Top 2 Stay Put For Third Straight Day

By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

One ounce. Then 6 ounces. Now 2-03.

Paul Mueller's lead over Chris Johnston at the St. Lawrence River Bassmaster Elite Series keeps growing. Now he'll try to maintain it as Lake Ontario, where the majority of the anglers who made the final cut are fishing, gets set to roil under double-digit winds on the final day.

Mueller, the winner of the season opener at the St. Johns River in Florida, boxed 24-13 to remain atop the standings with 76-15. He remained on pace to exceed 100 pounds for the four-day event – a feat that's never been achieved on the circuit exclusively with smallmouths.

"It's basically been just one rig (a dropshot) and one bait (a Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm)," Mueller said. "Hopefully I can keep that going tomorrow.

"I looked at the forecast and saw it's going to be windy. I've got a really good app that I need to study and then I'll formulate a game plan."

Johnston, a longtime Ontario stalwart who resides just 150 miles west on the other side of the Canadian border from this week's launch site in Clayton, N.Y., weighed 23-00 for a 74-12 total. His vast experience on the venue could bode well for him on the final day, as he's seen the anticipated conditions – and considerably worse – many times in the past.

Veterans Chad Morgenthaler and Clark Wendlandt flip-flopped in the Nos. 3 and 4 positions, with Morgenthaler moving up with a 22-08 stringer that gave him a 69-15 aggregate. Wendlandt weighed 18-13 and has a 66-10 total.

Brock Mosley, who's targeting largemouth in the river, caught a day-best 6-10 bruiser en route to a 20-04 stringer that moved him up one place to 5th. Cory Johnston (Chris' brother) made the final cut in 6th as his 25-08 stringer was tops for the day and gave him a 64-02 total.

The remainder of the top 10 consists of Japanese rookie Taku Ito with 63-08 (20-00 on day 3), defending champion Micah Frazier with 62-04 (19-11), Brad Whatley with 60-09 (21-11) and 2013 St. Lawrence winner Brandon Palaniuk with 59-12 (20-05).

Frazier won last year after starting the final day in 10th place, but it'll be a much taller order to make that move even from 8th this time. The top 10 was separated by only 4-10 to start the last round in 2019 – a much smaller margin than currently divides the leader from 3rd place.

Chris Johnston was the leader going into Sunday last year and caught 20-01, but finished 14 ounces behind Frazier.

Wendlandt is assured of his second straight top-10 showing (he was 8th in the previous event at Lake Eufaula) and will leave Clayton with the lead in the Angler of the Year points race regardless of what occurs on the final day. He was a three-time winner of the FLW Tour points title before transitioning back to B.A.S.S. last year.

The WeatherChannel.com forecast for the final day calls for 10- to 20-mph winds out of the southwest, along with a partly cloudy sky and a high temperature of 84 degrees. For those venturing out onto the big lake, making the right decisions about where to stop will be critical as the mobility they've enjoyed to this point will be drastically reduced.

Mueller said he got off to a better start than he had on day 2, but still did some of his best work toward the end of the day. He caught two late 5 1/4-pounders that resulted in culls worth about a pound and a half combined.

"I basically just build on what I learned on day 2," he said. "The fish were spooky and the deeper ones were more suspended, so I didn't mess with the ones in 30 to 40 feet. I also stayed off the fish I was trying to catch and made long casts. I didn't catch hardly any under the boat except for the one that got wrapped in my Power-Pole and I had to hand-line in.

"(Garmin) LiveScope has been critical for being able to line up my casts and stuff like that."

Johnston said he'll be fishing the lake on day 4 unless the wind makes it physically impossible for him to get on it.

"I've been out there in some nasty stuff before, no question," he said. "It won't be anything new. If you can get there, they're gonna be biting."

He went through about a dozen fish on day 3, with the biggest a 5-pounder. He lost a few that would've aided his cause.

"I'm going for 25 pounds tomorrow. If (Mueller) catches them again, then he deserves to win."

Morgenthaler is assured of his first top-10 finish since an FLW Tour event at Lake Okeechobee in January 2018. He said he won't go out onto the big lake if the wind blows to the forecasted levels.

"I've been in some sticky situations in my career and it ain't going to happen tomorrow," he said. "I'm going to make it to Champlain (for next week's event) with all my stuff intact.

"I left my second stop today at 1:40 and it wasn't that bad – the waves were 2-footers. I still had 15 miles to get back to the mouth of the river and by the time I was 5 miles in I was really wishing I'd left a lot earlier. I was concerned for a little while that I wasn't going to make it back in time, but I did."

He's also employing a dropshot rig. The biggest fish in his day-3 bag was a 5 1/2-pounder.

"I did practice for two days in the river. Obviously there was a reason I didn't choose to fish there (the past three days), but we'll see what happens. I'll go and punch it out the best I can and see what I can come up with."

Notable

> Day 3 stats – 40 anglers, 39 limits, 1 four.

Weather Forecast

> Sun., July 26 – Partly Cloudy - 84°/73°
- Wind: From the SW at 10 to 20 mph

Day 3 Standings

1. Paul Mueller -- Naugatuck, CT -- 15, 76-15 -- 100
Day 1: 5, 27-01 -- Day 2: 5, 25-01 -- Day 3: 5, 24-13

2. Chris Johnston -- Peterborough, ON -- 15 -- 74-12 -- 99
Day 1: 5, 27-00 -- Day 2: 5, 24-12 -- Day 3: 5, 23-00

3. Chad Morgenthaler -- Reeds Spring, MO -- 15, 69-15 -- 98
Day 1: 5, 23-06 -- Day 2: 5, 24-01 -- Day 3: 5, 22-08

4. Clark Wendlandt -- Leander, TX -- 15, 66-10 -- 97
Day 1: 5, 26-03 -- Day 2: 5, 21-10 -- Day 3: 5, 18-13

5. Brock Mosley -- Collinsville, MS -- 15, 64-03 -- 96
Day 1: 5, 24-02 -- Day 2: 5, 19-13 -- Day 3: 5, 20-04

6. Cory Johnston -- Cavan, ON -- 15, 64-02 -- 95
Day 1: 5, 19-07 -- Day 2: 5, 19-03 -- Day 3: 5, 25-08

7. Taku Ito -- Chiba, JAPAN -- 15, 63-08 -- 94
Day 1: 5, 20-08 -- Day 2: 5, 23-00 -- Day 3: 5, 20-00

8. Micah Frazier -- Newnan, GA -- 15, 62-04 -- 93
Day 1: 5, 22-12 -- Day 2: 5, 19-13 -- Day 3: 5, 19-11

9. Brad Whatley -- Bivins, TX -- 15, 60-09 -- 92
Day 1: 5, 19-06 -- Day 2: 5, 19-08 -- Day 3: 5, 21-11

10. Brandon Palaniuk -- Rathdrum, ID -- 15, 59-12 -- 91
Day 1: 5, 17-08 -- Day 2: 5, 21-15 -- Day 3: 5, 20-05

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not fish on day 4.

11. Chris Zaldain -- Fort Worth, TX -- 15, 59-09 -- 90 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 17-10 -- Day 2: 5, 20-14 -- Day 3: 5, 21-01

12. Jeff Gustafson -- Keewatin, ON -- 15 -- 58-03 -- 89 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 16-06 -- Day 2: 5, 23-02 -- Day 3: 5, 18-11

13. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, AL -- 15, 57-00 -- 88 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 21-03 -- Day 2: 5, 17-14 -- Day 3: 5, 17-15

14. Garrett Paquette -- Canton, MI -- 15, 57-00 -- 87 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 18-00 -- Day 2: 5, 18-05 -- Day 3: 5, 20-11

15. Bernie Schultz -- Gainesville, FL -- 15, 56-12 -- 86 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 16-12 -- Day 2: 5, 21-01 -- Day 3: 5, 18-15

16. Matt Herren -- Ashville, AL -- 15, 56-11 -- 85 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 18-11 -- Day 2: 5, 17-13 -- Day 3: 5, 20-03

17. Greg DiPalma -- Millville, NJ -- 15, 56-00 -- 84 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 20-00 -- Day 2: 5, 20-07 -- Day 3: 5, 15-09

18. Seth Feider -- New Market, MN -- 15, 55-04 -- 83 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 19-05 -- Day 2: 5, 19-03 -- Day 3: 5, 16-12

19. Brian Snowden -- Reeds Spring, MO -- 15, 54-14 -- 82 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 19-04 -- Day 2: 5, 20-02 -- Day 3: 5, 15-08

20. Carl Jocumsen -- Queensland, AUS -- 15 -- 54-03 -- 81 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 13-13 -- Day 2: 5, 21-14 -- Day 3: 5, 18-08

21. Hunter Shryock -- Newcomerstown, OH -- 15, 54-01 -- 80 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 21-08 -- Day 2: 5, 18-06 -- Day 3: 5, 14-03

22. Mike Huff -- Corbin, KY -- 15, 53-10 -- 79 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 21-08 -- Day 2: 5, 19-08 -- Day 3: 5, 12-10

23. Clifford Pirch -- Payson, AZ -- 15, 53-04 -- 78 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 24-12 -- Day 2: 5, 19-06 -- Day 3: 5, 09-02

24. Cliff Prince -- Palatka, FL -- 15, 52-15 -- 77 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 18-06 -- Day 2: 5, 18-03 -- Day 3: 5, 16-06

25. Austin Felix -- Eden Prairie, MN -- 15, 52-08 -- 76 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 20-05 -- Day 2: 5, 13-13 -- Day 3: 5, 18-06

26. Clent Davis -- Montevallo, AL -- 15, 52-03 -- 75 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 19-04 -- Day 2: 5, 13-12 -- Day 3: 5, 19-03

27. Jamie Hartman -- Newport, NY -- 15, 52-00 -- 74 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 16-00 -- Day 2: 5, 17-08 -- Day 3: 5, 18-08

28. Ed Loughran III -- Richmond, VA -- 15, 52-00 -- 73 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 18-04 -- Day 2: 5, 17-14 -- Day 3: 5, 15-14

29. Chad Pipkens -- Dewitt, MI -- 15, 51-15 -- 72 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 17-08 -- Day 2: 5, 21-07 -- Day 3: 5, 13-00

30. Brandon Card -- Salisbury, NC -- 15, 51-11 -- 71 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 18-07 -- Day 2: 5, 14-15 -- Day 3: 5, 18-05

31. Drew Benton -- Blakely, GA -- 15, 51-06 -- 70 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 15-14 -- Day 2: 5, 19-11 -- Day 3: 5, 15-13

32. Bill Lowen -- Brookville, IN -- 15, 51-02 -- 69 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 15-02 -- Day 2: 5, 18-09 -- Day 3: 5, 17-07

33. Skylar Hamilton -- Dandridge, TN -- 15, 50-01 -- 68 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 14-05 -- Day 2: 5, 19-10 -- Day 3: 5, 16-02

34. Randy Sullivan -- Breckenridge, TX -- 15, 49-14 -- 67 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 18-13 -- Day 2: 5, 14-14 -- Day 3: 5, 16-03

35. Buddy Gross -- Chickamauga, GA -- 15, 49-07 -- 66 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 19-12 -- Day 2: 5, 14-01 -- Day 3: 5, 15-10

36. Ray Hanselman Jr -- Del Rio, TX -- 15, 49-06 -- 65 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 14-05 -- Day 2: 5, 18-12 -- Day 3: 5, 16-05

37. David Mullins -- Mt Carmel, TN -- 15, 49-01 -- 64 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 20-02 -- Day 2: 5, 18-08 -- Day 3: 5, 10-07

38. Frank Talley -- Temple, TX -- 14, 48-14 -- 63 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 14-02 -- Day 2: 5, 19-14 -- Day 3: 4, 14-14

39. Caleb Kuphall -- Mukwonago, WI -- 15, 47-04 -- 62 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 18-10 -- Day 2: 5, 15-13 -- Day 3: 5, 12-13

40. Bob Downey -- Hudson, WI -- 15, 42-13 -- 61 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 17-05 -- Day 2: 5, 17-15 -- Day 3: 5, 07-09