By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Jay Przekurat's initial tour-level season has gone better than he could have expected. He's already got a Bassmaster Elite Series win on his ledger, he leads the Rookie of the Year race and, at No. 20 in the Angler of the Year (AOY) standings, he's in an extremely strong position to qualify for next year's Classic.
The 23-year-old from Wisconsin had a couple of less-than-stellar outings in May and June, but he bounced back big-time with his victory earlier this month at the St. Lawrence River in New York, becoming the youngest winner in the 17-year history of the tour. He's ended up among the Top 40 in five of seven derbies and the names right behind him in the points race are Jason Christie (the reigning Classic champion), Gerald Swindle (a two-time AOY) and Scott Canterbury (the 2019 AOY).
Also, the two remaining venues on the schedule are well-suited for him. There'll be another heavyweight smallmouth tournament at South Dakota's Lake Oahe and the finale at the Mississippi River in his home state, which is a place where he loves to fish.
His expectations coming into the campaign weren't off the charts.
"I thought there would be some ups and downs and I expected to have more downs than ups," he said this week. A lot of the places I've never been to before and it's just a learning curve.
"I wanted to stay out of the bombs – the 90th-place finishes – and that way when I did have a good tournament I could jump right back into a good position to make the Classic. I've been able to do that so far."
Went His Own Way
Przekurat (pronounced sha-KUR-it) is the son of longtime walleye ace Jason Przekurat. He spent two years as a co-angler in the Bassmaster Opens and one as a boater to lay the foundation for his Elite Series career.
Fishing for largemouths in the southern portion of the country was a big adjustment from the smallmouth-infested waters he was accustomed to. He handled the transition adroitly to begin this season with four consecutive finishes that were well within the top half of the field, including two Top-25s.
"I attribute a lot of that to what I learned in the Opens – I was fortunate to draw some pretty good anglers," he said. "It's more a mentality of fishing for five bites. Up here you catch 50 smallmouth in a day and you have to weed through them and find the 5-pounders. Down there the fish get so much more pressure and you know you're going to get 15 bites, tops."
As a child, he pursued walleye with his dad, but his years in elementary and middle school coincided with a tremendous period of growth for bass fishing in the North Country and he gravitated in that direction.
"That was a time when all kinds of bass clubs were starting, high school fishing was starting and college fishing was getting big," he said. "There were so many more local tournaments that I could fish – there were hardly any local walleye tournaments.
"I also enjoyed the bass-fishing techniques more. That's really what it came down to."
Looks to Finish Strong
The Elite Series will make its second-ever stop at Oahe Aug. 18-21. Przekurat visited the massive Missouri River impoundment for several days before it went off-limits.
"It was pretty good and I'm excited to get back there and see what's changed and what I can figure out," he said.
The season will conclude the following week at the Mississippi, which is about a 2-hour drive from his home.
"I've fished a handful of tournaments there – probably more than the average guy who's going to be competing – so I do have some knowledge," he said. "I grew up fishing river systems for both largemouth and smallmouth and along with fishing for big smallies in super-water, it's my favorite thing to do."
He says he doesn't have to endure any ribbing from his father about his species choice, especially now that he's already collected a big trophy and a six-figure paycheck.
"I think he likes it," he said. "I think he'd probably rather fish for bass himself right now."
Notable
> Przekurat took over the lead on day 2 at the St. Lawrence and never relinquished it. "I knew I was on a potential Top-10 school in practice, but I just didn't know how long the fish would last, how easy it would be to make them bite, how much pressure they were going to get and that sort of thing. I knew I had a good shot after day 3 when I was still in the lead and I'd caught one that was close to 6 3/4 pounds. If you can take a 2- to 3-pound lead into the final day of a smallmouth tournament, that's a pretty big deal."
