Big bass of St. Johns 2022

As usual, big bass played monster roles in the season opening AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River. In past events, anglers needed 10-pounders to take the Phoenix Boats Big Bass. Double digits didn’t happen this time, but it was oh-so-close. Big fish, however, helped anglers make moves, including the winner.

Bob Downey gets the big hit parade started with a 7-pound, 8-ounce bass. It helped him build a bag weighing 27-4 that gave him a second-place start. He would top his best fish and the bag later in the event.

John Crews did Downey one better, landing an 8-1. Along with four others averaging 5 pounds, Crews took the Day 1 lead with 28 pounds, putting him in line for the new VMC Monster Bag title that awards $2,000 to the angler with the heaviest bag in the tournament.

Brandon Cobb is well-versed in big bass, and he landed this 9-13 to grab the Phoenix Boats Big Bass award of $1,000 for Thursday’s first day of action.

Yes, Cobb caught one of the right ones, but alas, it was his only one of the day. His Day 2 limit was only a pound heavier than his lunker, and he missed the cut to 47 by a pound, finishing 49th. Cobb’s 9-13 held out for the overall big bass of the event and its $1,000 Phoenix Boats bonus.

After only four fish on Day 1, Cory Johnston made a big move from 69th to 34th with 16-11, much of that coming on this 6-13. The Canadian had another bag in the teens on Day 3 to finish 17th.

On the first day, 59 of the 94 Elites brought in limits, with an average weight of 2.7 pounds per fish. Greg DiPalma was among them, standing 32nd with 13-1. An 8-pounder, exactly half his Day 2 weight, shot DiPalma to 11th. He was one of 51 to bring in five, but two fish on Day 3, when only 24 of the 47 semifinalists came in with a limit, sent him back down to 37th.

Bob Downey suffered a slower Day 2, only landing this 6-11. Although the fish kept him in the top five, not getting his limit will long be a sore spot for Downey, who would hit the mother lode on Championship Sunday and push Crews for the title.

Rookie Jay Przekurat suffered a similar fate by only bringing in four each day to finish 33rd. This 6-8 coming around noon on Day 2 pushed him up the leaderboard. Without the big bass, he likely misses the cut and his first $10,000 Elite check.

Gary Clouse, the Phoenix Boats owner who led the first two days here last year, was in danger of missing the cut before quickly changing his fortunes with this 7-9 in his bag of 14-6. Clouse, who said he would certainly take the bonus his company awards to big fish, only managed one fish on Day 3 to finish 42nd.

Caleb Sumrall started the second day well outside the cut, but this 9-7 helped him bag 17-13 and climb to 20th while also earning the day’s $1,000 bonus. Sumrall, who finished 2021 in the top 10 of the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings, finished 15th to get his season started well.

Drew Cook, among the tournament favorites, made a major move with the second-biggest bag on Day 2. Cook landed a 5-11 and another close in his 21-11 limit that catapulted him from 84th to 25th. He reached the final round and finished ninth.

Masayuki Matsushita, fishing his first Elite event, rallied with the day’s biggest bag. Like Cook, Matsushita didn’t have a true monster but his 23-15 jumped him into second place. His biggest was 5-12, but it’s hard to tell which one that is. With 17-pound bags the next two days, the Japanese angler took third and the $30,000 check.

Austin Felix, who climbed into the Top 10 with 18-1 on Day 2, had a 5-14 in his 15-12 on Saturday. Felix, the 2020 Rookie of the Year, finished sixth at St. Johns. Felix won the BassTrakk Contingency award of $1,000 for accurately entering his exact weight.

John Cox coaxed big bedding bass, including this 8-5 and 7-13, to bite, and his 31-15 bag wowed fellow competitors at the tanks and fans on stage. Cox earned $1,000 for Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day and $2,000 for taking VMC Monster Bag of the event. Cox climbed from 38th to second, just 3-1 back of Crews heading into Championship Sunday. While he reported seeing big fish on beds, he didn’t get another in the boat and only managed 12-8 to take fourth and its $25,000 payday.

Crews, who went into Semifinal Saturday leading by almost 10 pounds, had a slower Day 3, totaling only 13-0, but he was certainly appreciative of this 6-1. “I was fortunate that was my only slip day, and I had a 6-pounder that really saved it, or it would have been really bad,” he said.

David Mullins never vied for big bass, but he would have won the consistency award with bags of 19-7, 14-5, 12-2 and 18-9, the second biggest on Day 4. He took fifth place with 64-7 and a cool $20,000.

Bob Downey put on a show on Championship Sunday. When the bite got right, Downey made quick work, landing around 22 pounds in less than a half hour. He then caught his biggest, this 8-4, to cull to 29-3 and his four-day total of 74-0. He came up just 1-4 of tying Crews, but with big bass bonus totaled $36,000 in earnings.

John Crews, fishing his 17th Elite season, calmly fished Championship Sunday and made the right adjustments on the rainy morning. He felt good after landing this kicker that went around 5 pounds. “I just went out and fished like I normally fish, which is all over the place,” Crews said. “I was throwing a spinning rod in 25 feet of water one minute and I’m throwing a (reaction bait) in a foot of water 20 minutes later. Luckily, on the St. Johns River, that works. That’s exactly what I did the last four days. I just mixed it up based on the weather.”

Crews had 17-1 on the final day for 75-4, completing a wire-to-wire win, his second on the Elites. “I got unbelievably fortunate; you have to catch a huge bag at least one of the days,” Crews said. “To win a four-day event in Florida, you can’t have any days where you slip. I’ve said it 100 times, ‘When it’s your time, it’s your time.’ This week, it was just my time.” It’s now off to Leesburg, Fla., for the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain of Lake, expected to be another slugfest.