By B.A.S.S. Communications Staff

Saving the best for last may not have been his intention, but Taku Ito’s eye-popping 26-pound limit propelled the Japanese angler to a convincing victory at the St. Lawrence River Bassmaster Elite Series with a four-day total of 90 pounds.

Hailing from Chiba, Japan, the second-year Elite was 38th after Day 1 with 17-15, then improved to 11th with a second-round limit of 22-14. Day 3 saw Ito secure his final-round berth by adding 23-03 and improving to 7th.

Earning $100,000 for his win, Ito anchored his third and fourth days’ limits with 6-pound smallmouth, both of which earned $1,000 daily awards for Phoenix Boats Big Bass.

“I love Waddington – I’m very, very happy,” Ito said with the engaging sincerity Elite audiences have come to love. “When I was 8 years old, I won the (Bassin’s Black Bass with Hank Parker) video game and now, on the St. Lawrence River, I won the Bassmaster Elite Series.

“Big Bass. Big Stage. Big Dreams. Bassmaster!”

Ito, who placed 6th at last year’s St. Lawrence event, devoted all four days to Lake Ontario. The first two days, he fished rock structures in approximately 20 feet. On Saturday those areas failed to produce, so he relocated to a spot in 26 to 27 feet near Chaumont Bay.

Calling this spot “Taku Disneyland” for its abundance of fish, Ito caught his day-3 limit there and started on the spot Sunday.

“I was driving about two hours (each way) and I had about two hours and 30 minutes of fishing time,” Ito said.

Arriving at his spot this morning, Ito thought his graph was malfunctioning when he saw what appeared to be a false bottom at 13 to 14 feet. To his delight, it was a massive school of Lake Ontario giants.

“Usually, smallmouth are on the bottom, but today there was a school of big smallmouth suspended,” Ito said.

Ito said he noticed a distinct water clarity difference, and he assumed the fish had followed the clean water into his area. Also, he said the gobies he incidentally caught on his drop shot were a couple of inches larger than the 3- to 4-inchers he saw the previous three days.

“My spot had bigger gobies today, so maybe the smallmouth were there for the big gobies,” he said.

Ito caught some of his bass on a dropshot with a 4-inch Ecogear Aqua Swim Shrimp rigged on a 1/0 Ryugi Talisman hook with a 1/4-ounce Ryugi TG Delta sinker.

He also caught keepers on a Neko-rigged 5 1/4-inch Nories Latterie straight worm and a Berkley Hit Worm. For this rig, he used a 3/16-ounce Neko weight and a 1/0 Ryugi Talisman hook.

“I was using many Japanese techniques,” Ito said. “I would cast and sometimes the fish would take (the bait) while it was falling. Sometimes, I kept my bait on the bottom for 10 seconds, 15 seconds, with no action.”

Justin Atkins of Florence, Ala., finished 2nd with 88-12. Atkins tied Gerald Swindle of Guntersville, Ala., for 8th place on Day 1 with 21-06, then added 22-14 and rose to 5th. He caught 23-10 on day 3 and moved into 2nd before settling at that position with a day-4 limit of 20-14.

“I caught all of my fish out of the lake,” Atkins said. “I found a flat that had some grass and rock with some sand mixed in 12 to 20 feet. There was big school of fish on it and I was using my Lowrance Active Target to look for them.”

Atkins caught his fish on a dropshot with a Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm and a 3/32-ounce marabou jig with a piece of MaxScent worm on the shank. That adjustment added bulk and scent appeal, which helped convert more bites into hookups.

“I really liked the brown marabou jig this week,” Atkins said. “I had some followers on black, but the brown, for whatever reason seemed to get them to trigger.”

Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, finished 3rd with 88-10. On day 1, the 2020 Elite Series Angler of the Year tied Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., for 6th place with 21-12.

Wendlandt added 23-03 on Day 2 and moved up to 4th. Catching 20-10 on day 3 kept him in that spot until his final-round limit of 23-01 advanced him one more spot.

“I fished the lake and used a lot of different depths, but the shallowest I caught one was probably 12 feet and the deepest was 28,” Wendlandt said. “The best seemed to be about 20 feet.”

Wendlandt caught his fish on a 3/16-ounce Ned rig and a dropshot with a green-pumpkin, minnow-style bait.

Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., won the $1,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award for the week with a 6-05. Walters also claimed the $1,000 daily Big Bass award for day 2.

Bernie Schultz of Gainesville, Fla., who led days 1 and 2 and finished 8th, won the $1,000 daily Big Bass award for Day 1.

Schultz took home an additional $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, while Chris Groh of Spring Grove, Ill., earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.



Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Taku Ito -- Chiba, JAPAN -- 20, 90-00 -- 100 -- $102,000
Day 1: 5, 17-15 -- Day 2: 5, 22-14 -- Day 3: 5, 23-03 -- Day 4: 5, 26-00

2. Justin Atkins -- Florence, AL -- 20, 88-12 -- 99 -- $35,000
Day 1: 5, 21-06 -- Day 2: 5, 22-14 -- Day 3: 5, 23-10 -- Day 4: 5, 20-14

3. Clark Wendlandt -- Leander, TX -- 20, 88-10 -- 98 -- $30,000
Day 1: 5, 21-12 -- Day 2: 5, 23-03 -- Day 3: 5, 20-10 -- Day 4: 5, 23-01

4. Cory Johnston -- Cavan, ON -- 20, 88-00 -- 97 -- $35,000
Day 1: 5, 23-07 -- Day 2: 5, 22-02 -- Day 3: 5, 23-01 -- Day 4: 5, 19-06

5. Chris Johnston -- Otonabee, ON -- 20, 85-00 -- 96 -- $40,000
Day 1: 5, 23-07 -- Day 2: 5, 22-14 -- Day 3: 5, 19-06 -- Day 4: 5, 19-05

6. Brandon Palaniuk -- Rathdrum, ID -- 20, 82-07 -- 95 -- $34,000
Day 1: 5, 20-11 -- Day 2: 5, 19-08 -- Day 3: 5, 24-04 -- Day 4: 5, 18-00

7. David Mullins -- Mt Carmel, TN -- 20, 81-11 -- 94 -- $18,000
Day 1: 5, 20-13 -- Day 2: 5, 21-15 -- Day 3: 5, 19-06 -- Day 4: 5, 19-09

8. Bernie Schultz -- Gainesville, FL -- 20, 80-06 -- 93 -- $18,000
Day 1: 5, 25-05 -- Day 2: 5, 22-09 -- Day 3: 5, 16-15 -- Day 4: 5, 15-09

9. Chris Groh -- Spring Grove, IL -- 18, 69-07 -- 92 -- $16,000
Day 1: 5, 19-02 -- Day 2: 5, 17-09 -- Day 3: 5, 24-02 -- Day 4: 3, 08-10

10. Austin Felix -- Eden Prairie, MN -- 16, 64-00 -- 91 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 20-00 -- Day 2: 5, 21-08 -- Day 3: 5, 19-12 -- Day 4: 1, 02-12