CLAYTON — Jacob Foutz said he’s a big fan of smallmouth, especially when they do the things that allow him to tally a big limit like the 27-pound, 15-ounce bag that leads Day 1 of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite on the St. Lawrence River.
With mild and mostly sunny conditions, Thursday yielded a Bassmaster Elite Series record 61 bags of 20 pounds or more. Foutz, a rookie from Charleston, Tenn., heads into Day 2 leading fellow rookie Jay Przekurat, of Stevens Point, Wis., by a half pound.
“That’s my biggest bag of smallmouth, and that’s the biggest bag I’ve weighed in a tournament, as well,” Foutz said. “It’s pretty cool to do it with smallmouth.
“That’s my favorite thing in the whole world. I grew up in East Central Ohio fishing Lake Erie, so I feel at home out here. This place is so much fun. I love catching smallmouth and this place is unreal.”
A productive morning saw Foutz target shallow shoals along a 200-yard stretch near the river mouth where he secured his weight within three hours of takeoff. Noting that he caught his fish from 6 inches to 5 feet, Foutz said his smallmouth were mostly postspawn, but he’s not discounting possible spawning activity.
“I think the full moon (on Wednesday) has a bunch of fish up shallow,” he said. “In practice, I managed to catch a few shallow and then go deep, but today I never had to go deep.
“I caught most of my weight by 9:30 and then went and messed around the rest of the day. I really went and practiced for three-quarters of the day. Hopefully, I found a few places that will help me (going forward).”
Foutz was understandably guarded with his bait details, but he said he caught all of his bass on one traditional smallmouth finesse bait. While he’s confident with his game plan and execution, Foutz also expressed appreciation for some astronomical alignment.
“I got lucky to catch 27-15,” he said. “My two biggest ones followed my bait all the way back to the boat and pretty much hit their noses on my trolling motor. They turned around and started swimming away, I flipped to both of them and caught both of them.
“Stuff like that doesn’t happen. It was just one of those days when everything goes your way.”
Foutz said he plans on repeating his general game plan on Day 2, but he might expand his area. He believes this week’s full moon phase might pull more fish shallow.
“I feel comfortable fishing for smallmouth; they’ve always been good to me,” Foutz said. “I feel like I’m at home this week; I feel like I’m on Erie. The good thing about this lake is that the fish are bigger and there are way more of them.”
Putting himself in position to capitalize on seasonal movements of smallmouth allowed Przekurat to leverage a steady stream of fish that were coming to him. This strategy yielded a second-place limit of 26-13.
“I’m just fishing normal smallmouth stuff for this time of the year,” Przekurat said. “The fish are (mostly) done spawning and they’re making their way out to that deeper stuff in Lake Ontario.
“I’m focusing on that mid-depth range. They’re not out in that 30- to 40-foot range yet.”
Using a mix of drop shots, tubes and Ned rigs, Przekurat fared better than he had anticipated. Getting his work done before noon, he leisurely made his way back to the weigh-in while exploring new areas.
“I actually stumbled on a different school today that I did not find in practice, so I’m looking forward to getting back out there (on Friday),” Przekurat said. “The first hour, I caught a couple of small fish, then about 9:30 or 10 o’clock, I realized that the big ones had moved to a smaller spot.
“I was done around 11:45 and then I made my way back. I didn’t want to risk anything because I had a pretty big bag.”
Cory Johnston of Cavan, Canada, is in third place with 26-3. Johnston, who won last year’s Bassmaster Northern Open on the St. Lawrence River, started his day at the river mouth, where he checked a flat known for random roamers.
When that spot yielded nothing impressive, Johnston devoted the rest of his day to Lake Ontario. Splitting his time between U.S. and Canadian waters, Johnston caught his bass on a trio of finesse baits in 10 to 25 feet.
“There were no surprises today,” Johnston said of his main area’s dependability. “I stayed away from it in practice for obvious reasons. I made one quick pass through there, saw a few and got out of there.”
Kyle Welcher of Opelika, Ala., is in the lead for overall Big Bass honors with his 6-12. He earned $1,000 for the daily Big Bass award.
GUARANTEED RATE BASSMASTER ELITE
(at Clayton)
Day 1 (weight is for five fish)
1. Jacob Foutz 27 pounds, 9 ounces; 2. Jay Przekurat 26-13; 3. Cory Johnston 26-3; 4. Paul Mueller 25-9; 5. Koby Kreiger 25-7; 6. Brandon Palaniuk 25-3; 7. Derek Hudnall 25-2; 8. Clark Wendlandt 25-2; 9. Austin Felix 25-0; 10. Chris Johnston 24-10
11. Patrick Walters 24-7; 12. Greg Hackney 24-4; 13. Matt Robertson 23-14; 14. Seth Feider 23-8; 15. Jason Christie 23-6; 16. Alex Redwine 23-4; 17. Gerald Swindle 23-4; 18. Pat Schlapper 23-2; 19. KJ Queen 23-1; 20. Kenta Kimura 22-15
21. Bob Downey 22-13; 22. Brock Mosley 22-9; 23. Todd Auten 22-8; 24. Jeff Gustafson 22-7; 25. Buddy Gross 22-6; 26. Taku Ito 22-5; 27. Justin Atkins 22-4; 28. Marc Frazier 22-4; 29. Kyle Welcher 22-1; 30. Ed Loughran III 22-0
31. Lee Livesay 21-15; 32. Stetson Blaylock 21-15; 33. Carl Jocumsen 21-12; 34. Jacob Powroznik 21-12; 35. Caleb Sumrall 21-11; 36. Chad Pipkens 21-10; 37. Luke Palmer 21-9; 38. John Cox 21-8; 39. David Mullins 21-8; 40. Chris Zaldain 21-8
41. Cody Huff 21-8; 42. Jamie Hartman 21-7; 43. Caleb Kuphall 21-5; 44. John Crews Jr. 21-4; 45. Michael Iocanelli 21-1; 46. Drew Benton 20-15; 47. Hunter Shryock 20-13; 48. Skyler Hamilton 20-12; 49. Josh Douglas 20-11; 50. Brandon Card 20-11
51. Bryan Schmitt 20-11; 52. Ray Hanselman Jr. 20-10; 53. Scott Martin 20-9; 54. Bernie Schultz 20-9; 55. Mike Huff 20-8; 56. Cliff Prince 20-8; 57. Keith Combs 20-6; 58. Scott Canterbury 20-4; 59. Gregory DiPalma 20-1; 60. Wes Logan 20-0
61. Tyler Rivet 20-0; 62. Micah Frazier 19-14; 63. Matt Arey 19-13; 64. Brandon Lester 19-10; 65. Joshua Stracner 19-8; 66. Drew Cook 19-6; 67. Masayuki Matsushita 19-3; 68. Justin Hamner 19-2; 69. Shane LeHew 18-13; 70. Hank Cherry Jr. 18-12
71. Steve Kennedy 18-12; 72. Bill Lowen 18-12; 73. Brandon Cobb 18-8; 74. Matt Herren 18-6; 75. Matty Wong 18-6; 76. Clent Davis 17-11; 77. Joseph Webster 17-9; 78. Jason Williamson 17-9; 79. Darold Gleason 17-9; 80. Frank Talley 17-8
81. Jonathan Kelley 17-3; 82. Gary Clouse 17-2; 83. Jake Whitaker 17-2; 84. Rick Clunn 16-15; 85. Daisuke Aoki 16-7; 86. Bryan New 15-5; 87. David Fritts 15-8; 88. Clifford Pirch 14-14; 89. David Williams 14-10; 90. Mark Menendez 14-1
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