Big Bite Keeps Crews Atop Bassmaster Elite On St. Johns As Field Closes In

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PALATKA, Fla. — You can’t win a Bassmaster Elite event with one fish, but a single bite transformed John Crews’ day and kept the veteran from Salem, Va., in the lead on Day 3 of the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 3 ounces.

Crews opened the event with a Thursday limit of 28 pounds and held on to the lead on Friday with a limit of 17-3. He added a 13-pound limit Saturday — anchored by a crucial 6-pounder — and overcame a slow morning to head into Championship Sunday with a lead of just 3-1 over hard-charging John Cox of DeBary, Fla.

Breaking his pattern of starting in Rodman Reservoir, Crews spent his first hour fishing the main river, where he caught a small keeper on a 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with a Missile Baits D Bomb in the bruiser (black/blue) color. Transitioning to the reservoir, he spent two unproductive hours before making a key transition.

“I fished the areas where I caught my fish the first day and I never had a bite,” Crews said. “I told my cameraman ‘We need to make a change, I’m going to go shallow. I think I can catch some small fish, fill out a limit and see what happens.’

“I made a run and when I set the boat down, I looked over and saw a clump of pads. The first flip was that 6-pounder. I pitched in there and when I reeled up, my line was zipping on out to the main channel.”

Bassmaster LIVE captured the entire sequence — including Crews’ clear expression of relief and encouragement.

“That let me know I made the right decision,” Crews said. “I just settled down, caught a limit and culled one in the vicinity.

“I feel like that fish had just moved up. When they just move up, they’re sitting there with their mouths open.”

Crews caught his big fish and one more on a Texas-rigged Missile Baits Quiver Worm. He caught the rest of his Rodman fish on a Zoom Fluke.

Crews said he’s not comfortable that enough fish have moved up shallow in Rodman to stake his final day on that pattern. He said he believes he can catch a couple shallow if he needs to salvage his day, but he may end up expanding his game plan for Championship Sunday.

With the final round forecast showing cloudy, windy and possibly rainy weather, Crews said the change might stimulate the Rodman bite — just not necessarily the shallow game.

“If we get that weather, I think the fish may go to biting,” he said. “Rodman’s a lot clearer than the river and a little weather would probably go a long way.”

After placing 57th on Day 1 with 9-6, Cox added 13-13 on Day 2 and rose to 38th. On Saturday, he electrified the weigh-in crowd with the tournament’s heaviest catch — a massive limit of 31-15, anchored by an 8-5, which pushed him into second with 55-2.

“I’m thrilled; I’ve been waiting to catch a 30-pound bag here,” Cox said. “Every time we’ve had an event here, whether it was the (St. Croix Bassmaster) Opens, or the Elites, I always knew that was possible. I was like ‘One of these days, it’s going to line up.’ Today it did. I’m so glad I made it into Semifinal Saturday.”

Running an hour south of Palatka, Cox fished a backwater area off the main river and focused his effort on shallow cover. With daytime highs and overnight lows rising significantly since Day 1, Cox knew a shoreward movement was imminent.

“When I pulled up today, there was a buck (smaller male bass) on every bed and I was like ‘Oh gosh,’” Cox said. “I kept trolling by them and then I ran into a big one, then another big one.”

Cox caught his fish on a black prototype Berkley craw bait rigged on a 3/0 Berkley Fusion Flipping Hook. He found his fish in a variety of habitat settings and one of those fish took an hour to entice.

Elite rookie Masayuki Matsushita of Tokoname-Shi, Japan slipped a spot to third with a three-day total of 52-13. After placing 41st on Day 1 with 12-1, he rose 39 spots to second after catching Day 2’s heaviest bag — 23-5. On Saturday, Matsushita added 17-7.

Spending his day in Crescent Lake, Matsushita caught three of his keepers on a free rig. A Japanese innovation, his rig comprised a Texas-rigged Zoom Magnum Finesse Worm (redbug color) with a teardrop shaped sinker hanging perpendicular to his line and a bobber stop keeping the weight within a limited range.

Matsushita caught the rest of his keepers on 1/4- and 3/8-ounce versions of the Deps Matsuraba swim jig that he designed. He used brown craw swim jigs and paired them with Deps twin-tail trailers in green pumpkin black fleck.

“I threw the swim jig in shallower water around wood and used a straight retrieve,” Matsushita said. “Maybe the fish were on spawning beds, I don’t know.”

Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with the 9-13 largemouth he caught on Day 1.

Cox leads the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit.

Austin Felix of Eden Prairie, Minn., earned the $1,000 BassTrakk bonus for the most accurate weight reporting over the tournament’s first two days.

The Top 10 remaining pros will take off for Championship Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET from Palatka City Docks. The weigh-in will be held at Palatka Riverfront Park at 3:30 p.m., with the winning angler earning $100,000.

FS1 will broadcast live with the tournament leaders beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday. Live coverage can also be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms.

The tournament is being hosted by the Putnam County Tourist Development Council and Putnam County Chamber of Commerce.

February 11, 2022

Crews Grinds Through Tough Day To Retain Bassmaster Elite Lead On St. Johns

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PALATKA, Fla. — Fighting through a painfully slow morning, John Crews of Salem, Va., capitalized on the afternoon bite and caught a limit of 17 pounds, 3 ounces to retain his lead in the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with a two-day total of 45-3.

After posting a Day 1 limit of 28 pounds, Crews edged Bob Downey of Hudson, Wis., by 12 ounces. On Friday, Crews greatly improved his position and will head into Saturday’s semifinal round with a 9-13 lead over Elite Series rookie Masayuki Matsushita of Tokoname-Aichi, Japan.

A telling moment that bespoke the attitude driving Crews’ decisions came midmorning when Crews’ cameraman asked if he had a target weight.

“I never do that; I want to catch as much as I can,” Crews said. “If you say, ‘I’ll be okay if I get 15,’ or, ‘I’ll be okay if I get 18,’ if you reach that, you might take your foot off the gas.

“Early on in my career, I settled more than I should have in a tournament, instead of going for the kill. Whether I finish first, second, 12th, 15th or whatever, I’m going to try to catch every fish I can catch.”

Despite high-pressure, postfrontal conditions, Crews did not take his foot off the gas Friday. Retracing his Day 1 game plan, he returned to Rodman Reservoir, where he threw a jerkbait and a drop shot. Rigged with a prototype Missile Baits worm, the latter produced all of his Rodman catches.

By the time he left Rodman at 1 p.m., Crews had only a small limit of 10-9 that he anchored with a 4-pounder. The reservoir was much more productive on Day 1, as Crews locked out with a 24-pound bag that included an 8-1.

“I got very fortunate to catch the bag that I caught yesterday, but I made some good adjustments today,” he said.

Specifically, he fished his way out of the Rodman canal and spent the rest of his afternoon targeting shallow cover on the main river. His afternoon effort allowed him to make three upgrades with a 4 1/2-pounder, a 4 and a 2.

Crews caught his main-river fish on a 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with a Missile Baits D Bomb in the bruiser (black/blue) color. While the bulky 4-inch creature bait is typically used for flipping and pitching presentations, Crews said the D Bomb proved appealing to the quality bass he needed.

“It’s a big profile and when the (ChatterBait’s) blade is vibrating, the whole tail portion of it kicks and it looks big,” Crews said. “These big fish are used to eating bream and crappie. If you throw the little stuff, you can catch some fish, but I like the bigger stuff.”

Crews’ most notable catch came around 2:35 when a fish bit and missed his bait. He threw back to the same spot and again missed a bite. On his third cast to the spot, he caught his largest fish of the day.

“I think it was the same fish,” Crews said. “Sometimes, they just get mad that they missed it.”

Crews said he’s unsure if he will return to Rodman on Day 3. After Friday’s flat calm conditions seemed to hinder the bite, he said he needs wind to stimulate the fish. If Saturday looks windy, he’ll go; if not, he’ll work his main-river spots.

Matsushita caught nearly twice what he caught on Day 1 and improved from 41st place to second with a two-day total of 35-6. Spending his day in the main river, Matsushita bolstered his Day 1 weight of 12-1 with 23-5 — the day’s heaviest catch.

“I fished all shallow water; 3 to 5 feet,” he said. “I got bites all day. I caught two big ones in the morning and when the (sun shined brightly) I caught three big bites.”

Matsushita caught all of his bass on a free rig — a Texas-rigged worm with a tear drop weight hanging from his line. He used a 3/16-ounce weight and a Zoom Magnum Finesse worm in junebug and redbug colors.

Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., added 13-5 to his Day 1 limit of 22 pounds and remained in third place with 35-5. Returning to the Rodman canal, Blaylock caught most of his fish on a wacky-rigged watermelon red Yum finesse worm.

Blaylock caught one of his keepers on a Booyah Hard Knocker lipless bait. While the reaction bait played a bigger role on Day 1, he was unable to replicate that success Friday.

“I went through the whole area with moving baits and never got a single bite,” Blaylock said. “It never did feel right and then once I started picking up finesse, I started catching one here, one there. I just knew right off the bat that, as soon as I got the first one, this is what it’s going to take to get bites today.

“I kept the other stuff honest throughout the day, but it just wasn’t working.”

Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with the 9-13 largemouth he caught on Day 1.

Crews leads the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit with his 28-pound first-round bag.

The Top 47 remaining anglers will take off at 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday from Palatka City Docks. The weigh-in will be held at Palatka Riverfront Park at 3:30 p.m., with only the Top 10 pros advancing to Championship Sunday with a chance at the $100,000 first-place prize.

Live coverage for the event can be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms. FS1 will also broadcast live with the tournament leaders beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.

The tournament is being hosted by the Putnam County Tourist Development Council and Putnam County Chamber of Commerce.