Przekurat leads Day 3 at the St. Lawrence River with 77 pounds, 1 ounce

The top 10 anglers with the best three-day totals will compete for the $100,000 grand prize Sunday, taking off at 7 a.m., with the final weigh-in set for 3 p.m.

With a margin of 2-15 over Bob Downey of Detroit Lakes, Minn., Przekurat said the scope of his current standing is starting to sink in.

“I’m kind of speechless, to be honest,” Przekurat said. “The last few days have been nothing but stellar. I can almost do nothing wrong. If I lose a fish or break off a fish, I can go somewhere else and catch another big one.

“We do a lot of this type of fishing back home. I fish Sturgeon Bay a lot and it fishes almost identically to this place. I love fishing the Great Lakes and I love catching big smallmouth. I guess I just have a knack for it this week.”

Essential to Przekurat’s success was knowing when to pull the plug on the area that had produced most of his action the past two days. Located in a bay south of the river mouth, Przekurat’s starting spot was a classic postspawn setup with lots of baitfish providing ample feeding opportunities.

“I caught two of my keepers there on a drop shot, but I think the pressure is getting to those fish,” Przekurat said. “Also, it would have helped if there was a little bit of a breeze there (like previous days). You have pressure and slick calm water — they get smart pretty fast.

“I left my main area around 10 and started to run back. I stopped on my secondary area and that’s where I caught my big fish (a 6-10) and filled my limit. They were there and they were biting.”

Przekurat noted that he figured out a specific bait and presentation that triggered the bass on his second spot. He kept those details confidential, but said he believes he can repeat his success on Championship Sunday after giving his first spot a fair look.

Even before anglers arrived for practice, many floated the notion of this event producing the first Century Club entry (100 pounds over four days) comprising all smallmouth. More than three-quarters of the way to that unprecedented achievement, Przekurat addressed this premise with a confident grin.

“I think I’m in a good position,” he said. “I only need about 23 pounds and out here, that’s nothing.”

Downey caught a Day 3 limit of 25-10 and placed second with 74-2. Building on his first two days’ weights of 22-13 and 25-11, he improved from his Day 2 position of eighth.

Committed to the St. Lawrence River, Downey said his third day was mostly a template of the previous two, except for an extra level of thoroughness that provided a key upgrade.

“I caught four off of one area that I’ve been starting on each day,” he said. “I’ve been getting a limit off that spot each day and I only got four today. But one was a 6 1/2-pounder, another was 5 1/2 and then there were a couple of other good ones.”

Downey left the spot for a while but returned during the afternoon hours to catch a smallmouth that helped his cause.

Elite veteran Greg Hackney of Gonzalez, La., is in third with 73-1 after being impressively consistent with daily catches of 24-4, 24-12 and 24-1.

Throwing mostly a tube, Hackney assembled a limit of about 21 pounds within the first 20 minutes Saturday.

Kyle Welcher of Opelika, Ala., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors for biggest bass of the week with a 6-12. Shane LeHew of Catawba, N.C., earned the daily $1,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award Saturday for his 6-11.

Jacob Foutz of Charleston, Tenn., holds the lead for the VMC Monster Bag with his 27-15 limit from Day 1.

Brandon Palaniuk of Rathdrum, Idaho, leads the Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 612 points. David Mullins of Mt. Carmel, Tenn., moved into 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 Bassmaster Rookie of the Year standings with 455 points. Foutz is second with 444, followed by Cody Huff of Ava, Mo., with 388, Joseph Webster of Hamilton, Ala., with 386, and Josh Douglas of Isle, Minn., with 348.

GUARANTEED RATE

BASSMASTER ELITE

(At Clayton)

Day 3 (weight is for 15 fish)

1. Jay Przekurat 77 - 1; 2. Bob Downey 74 - 2; 3. Greg Hackney 73 - 1; 4. Paul Mueller 72 - 15; 5. Stetson Blaylock 72 - 13; 6. Chris Zaldain 72 - 7; 7. Clark Wendlandt 71 - 15; 8. Cory Johnston 71 - 13; 9. Shane LeHew 71 - 12; 10. Chris Johnston 71 - 10.

Phoenix Boats Cutline: Top 10 anglers fish on Sunday

11. Austin Felix 70 - 13; 12. Patrick Walters 70 - 12; 13. Taku Ito 70 - 8; 14. Drew Benton 70 - 2; 15. Justin Atkins 69 - 4; 16. David Mullins 69 - 2; 17. Matt Robertson 69 - 2; 18. Kenta Kimura 69 - 1; 19. Derek Hudnall 68 - 14; 20. Hunter Shryock 68 - 11.

21. Jason Christie 68 - 10; 22. Drew Cook 67 - 10; 23. Jeff Gustafson 67 - 1; 24. Kyle Welcher 67 - 1; 25. Brandon Palaniuk 66 - 14; 26. Alex Redwine 66 - 10; 27. Jacob Foutz 66 - 5; 28. KJ Queen 66 - 1; 29. Lee Livesay 65 - 11; 30. Koby Kreiger 65 - 9;

31. Luke Palmer 65 - 3; 32. Brandon Lester 65 - 1; 33. Caleb Sumrall 64 - 12; 34. Seth Feider 64 - 8; 35. Masayuki Matsushita 64 - 6; 36. Todd Auten 64 - 3 ; 37. Brock Mosley 63 - 7; 38. Matt Arey 62 - 15; 39. Pat Schlapper 62 - 12; 40. Brandon Card 62 - 10;

41. Chad Pipkens 62 - 8; 42. Cody Huff 61 - 4; 43. Jacob Powroznik 60 - 10; 44. Jamie Hartman 59 - 5; 45. Gerald Swindle 58 - 10; 46. Bernie Schultz 58 - 5; 47. Caleb Kuphall 56 - 15.

Jay Przekurat