CLAYTON, N.Y. — The heaviest bag of smallmouth ever weighed in a B.A.S.S. event came in on a Friday afternoon in the Thousand Islands, and it arrived courtesy of a 21-year-old who spent the following morning trying not to be sick on the drive to the ramp.
Trey McKinney's limit of 30 pounds, 11 ounces on Day 2 of the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River was built inside a 16-minute window, with one more six-pounder added later. The pro from Carbondale, Illinois, had already caught 26-8 on Day 1 out of the same deep sand flat on Lake Ontario, and had watched the fish there go quiet under the pressure of camera boats.
"I had to catch more," McKinney said. "I was throwing back 3-pounders. I got stubborn today and went and went. The fish were all broke up, and I was getting nervous early on."
He went back anyway. A drop shot drew a half-hearted nip, which told him what the fish actually wanted.
"I casted to one with a drop shot and it kind of nipped it. I could tell it was a big one, and it looked like a minnow fish," McKinney said. "I threw my minnow out there; it came up and thumped it. That was a 6-2."
A 6-13 followed, then another six, then a 6-3 to finish the limit. "I was so excited, I didn't even know what to do," he said afterwards.
Day 3 was harder and he knew it, adding 26-2 for an 83-5 three-day total and a 10-point cushion over Cory Johnston in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race. Johnston, the Peterborough, Ontario pro fishing water he has won on three times, sits ninth in the tournament and nearly six and a half pounds back.
"Don't get me wrong, I was shooting for 27 pounds, but I worked my butt off today," McKinney said. "I felt like I was going to throw up a couple times in the morning, but once I caught my first big one I told myself to chill out."
What makes the number remarkable is the fishery itself, not just the angler. Keith Combs, winner of the 2017 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship event, has fished the St. Lawrence with the Elites since 2013 and told North Country Public Radio that the bar has moved every year since.
"Back in 2013, like 17 or 18 pounds was in that top 50," Combs said. "Now, I think you'll have to catch 21 pounds to make the cut line. That's on five fish. So, you're talking about three-quarters of a pound per fish. That's how much bigger they've gotten since 2013."
This week it took more than 23 and a half pounds a day to survive the Top 50 cut. Twenty pounds a day was worth 87th.
Second-place Evan Kung, from Pickering, Ontario, arrived fighting for his Elite Series career and leaves with it intact — his 81-13 secured a 2027 roster spot. "It was a big relief," Kung said. "It didn't start off good this morning. Then I caught a couple big ones and knew that I made it."
Third-placed Cole Sands landed the biggest fish of the event, a 7-6 that was hooked almost by accident. "I saw my drop shot go to the bottom and thought I saw the fish follow it down. I picked up my bait and didn't feel anything," the Tennessee pro said. "I looked down at my LiveScope and noticed the drop-shot weight was hanging out of its mouth."
The generational note running under all of this is hard to miss. Day 2 was Mark Menendez's last appearance on an Elite Series stage after 35 years, and Mike Iaconelli's final tournament weigh-in before retirement. Bassmaster's own account of the afternoon called it a resounding changing of the guard: youth surpassing their elders, elders hoping the thing they built is in good hands.
If McKinney holds on Sunday, he becomes the youngest Angler of the Year in the history of the award, displacing Kevin VanDam, who was 24 when he won the first of his seven in 1992.
He is not treating it as settled. The Top 10 launch from Clayton Harbor at 7 a.m. ET with a light west-southwest wind forecast — less than he would like, given he needs waves to hold his boat over 40 to 50 feet of water.
"This is my one area," McKinney said. "I have a few other points that had fish that don't have them now. Where I'm fishing, it's either gangster or nothing."