Przekurat Makes History With Bassmaster Elite Series Win At St. Lawrence - PR Newswire

It was asked by many throughout the week, and rookie Jay Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., gladly answered with a four-day total of 102 pounds, 9 ounces that won the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River.

Prior to this event, no angler in recorded sportfishing history had ever reached 100 pounds solely with smallmouth. But with a rare stretch of calm, sunny weather and Wednesday's super moon igniting the fish, Przekurat did just that.

His feat earned him a spot in the prestigious Bassmaster Century Club, which recognizes a four-day total of 100 pounds. It also earned him one of the most prestigious trophies in pro fishing and the $100,000 top prize.

"Trying to take in the moment during the day of the tournament is pretty hard because you're just focused on catching 5-pounders out there," Przekurat said. "You're running back to the ramp and you start getting a little emotional. There's no other feeling like it."

Technically, second-place finisher Cory Johnston of Cavan, Canada, was the first to enter the Century Club with all smallmouth. Starting Championship Sunday in eighth place, Johnston took the stage before Przekurat and tallied 100-5.

Nevertheless, Przekurat said winning against a final field stacked with heavy hitters was particularly rewarding.

"One of my goals was to beat the Johnston brothers (Cory and sixth-place Chris)," Przekurat joked. "They've been coming to my home waters of Sturgeon Bay and taking our money for years, so I had to come over here and take theirs this time."

Przekurat started the event with his biggest catch — a 26-13 limit that put him 1-2 behind Day 1 leader and fellow rookie Jacob Foutz of Charleston, Tenn. Adding 25-8 on Day 2 sent Przekurat into Semifinal Saturday with a 1-13 lead over Cory Johnston.

Weighing 24-12 on Day 3 extended his advantage to a margin of 2-15 over Bob Downey of Detroit Lakes, Minn. Przekurat surged across the finish line with a final catch of 25-8 and edged Johnston by 2-4.

Przekurat caught his fish on a drop shot with a green pumpkin Strike King Half Shell. He used a No. 2 Gamakatsu G-Finesse drop-shot hook and a 1/4-ounce tungsten cylinder weight.

Przekurat spent all four days in Lake Ontario, south of Chaumont Bay. His starting spot was the north bank of Black River Bay — a postspawn staging area in 15 to 20 feet where smallmouth were gorging on abundant baitfish.

When fishing pressure and calm conditions took their toll on the bite, he would relocate to another postspawn spot, this one in 8 to 12 feet outside of Chaumont Bay. Windy and rainy weather limited practice efforts, but fortunately, Przekurat found enough potential to last four days.

"I settled on these areas because that's all I had and I really didn't feel like exploring during the tournament," he said. "I know in smallmouth tournaments, you need to hunker down and focus on fishing because you need to be catching 5-pounders. Sometimes, it takes a while to catch those fish."

In addition to making history in the Century Club, Przekurat also became the youngest Elite Series champion. At 23 years and 26 days old, he broke the record previously held by Casey Ashley, who won the 2007 Elite on Smith Mountain Lake at 23 years, four months and nine days old — also in his rookie season.

Johnston spent all of his time in Lake Ontario, mostly near the Wolfe Island area. Looking for postspawn fish roaming the shallows, he caught the majority of his bass on a drop shot with a green pumpkin SPRO CJ Smasher.

Over the first three days, Johnston turned in limits of 26-3, 24-5 and 21-5. Day 4 saw him catch 28-8 — the event's heaviest bag, which included a 6-1.

"That was my goal going into today — to catch 28 and break 100 pounds," Johnston said. "I knew (Przekurat) was going to catch 24 to 25 pounds, so I did all I could out there. I left it all out there."

Stetson Blaylock of Little Rock, Ark., finished third with 98-15. Buoying his performance with a monster Day 2 limit of 27-11, Blaylock opened with 21-15, then added 23-3 and 26-2 the last two days.

Spending most of his time on Lake Ontario, Blaylock caught most of his bass drop shotting a YUM Warning Shot. He also caught bass on a Ned rig with a 1/6-ounce head and a YUM Ned Dinger and a small swimbait.

"Day 2, when I had that big bag, I had two big ones that I caught in the river right in front of takeoff," Blaylock said. "I caught some other good ones throughout the day, but those two fish were huge in that big bag that allowed me to be here on the final day."

Kyle Welcher of Opelika, Ala., won the $2,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 6-12 from Day 1. Cory Johnston earned the daily $1,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award for his 6-1 Sunday.

Cory Johnston also won the $2,000 VMC Monster Bag award with his catch of 28-8 on Championship Sunday.

Chris Zaldain of Fort Worth, Texas, took home $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, and Paul Mueller of Naugatuck, Conn., earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, Zaldain earned an additional $2,500 as the highest-placing entrant and North Carolina pro Shane LeHew claimed an additional $1,500 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

Ed Loughran III of Richmond, Va., won the $1,000 BassTrakk Contingency award for the most accurate weight reporting.

Brandon Palaniuk of Rathdrum, Idaho, extended his lead in the Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 612 points. David Mullins of Mt. Carmel, Tenn., is in second with 571, followed by John Cox of DeBary, Fla., with 561, Brandon Lester of Fayetteville, Tenn., with 546 and Drew Benton of Blakey, Ga. with 527.

Przekurat leads the Falcon Rods Rookie of the Year standings with 455 points, followed Foutz (444), Cody Huff of Ava, Mo., (388), Joseph Webster of Hamilton, Ala., (386) and Josh Douglas of Isle, Minn., with 348.

The Bassmaster Elite at St Lawrence River was hosted by Jefferson County in cooperation with the 1000 Islands Clayton Chamber of Commerce. 

Finish	Name	Hometown	Total lbs-oz	Earnings
1	Jay Przekurat	Stevens Point, WI	102-9	$100,000
2	Cory Johnston	Cavan, Canada	100-05	$38,000
3	Stetson Blaylock	Benton, AR	98-15	$31,000
4	Chris Zaldain	Fort Worth, TX	98-06	$25,000
5	Paul Mueller	Naugatuck, CT	98-05	$20,000
6	Chris Johnston	Otonabee, Canada	98-01	$19,000
7	Shane LeHew	Catawba, NC	97-07	$19,000
8	Greg Hackney	Gonzales, LA	94-03	$17,000
9	Clark Wendlandt	Leander, TX	92-04	$16,000
10	Bob Downey	Detroit Lakes, MN	91-07	$15,000
11	Austin Felix	Eden Prairie, MN	70-13	$10,000
12	Patrick Walters	Summerville, SC	70-12	$10,000
13	Taku Ito	Chiba, Japan	70-08	$10,000
14	Drew Benton	Blakely, GA	70-02	$10,000
15	Justin Atkins	Florence, AL	69-04	$10,000
16	David Mullins	Mt Carmel, TN	69-02	$10,000
17	Matt Robertson	Kuttawa, KY	69-02	$10,000
18	Kenta Kimura	Osaka, Japan	69-01	$10,000
19	Derek Hudnall	Denham Springs, LA	68-14	$10,000
20	Hunter Shryock	Ooltewah, TN	68-11	$10,000
21	Jason Christie	Park Hill, OK	68-10	$10,000
22	Drew Cook	Cairo, GA	67-10	$10,000
23	Jeff Gustafson	Keewatin, Ontario, Canada	67-01	$10,000
24	Kyle Welcher	Opelika, AL	67-01	$12,000
25	Brandon Palaniuk	Rathdrum, ID	66-14	$10,000
26	Alex Redwine	Blue Ash, OH	66-10	$10,000
27	Jacob Foutz	Charleston, TN	66-05	$10,000
28	KJ Queen	Catawba, NC	66-01	$10,000
29	Lee Livesay	Longview, TX	65-11	$10,000
30	Koby Kreiger	Alva, FL	65-09	$10,000
31	Luke Palmer	Coalgate, OK	65-03	$10,000
32	Brandon Lester	Fayetteville, TN	65-01	$10,000
33	Caleb Sumrall	New Iberia, LA	64-12	$10,000
34	Seth Feider	New Market, MN	64-08	$10,000
35	Masayuki Matsushita	Tokoname-Aichi, Japan	64-06	$10,000
36	Todd Auten	Lake Wylie, SC	64-03	$10,000
37	Brock Mosley	Collinsville, MS	63-07	$10,000
38	Matt Arey	Shelby, NC	62-15	$10,000
39	Pat Schlapper	Eleva, WI	62-12	$10,000
40	Brandon Card	Salisbury, NC	62-10	$10,000
41	Chad Pipkens	DeWitt, MI	62-08	$10,000
42	Cody Huff	Ava, MO	61-04	$10,000
43	Jacob Powroznik	North Prince George, VA	60-10	$10,000
44	Jamie Hartman	Newport, NY	59-05	$10,000
45	Gerald Swindle	Guntersville, AL	58-10	$10,000
46	Bernie Schultz	Gainesville, FL	58-05	$10,000
47	Caleb Kuphall	Mukwonago, WI	56-15	$10,000
48	Carl Jocumsen	Queensland, Australia	41-07	$2,500
49	Keith Combs	Huntington, TX	41-01	$2,500
50	John Crews	Salem, VA	41-00	$2,500
51	Scott Martin	Clewiston, FL	40-13	$2,500
52	Josh Douglas	Isle, MN	40-10	$2,500
53	Steve Kennedy	Auburn, AL	40-09	$2,500
54	Greg DiPalma	Millville, NJ	40-03	$2,500
55	Wes Logan	Springville, AL	40-02	$2,500

2022 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota
2022 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Progressive Insurance, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
2022 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Daiwa, Garmin, Huk Performance Fishing, Marathon, Strike King, Triton Boats, VMC
2022 Bassmaster Conservation Partners: AFTCO, Yamaha Rightwaters

Media Contact: Emily Harley, B.A.S.S. Communications Manager, 205-313-0945, [email protected]

SOURCE B.A.S.S.