Elite

Big bass of Lake St. Clair 2025

Sophomore Elite Trey McKinney wins his second Elite in record fashion while taking over top spot in AOY.

Posted on
Captions by
Mike Suchan
The smallmouth mecca showed out once again in the Yokohama Tires Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair. The Elites averaged almost 4 pounds per fish, and Trey McKinney won with a record weight for the fishery. Take a look at the big bass that made a difference last week.
Caleb Sumrall held an early Day 1 lead on BassTrakk after catching a 4-8 for 21-4 just after 9 a.m. At the scales, Sumrall weighed 22-14 to tie for fifth, however, he dropped the next two days to finish 30th.
Pat Schlapper caught a 4-12 and some friends to start 16th with 21-11. He wound up 23rd to continue his climb up the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings. Just four events ago, Schlapper was 89th in points, but four cuts, including a win at the Sabine River, have him at 42nd, currently the last spot to qualify for the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic.
Battling for his Elite life, Maine’s Timothy Dube started well with 21-3 for 23rd. He fell to 41st then rose with 21-15 to finish 20th. Needing to finish the season 70th or above in points to requalify for the Elites, Dube was happy to climb 11 spots to 71st with only next week’s Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River remaining.
Jamie Hartman made his first check of the year, topping 20 pounds each day to finish 19th with 62-2. He landed a 5-2 on Day 1 for 20-10 then added 20-1 and 21-7.
Requalifying for the Elites was one goal for Brad Whatley at St. Clair. A 5-8 helped him weigh 20-8 on Day 1 to stand 35th, however only 18-3 saw him miss the Top 50 cut by 2 ounces. The Texan did get inside the safe spot for requalification, bumping up six places to 65 in AOY.
Taku Ito, who had never missed a Top 10 in three events on St. Clair, started 12th with 22-2, which required the help of his children to show. He moved to 10th with 21-2 but finished 17th after Semifinal Saturday’s 19-5. The Japanese pro’s seventh cut in eight tournaments has him sixth overall in AOY, well on his way to a sixth consecutive Classic appearance.
Paul Mueller parlayed his Day 1 limit of 22-7 into his third cut and first Top 10 of the season. The pro from Naugatuck, Conn., added 21-0 and 20-10 before 17-0 left him ninth. Mueller, who has won two Elite titles after winning the 2014 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship, is behind the eight ball to requalify for the Elites.
After a hiccup at Lake Tenkiller, Easton Fothergill returned to his stellar ways with 22-14 for fifth after Day 1. The Classic champ added 21-12 as he vied for his fourth Elite Top 10. His worst round of 18-5 left him less than a pound short of fishing Championship Sunday. Fothergill took 14th and moved to 22nd in AOY, up nine spots and 31 points back of Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Rookie of the Year leader Paul Marks.
First-year Elite Dakota Ebare has gained momentum after missing the 50 cut in the first five events. The Texan stood fourth on St. Clair after Day 1 with 23-1, but his fish shrank. He did gain 79 AOY points with his 26th-place finish and is now 46th in the standings with hope of qualifying for the Classic.
Will Davis Jr. just keeps on keeping on. The Sylacauga, Ala., pro rode a 23-1 Day 1 bag which put him fourth, to a 22nd-place finish. Davis is now one of two anglers who have made all eight 50 cuts this season. He is seventh in the AOY standings.
Matt Robertson caught the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 1, a 5-14 that helped him total 24-0 to stand in second place. The Kentucky pro, who hadn’t made an Elite cut all year, added 20-0 and 20-5 to make Championship Sunday.
Trey McKinney came into St. Clair 12 points behind AOY leader Jay Przekurat and 10 back of Chris Johnston. Catching 24-11 gave him the tournament lead and AOY lead, his 690 points putting him 28 up on Johnston and 39 on Przekurat after Day 1.
A 5-11 helped dig Brandon Card out of a hole. He stood tied for 74th with 18-3 after Day 1, but his big helped the veteran angler from Salisbury, N.C., weigh 23-9 and catapult 54 places to 20th. Card had a 5-5 on Day 3, when he brought in 20-6 to finish 18th.
Standing 42nd, Steve Kennedy hoped his 5-12 on Day 2 would help him earn his first check of the season. Alas, his other four only gave him 19-4, and he finished 53rd, just 2 ounces out of the cut. After one angler was a fish shy of his limit and another was disqualified on Day 1, the 100 remaining Elites all caught limits on Day 2, when the average fish weighed 3-14.
Tennessee’s Cole Sands had five above the average as he jumped into the Top 10 with 22-9. Sands added 20-4 and 20-8 to reach his first Top 10 in his third Elite season. Adding 98 points moved him up 18 spots up AOY to 48th, giving him a chance to reach his second Classic.
Justin Atkins moved from 33rd to sixth with his 23-7 Day 2 limit, but only 19-9 on Semifinal Saturday had him miss fishing another day by 3 ounces. Just two events ago, Atkins was outside the Classic cut in 42nd, but 18th at Tenkiller and 12th at St. Clair has him 18th with 529 points. The estimated total to fish the Tennessee River Classic out of Knoxville is now 517 points.
Alex Redwine made a similar move on Day 2, his 22-9 ascending him 26 spots to 13th. The fourth-year pro from Blue Ash, Ohio, added 21-4 to make Championship Sunday, when 17-0 knocked him to 10th. Redwine was 51st in AOY but earning 95 points moved him to 37th and closer to a second Classic appearance.
Two-time Elite champion Kyoya Fujita, who was seventh when the Elites visited St. Clair in 2023, held a Top 10 position as one of six anglers who eclipsed 20 pounds each round. Fujita’s best was 23-1 on Day 2, and he ended up with 88-1 for his third third-place finish this season. The Japanese pro moved to third place in AOY, 40 points out of the lead.
A 5-13, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 2, helped Logan Parks weigh 25-9 and climb from 50th to fourth. The pro from Auburn, Ala., caught 22-5 on Semifinal Saturday to take second place as he vied to improve on his best Elite showing of eighth last year on Wheeler Lake.
Tucker Smith, who won on Lake Fork this year, landed all 5-pounders in his CrushCity Monster Bag of 26-2. That put him within 4 ounces of McKinney, who added 23-10 to lead with 48-5. Two slower days saw Smith fall to finish eighth, which cut his 63-point deficit to roommate and ROY leader Paul Marks. Marks, who finished 63rd, goes into the finale just nine points up on Smith.
A winner on Lake Okeechobee in February, two-time AOY Brandon Palaniuk fell to 59th in points after two subpar outings. He needed a good event at St. Clair. Improving his weight each day, The Prodigy started 42nd with 20-1 then moved to 22nd with 21-4. By 2 ounces, his 22-8 Saturday sent him into his 42nd career Top 10.
Canadian Evan Kung, who landed a critical 5-pounder on Day 3, was steady eddy, topping 21 pounds the first three days en route to his sixth-place finish. Kung bolted 14 places up the AOY leaderboard to 40th, making him the fifth rookie in position to make the Classic.
Similar to last year when he rallied on Day 3 at the St. Lawrence to win the 2024 AOY, Canada’s Chris Johnston had a big Semifinal Saturday on St. Clair. Standing 24th, Johnston was 13 points behind McKinney in the AOY standings. He made that up by catching 22-7 and finishing 11th. Johnston and McKinney go into La Crosse tied with 690 points, with McKinney holding the tiebreaker for full-field weight over the season. If Johnston were to win, he would be the fourth to win consecutive AOYs.
McKinney, who chased down fish with forward-facing sonar in Anchor Bay with most of the field, weighed 23-15 on Saturday and went into the final day with 72-4, a 4-10 lead over Parks.
On Championship Sunday, Palaniuk climbed from 10th place with 23-1. Going for broke, he ventured up the St. Clair River where he caught a 6-2 that tied for Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day and event. Palaniuk earned 100 points for fifth place, moving him to 43rd in AOY with 458 points, just two behind the last man in.
Robertson entered fish weighing 5-2 and 4-12 on BassTrakk and came in with 22-13 to finish fourth with 87-2. Starting 97th in AOY, his finish didn’t move the needle much, so he will need the Mississippi River’s win-and-in provision if he hopes to qualify for his sixth Classic.
Parks hoped for some final-day magic, saying that there were 30-pound bags swimming in St. Clair. He caught a 5-14 in his 22-12 that was good for runner-up, his best Elite finish. Parks also moved up to ninth in AOY.
“Oh my gosh” was the phrase McKinney repeated after landing a 6-2 on his sixth cast, which sent him on his way to a second Elite title. He led by almost 10 pounds at one point and kept on the gas to weigh 23-13, his big tying Palaniuk for Phoenix Boats Big Bass bonuses.
With the title, McKinney heads to La Crosse eying a second chance at AOY. McKinney, the 2024 ROY, led the race most of last year until his 59-point lead turned into a 14-point deficit after a disqualification at Smith Lake. Unless both bomb, Johnston and McKinney will battle it out for the 2025 AOY and its $100,000 payout.

Related