Elite

Big bass of Mississippi River 2025

Schlapper sets La Crosse weight record; races decided in season finale

Posted on
Captions by
Mike Suchan
Big bass made big impacts in last week’s season finale Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River. Wisconsin’s Pat Schlapper thrilled the home-state crowd in La Crosse as he set the fishery’s top weight in an Elite. The season-long point races were decided as well as Classic berths and requalification. Look at the bigs that made a difference.
Oklahoma’s Jason Christie was among those deep in the points and needed the event’s win-and-in provision to qualify for the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic. He started well with 17 pounds, 6 ounces on Day 1 to stand seventh, however, the 2022 Classic champ’s quest for an 11th appearance ended with a 32nd-place finish. It’s the second consecutive year he’s failed to qualify for the Classic via the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year points.
Greg Hackney had similar hopes, holding eighth place with 17-4 after Day 1. Bags of 11-13 and 12-6 left him 28th in the event, and the Louisiana veteran fell short of reaching his 20th Classic.
Canada’s Cory Johnston landed a 5-0 that helped him start in sixth with 17-7. On Day 1, 94 of the 101 Elites caught limits totaling 1,327-15, the average fish weighing 2-11. The limits dipped to 88 on Day 2, but the average size stayed the same.
Hank Cherry almost doubled the average fish weight with this 5-1, which put him 11th with 16-2. The two-time Classic champ made Day 3 but ended up 25th. Three cuts on the year left him 80th in points, and he missed his second consecutive Classic via the points.
Maryland’s Bryan Schmitt started well in his Mississippi River defense, weighing 17-3 to stand ninth. In the 2022 Elite here, Schmitt totaled 63-4 to edge Chris Johnston by 4 ounces.
Rookie Andrew Loberg, who was last in the AOY standings after three events, continued his climb to Classic qualification. Starting fifth with 17-12, the Alabama transplant from the West Coast rode that to a 13th-place finish. Earning 92 points moved him up 10 spots to 41st in AOY and qualified him for his first Classic. Five of this year’s eight true rookies made next year’s March 13-15 championship on the Tennessee River out of Knoxville.
Schlapper, who was also making a late-season run to get Classic qualified, vowed he wouldn’t play it safe at La Crosse. Locking to pool 7, the Eleva, Wis., pro started fourth with 18-8, including a big of 4-5.
Brandon Card vied for the win-and-in, starting with 18-10 to stand in third place. He dropped to 13th after a tougher Day 2 (12-2) then only two fish knocked him to 43rd.
KJ Queen had a big first day to start in second place with 18-14. The pro from Catawba, N.C., added 13-11 the next two rounds to make his second Top 10 this season. He matched his eighth at Tenkiller, moving to 10th in AOY and giving him his third Classic berth after missing the past two years.
Caleb Kuphall, who won the Guntersville Elite in 2021, took the Day 1 lead with 18-15. After a solid start to his season, the Wisconite had fallen near the Classic bubble with poor showings at the Sabine River and Lake St. Clair.
Jonathan Kelley of Old Forge, Pa., landed the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 1, a 5-9. It was more than one third of his 14-15 limit that had him 22nd. On a tight leaderboard, just three fish on Day 2 knocked him to 90th. Based on his career average and finishing the season 93rd in points, Kelley was among those who did not requalify for the 2026 Elites, but he left La Crosse with $2,000 in big bass bonuses.
The AOY race took an interesting twist. Trey McKinney and Chris Johnston came to La Crosse tied with 690 points. McKinney, the 2024 Rookie of the Year who took second to Chris Johnston in AOY, was evidently disappointed with his Day 1 12-15, which had him in 58th place.
Johnston, who rallied on his home waters last year to become the first international AOY winner, was similarly unimpressed with his 13-1, which put him tied for 55th.  
Starting 42 points behind the AOY leaders, Jay Przekurat regained the AOY lead he had held much of the year. The fourth-year pro, who lives about two hours away from La Crosse in Plover, stood 10th with 17-1. He went into Day 2 with 743 points, three up on Johnston and six ahead of McKinney.
Tucker Smith nearly wrapped up the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Rookie of the Year race on Day 1, starting 36th while roommate Paul Marks suffered mechanical issues and was 100th. On Day 2, Smith was awarded the ROY title with 647 points while Emil Wagner was second (571), Marks third (569) and Classic champ Easton Fothergill fourth (565).
On Day 2, John Cox made a big move. Behind a 5-7, he weighed 18-3 to climb from 77th to 21st. The Florida pro dipped to 37th after just four fish on Day 3, but he easily qualified for his eighth Classic by ending the year 12th in points.
Texas’ Chris Zaldain, who started 97th with 8-8, catapulted 50 spots up the leaderboard with the second-biggest Day 2. He had a pair of 4-pounders to weigh 18-9 for his third consecutive cut. Ending the season 82nd in points, Zaldain missed reaching his 10th Classic.
Lee Livesay, who began the event just inside the Classic bubble, was bummed to fall 10 spots to 48th with just 10-13 on Day 1. The Texan was beaming on Day 2 when he posted the biggest Elite limit ever at La Crosse. A pair of 5-pounders, including a 5-7, gave him 21-11, rocketing him from 85th to seventh. Behind that CrushCity Monster Bag, Livesay finished 17th, ending the year 34th in points to reach his sixth Classic.
Brandon Palaniuk, who clinched his second AOY at the 2022 La Crosse Elite, entered the event 43rd in points. Despite starting 53rd, he moved up a spot but desperately needed to make the cut or risk missing the Classic. With 14-0, he advanced to Semifinal Saturday and finished 47th. He ended the season 42nd in points to secure his 14th Classic entry.
First-year Elite Dakota Ebare was outside the bubble in 46th coming into La Crosse. Starting 31st with 14-7 put him inside, and he finished 42nd to narrowly hold on. With Schlapper double qualifying, Ebare totaled 515 points on the season and now holds the 43rd and final spot to the Classic via the points. John Crews, whose 12th-place finish moved him to 44th, is first man out with 510 points. He holds an outside chance if any of the three Elite Qualifier tournaments are won by an angler already in the Classic.
Canada’s Cooper Gallant jumped into the Top 10 with 17-15 bolstered by a 5-9, Day 2’s Phoenix Boats Big Bass that shared the event honors with Kelley. Gallant ended 10th to improve his AOY position 13 places to 15th, which sends him to a fourth consecutive Classic.
Arkansas’ Stetson Blaylock, mired in the points, was shooting for the win-an-in. After 15-1, he weighed 17-2 to 13-15 to make Championship Sunday. Among the few who locked down into Pool 9, Blaylock ended up ninth for his second Top 10 of the year.
Schmitt settled into second place after Day 2’s 17-2, just 1-13 out of the lead. He entered Championship Sunday with the same deficit, however his hopes of a repeat ended with 13-2, good for fourth. On the Classic bubble just two events prior, Schmitt climbed to 26th with a fifth consecutive Classic in his future. Schmitt was second in the 2023 Knoxville Classic won by Jeff Gustafson, who won’t be back to defend.
Kuphall threatened to win wire-to-wire, but his bags decreased each day. He held the two-day lead after a round of 17-3, but windy conditions hurt his bite and bags, which dropped to 14-10 then 12-13. He settled for runner-up, earning $20,000, and he will head to his third Classic after placing 25th in points.
Przekurat did his job to keep the pressure on in the AOY race. His Day 2 limit of 15-10 moved him from 10th to fourth. The fourth-year Elite needed to finish 42 places ahead of McKinney and Johnston. He would have a shot if both stayed outside the Top 50.
No chance of that, Johnston said. With a Bassmaster LIVE camera, Johnston built a modest limit and there was uncertainty he would advance to Day 3. With a late catch topping 4 pounds, Johnston came to the scales with 16-8 to jump from 55th to 22nd. He went into Semifinal Saturday with 773 points, 24 ahead of Przekurat.
McKinney weighed 14-1 and eked into the cut at 50th. He still had a chance, but trailed Johnston by 28 points. Johnston’s two-day total was 29-9. McKinney had 27-0 and needed to make up 2-9 on Johnston on Semifinal Saturday.
Kyoya Fujita was also in the AOY mix. He began the event 40 points back of the AOY lead. He moved from 23rd to 17th then brought in 16-2 to make Championship Sunday in sixth place, which tied him in points with Przekurat. While Przekurat added 14-15, he fell to finish fifth. Fujita’s 14-12 gave him sixth place and a third-place finish in AOY, just one point ahead of Przekurat. Fujita earned $25,000 of Progressive AOY bonus money while Przekurat’s payout was $12,500.    
Jordan Lee had a big Day 3, weighing 16-14 to move from 29th to 11th. His 4-6 shared Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day. Lee missed the Top 10 by 1 ounce, but the two-time Classic champ will return for his seventh championship after finishing the season 14th in points. On Day 3, 38 of the 50 caught limits and the average fish size dropped an ounce to 2-10.
With a 4-6, Cory Johnston tied Lee’s big bass. He totaled 14-10, an ounce better than his Day 2, and moved up to fifth. When his younger brother rallied on their home waters of the St. Lawrence River to win AOY last year, Johnston went on to win the event. He hoped to repeat that feat.
Chris Johnston went into Semifinal Saturday with a 2-9 advantage on McKinney, who steadily moved up the BassTrakk leaderboard. Held as the last two to weigh, McKinney’s 14-9 put him 27th. Chris Johnston weighed 13-7 to take 19th at La Crosse, and he became the 13th angler with multiple AOYs and just the fourth to win in consecutive years. Chris Johnston, who earned $100,000 and McKinney ($50,000) have finished 1-2 in AOY the past two seasons.
With the ROY trophy and its $10,000 payout in hand, Tucker Smith was hoping to put an exclamation point on his year with a second Elite title. He slipped into Championship Sunday by an ounce with 16-1 and went for it. Catching 8-8 in about 10 minutes gave Smith the BassTrakk lead momentarily, and he moved up to seventh with 15-5, aided by a 4-2. Smith finished ninth in AOY to qualify for his first Classic.
Starting the day in fifth, Cory Johnston climbed to third with 15-12 behind a 4-2. Cory Johnston finished 11th in AOY, just one point from posting his fourth Top 10 in seven years on the Elites.
Of the 10 lead changes Sunday on BassTrakk, the last four were between Kuphall and Schlapper, who started the day 2-14 back. Schlapper caught a 4-5, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day, another 4-pounder and a trio nearing 3-8 for 18-7, the day’s best.
Schlapper’s 66-5 total, topping Kuphall by 2-11, eclipsed the previous best weight at La Crosse. He won his second Elite win this season, the first coming three months ago at the Sabine. “The Sabine was a kind of surprise to me, but this one I’m not surprised, because I fish down here so much and I have a ton of history. I’m so happy … I love the Mississippi River, and I hope we come back,” said Schlapper, who took the blue trophy into an ecstatic crowd.

Related