WADDINGTON, N.Y. — Cory Johnston’s high standards kicked in the extra motivation he needed to turn in his best performance of the week and tally a three-day total of 74 pounds, 15 ounces to win the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at St. Lawrence River presented by SEVIIN.
With three decades of local fishing, the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series star from Otonabee, Ontario, entered the final day in fourth place with 48-08.
For many, that’s pretty good fishing. Not for Johnston.
“It’s crazy to say, but 24 pounds out here really isn’t a good day and anything over 25 is what you need to win,” Johnston said. “This is a special place.”
Taking his own advice, Johnston stepped on the gas and sacked up a final-round limit of 26-7 and came within an ounce of hitting that 25-pound average. He won by 2-11 over Day 2 leader Zack Goutremout.
For his efforts, Johnston collected the top prize of $32,276 and earned a berth in the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour, to be held March 13-15 on the Tennessee River in Knoxville, Tenn.
“It’s just knowing the river and knowing what they get on,” Johnston said. “I just hit as many spots as I could until I ran into them.”
A week after his younger brother and fellow Bassmaster Elite Chris won the St. Lawrence River Tackle Warehouse Inivitational (an MLF event), Cory notched his third victory on the renowned fishery. In 2024, he won the Humminbird Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River four months after topping the season-opening MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River.
“I always like to beat him, but watching him win (last week) was great,” Johnston said. “Now, I don’t have to hear him complain.”
Tapping into his intimate St. Lawrence knowledge, Johnston caught his fish on a variety of habitat features in what he termed shallow and deep zones.
“I caught them shallow on sand flats, rockpiles, weed edges all the way to 35 to 40 feet on little high spots, rocks and deeper weed edges,” Johnston said. “There’s not one specific thing that I fished.”
After a slow start, Johnston picked up steam late morning and started boating the quality fish he knew he needed.
“I hit about 12 spots today and the last one I stopped on had ’em,” he said. “I wish I had another hour or two to fish. That was my game plan, fish the stuff I had been fishing, catch what I could and then switch it up, do some shallow, and then go fish new stuff and see what happened.
“I caught a 5 1/2 and a 6 3/4, both shallow and a few 4-pounders. Definitely, my bigger ones came shallow.”
Johnston caught most of his fish on a drop shot with a tungsten weight and a 6th Sense Party Minnow on a BKK drop-shot hook that he designed. He also caught fish on a Ned rig.
Comparing this week’s river-only format to that 2024 Elite event, which allowed anglers to run from Waddington to Lake Ontario, Johnston said he put his preferences aside and fished the moment.
“You gotta fish what you can fish,” he said. “I’d prefer to run to the lake every single time, even if I only had 2 hours to fish. This river’s special, Waddington’s always been incredible. We’ve had some awesome tournaments here.”
Hailing from Chaumont, N.Y., Goutremout finished second with 72-4. He opened strong with a sixth-place Day 1 limit of 24-10, then took over the second day lead by adding 25-0. Championship Saturday yielded a final limit of 22-10.
“I have no regrets; I feel like I made all the right decisions, but today, I just didn’t get any big bites,” Goutremout said. “My big fish kinda left on me, so I went scrambling. I went to an area that didn’t have them on Day 1, but I had a gut feeling to go there today and I scraped up what I had.”
The first two days, Goutremout ran nearly to the tournament’s western limit and caught a solid limit on a deeper spot in about 45 feet on the U.S. side. He’d then move to the Canadian side of Wolfe Island to pick off a couple of his largest fish.
When that plan fizzled on Day 3, he shifted his focus to a different area, farther west. In 20 to 25 feet, he drug a 3/4-ounce finesse football jig with a 3-inch Berkley MaxScent Lil’ General. He also caught one keeper on a drop shot with the OSP dice bait in green pumpkin.
Erik Luzak of Fenelon Falls, Ontario, finished a close third with 72-3. Ending just an ounce behind Goutremout, Luzak posted an impressive comeback.
On Day 1, his limit of 20-13 put him in a three-way tie for 36th place. Day 2 saw Luzak catch 26-8 and rise to seventh. He closed out his campaign with a final day catch of 24-14.
Luzak caught his fish on a drop shot with a Lunkerhunt Twitch Witch minnow. He also caught keepers on a jig.
Ryan Lachniet of Gum Spring, Va., won the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the tournament for the 7-05 lunker he caught on Day 1.
Lucas Lindsay of Auburn, Ala., leads the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN Division 1 points standings with 757. Lachniet is in second with 756, followed by Matt Adams of Guntersville, Ala., with 747, Tyler Campbell of Martin, Ga., with 737, and Connor Jacob of Guntersville, Ala., with 716.
The Top 50 anglers from the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN have qualified for the three-event Nitro Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers presented by Bass Pro Shops Series. With one event each in September, October and November, this Series will determine the 10 anglers that receive invitations to the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series.
