The Bassmaster Elite Series capped off its 2026 season with an incredible smallmouth showdown on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario (or is it Lake America these days?) this past weekend, and it was one for the books. When you get the best anglers in the world on one of the greatest smallmouth fisheries on the planet, you know massive bags of brown bass are going straight to the scales, and AOY winner Trey McKinney put together the largest smallmouth bag in Bassmaster history. Event winner Evan Kung put together the largest 4-day smallmouth weight with over 109 pounds of smallmouth bass. In fact, 9 of the top 10 anglers went over the century mark… on smallmouth.
Anglers were met with some gnarly waves on Thursday, and while Friday saw some calmer conditions, it’s always a little choppy when you’re fishing that kind of Great Lakes big water. Fishing in this region means dealing with crystal clear water, heavy current, and deep boulders…. your finesse game has to be absolutely dialed in. It can be tricky to fish deep water with finesse presentations in that kind of current and wind, but these pros had it figured out.
So if you’re heading up north or just want to see what it takes to catch giant smallmouth in deep water, here’s a complete breakdown of the exact baits the top 10 pros used to absolutely smash some smallies out there.
10. Easton Fothergill (99-8)
Easton kept a pretty straightforward approach to securing his top 10 finish… jig head minnows. Relying on forward-facing sonar, he targeted bass around rocky structure with a Strike King 3X Z-Too soft jerkbait, as well as a 5-inch Deps Sakamata Shad.
Shop the Deps 5-inch Sakamata Shad at Tackle Warehouse – $10.99
9. Fisher Anaya (100-5)
Fisher took a slightly different approach than most of the field, fishing closer to the bank on the lookout for shallow water roamers. He used a Crush City Freeloader, but relied heavily on an urchin bait, the new Crush City CEO, with a treble hook and 3/32-ounce weight.
Shop the Rapala Crush City Freeloader at Tackle Warehouse – $6.49
8. Bryant Smith (101-3)
Like many others in the top 10, Bryant utilized a drop shot to target deeper smallmouth. He rotated between a Strike King Mag Tumbleweed dice bait and a Strike King KVD Drop Shot Half Shell.
Shop the Strike King Mag Tumbleweed at Tackle Warehouse – $10.99
7. JT Thompkins (103-0)
JT used the ol’ drop shot to secure his century belt tournament, calling on various JDM soft plastics that shall unfortunately go unnamed… give us the juice JT.
6. Brandon Cobb (103-14)
Brandon Cobb also called on the drop shot, nose-hooking a Zoom 2.75-inch Boot Tail Fluke.
5. Cole Sands (105-10)
Cole had a two-pronged approach to his Top 5 finish, calling on the one-two punch of a shakin’ minnow and a drop shot. For the minnow, it was a Crush City Freeloader, and on the drop shot hook, he used a FishCo Okane Prawn.
Watch him haul in a 7-pound HAWG, good enough for big fish of the entire tournament.
4. Cory Johnston (106-7)
Cory primarily relied on a Ned rig to catch him a limit of smallmouth each day. One of the few anglers who took the Ned Rig approach, Cory used the new 6th Sense HuzzBug, which has more of an insect or bug-like profile. I haven’t personally fished this yet, but I’m intrigued.
Shop the 6th Sense HuzzBug at Tackle Warehouse – $6.99
3. Tucker Smith (107-1)
Tucker kept it simple targeting schooling smallies with a jig head minnow profile that he designed himself, the new Yamamoto Dagger Minnow. Tucker targeted deeper rocks near some of the main spawning areas of Lake Ontario.
Shop the Yamamoto 4.75-inch Dagger Minnow at Tackle Warehouse – $7.99
2. Trey McKinney (107-9)
On his way to securing the largest single-day smallmouth bag in history, as well as securing his first career Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year title, the 21-year-old phenom used a drop-shot rig to target sandy bottom and rocky transitions in really deep water. He relied on a new iteration of the 6th Sense Shindo, a 2.2-inch tiny crappie version.
Shop the 6th Sense Shindo Shad at Tackle Warehouse – $5.99
1. Evan Kung (109-9)
The Ontario, Canada, native brought home the W on Lake Ontario, and utilized some Great Lakes Finesse tactics to do so. Targeting big boulders and humps in 20-40 feet of water, he used the Great Lake Finesse Stay Pinned Spybait, as well as a new prototype bug-style plastic from Great Lakes Finesse. Anyone who reads my gear guides knows that I’m a HUGE fan of Great Lakes Finesse for my smallmouth fishing here in Wisconsin, and I think Evan just proved why they’re the real deal.
Shop the Great Lakes Finesse Stay-Pinned Spy Bait at Tackle Warehouse – $17.99
