and a fluorocarbon leader. He was using fluorocarbon. When you use that braid, the bait will do exactly what your rod tip does.
“I was shaking my bait a whole lot more, and that makes a huge difference.”
Johnston said he has other tricks up his Canadian sleeves, especially when it comes to fishing for smallmouth. That knowledge makes him wish he was fishing the Elite Series this year with the St. Lawrence River, Chesapeake Bay and Sturgeon Bay next on the schedule.
“There are a few things I know,” Johnston said. “But I’m going to keep those to myself. Hopefully, one day I’ll be fishing the Elite Series and doing well enough that people will find out that way.”