By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
The St. Johns River in Florida had treated Bassmaster Elite Series veteran John Crews pretty well on previous visits, as he'd logged Top-5 finishes in two of his last three appearances there, including a runner-up showing in 2020.
This time, his foray from his home in Virginia resulted in his second career Elite Series triumph, this time in wire-to-wire fashion.. His first win had occurred a dozen years ago on another tidal fishery – the California Delta.
"The first one was a huge relief, just to be able to have a Bassmaster win," he said this week after his first day of practice for the Harris Chain event. "I feel like this second win really validated the first one; it showed that the first one wasn't just an accident.
"This one was also special because my dad was there to share it with me. He comes to a handful of events every year and he likes coming to the St. Johns.
He finished with a 4-day total of 75-04 to outdistance 2nd-place Bob Downey by 1-04. The key was his giant bag – 28 pounds even – on the first day. He was consistently solid after that, posting weights of 17-03, 13-00 and 17-01.
"You've got to have one big bag like that, and for me it just came at the beginning," he said.
Double-Barreled Attack
Crews splits his practice time between Rodman Reservoir (north of the launch in Palatka) and the main river, and did the same on the competition days.
"I had a really good day numbers- and pattern-wise on Rodman on the second practice day," he said. "My first day was terrible. On the third day I went back to Rodman again and added to what I'd found.
"I was trying to target prespawn fish on the first couple days (of competition) and it played out like I wanted. They were on like wintering holes, but those are only a hundred to 200 yards from where they spawn."
His massive opening-day haul was topped by an 8-pounder. The other four fish weighed between 4 1/2 and 5 3/4 pounds.
"The bulk of them came in the middle of the day, from 10 o'clock to 12," he said. "I caught 26 pounds in those 2 hours, then I locked back down (to the main river) and caught a 4 1/2."
He targeted standing timber and lily pads on Rodman. In the river, he fished pads and a variety of other shallow cover.
The majority of his big bag was produced with a dropshot rig with a prototype Missile Baits (his own company) worm. A suspending jerkbait and a Zoom Fluke were also productive on Rodman and he caught one actively spawning fish that he looked at on a Missile Baits Quiver Worm.
In the river, his primary weapons were a 1/2-ounce spinnerbait and Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammers (both 3/8- and 1/2-ounce).
"I was pretty settled all 4 days on the water and I was really trying to focus on what the fish were doing," he said. "All my equipment worked flawlessly and that was nice. I don't think I've ever fished the first event of the year before without having some kind of malfunction, but everything was perfect."
Wants to Ride Momentum
Cox said he has a very simple objective for the remainder of the season.
"Do not suck!" he answered when presented that question. "I don't want to be the putz who won the first tournament of the year and then didn't even make the Classic. You don't know how much that drives me.
"I want to utilize every minute of fishing time that I have, whether I'm in first place or 30th or 60th. That mentality really helped me in this tournament and especially on the last day. I wasn't focused on needing this or that (amount of weight), I was just focused on maximizing my time."
