MASSENA, N.Y. – Casey Smith of Victor, New York, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 26 pounds, 4 ounces to win the Toyota Series event at the St. Lawrence River and earn the top payout of $39,750.
Taking off from Massena Intake Boat Launch on Saturday within reach of both a win on the St. Lawrence River and the Angler of the Year title for the Northern Division, Smith admitted he felt a bit jittery. He had plenty of time to stew on the ramifications of his performance, too, making a 70-plus mile run upriver to his fishing spot.
But once he arrived, it didn’t take long to settle his nerves.
Within 5 minutes, Smith boated a smallmouth bass that weighed 5 3/4 pounds. That started an epic flurry that saw him put more than 25 pounds in his livewell during his first hour of fishing. He went on to make one afternoon cull, finishing off what was easily the biggest bag of the final day.
That boosted Smith’s three-day total to 72-1, vaulting him from seventh place to the winner’s circle. Smith topped Oklahoma's Kyle Cortiana by 1-2. While Cortiana still edged him by a single point at the top of the AOY standings, a second Toyota Series trophy and the $39,750 payday more than made up for it.
“Today was unbelievable,” Smith said. “Within 5 minutes, I had a 5 3/4, and I had the bulk of that weight within an hour. So, that settled me down and put me in a groove, and I just built it from there.”
In the weeks prior to the event, Smith grappled with the decision of where to fish on the massive St. Lawrence. While Lake Ontario was off-limits to competitors, the waters near the lake have typically produced a better class of bass than the rest of the river in recent years. The catch is, with the field launching from Massena, the runs to and from that area could eat up nearly half the competition day, and Smith had typically struggled in the past when making a long run and fishing in a hurry.
However, when he watched the broadcast of one of the recent national-level events contested on the St. Lawrence, Smith heard a comment about how anglers needed to commit to the long run if they wanted to have a chance to win. That stuck with him as he took a win-or-bust mindset into this event, running between 140 and 180 miles round-trip each day.
“It’s a long way, man,” Smith said with a chuckle. “I’m tired, I’m exhausted, I’m out of gas money.
“Running a long distance like that for me has always been an Achilles (heel),” he added. “I’ve never managed time well. So, that’s where this one is special, I overcame that weakness. I mean, I was running 3 hours a day — an hour and a half down and an hour and a half back — so I was only fishing 5 hours. To overcome that Achilles of the time management, that’s where this one is special.”
After making the long run each morning, Smith targeted his fish a bit differently than most in the field. He found three offshore shoals where, particularly early in the day, schools of smallmouth were suspended chasing bait. Smith targeted them with a Deps Sakamata Shad on a jighead.
“There was a ton of bait in the area, and I was using a minnow, a Sakamata Shad,” he said. “As the day went on, that bite would go away, and then I would resort to drifting with a Ned rig or a football jig. But the bulk of it came early every morning from fish that were up in the bait.”
While the jighead minnow has dominated events across the country in the past couple years, the strong current on the St. Lawrence typically forces fish to remain bottom-oriented, making dropshots, Ned rigs, jigs and the like more popular. The 39-year-old Smith said he was proud of his ability to not only find the unique bite but target the schoolers with forward-facing sonar, noting he spotted every fish he caught with Garmin LiveScope.
“You don’t need to be 18 years old to do that,” he said. “I don’t know how I got to be an older dude, but I’m representing the experienced group here with this win and showing that we can hang with the electronics, too.”
During practice, Smith knew he’d found an area loaded with bass. But he underestimated just how good it could be.
Prior to the start of the event, Smith predicted that it would take “22 and change” per day to win. So, when he hit the 22-pound mark on Day 1, he left his main area, hoping to save those fish for later in the event. When 18 pros weighed in 23 pounds or more that afternoon, he thought he might have blown his chances at hoisting the trophy.
“I left my area after 2 1/2 hours because I was trying to conserve, and when I came in and saw that, I thought I made a major mistake,” he said. “I had to absolutely put the gas on down there the last two days, and I wasn’t sure how much was left after I burned on it yesterday. I did not have any clue it was going to take this average to win this tournament.”
Luckily for Smith, his area produced more weight each day. He followed up his 22-1 total on Day 1 with 23-12 on Day 2. His 26-4 bag on Saturday represented the second-heaviest limit of the week.
“Today, I started on one (shoal), and it just went nuts,” he said. “I thought it was the best one numbers-wise. I didn’t realize it was the best one size-wise too.”
Smith’s three-day weight puts him in rare company. Since the Toyota Series went to three days of competition in 2009, only once during the 11 events held on the St. Lawrence River has the winner totaled more than his 72-1. That was Chris Johnston with 77-15 in 2021, and he amassed almost all that weight in Lake Ontario. Even without the lake in play, this marked the first Toyota Series event ever on the fishery when three anglers hit the 70-pound mark in three days.
The win also cements Smith as one of the most accomplished tournament anglers in the Northeast — and maybe the best not to fish for a living. Smith has now won three multi-day events on three different fisheries, adding his St. Lawrence triumph to a resume that includes a 2016 Toyota Series win on the Potomac River and a 2022 Bassmaster Open victory on Oneida Lake.
In the moments after lifting the trophy alongside his son Travis, Smith’s voice caught as he reflected on the hard work that went into his latest triumph.
“I don’t even know how to describe it,” he said. “I’m not sure why I’ve been lucky enough or blessed enough to have that happen to me. I work hard, I love fishing, but I’ve got a job. I have to go to work every Monday. And I show up and I fish as hard as I can, I do as much research as I can, and I guess it’s just a function of that mentality, how much I love it and how much I work for it. It feels unbelievably rewarding.”
Here are the final totals for the Top 10:
1st: Casey Smith, Victor, N.Y., 15 bass, 72-1, $39,750
2nd: Kyle Cortiana, Broken Arrow, Okla., 15 bass, 70-15, $15,403
3rd: Dante Piraino, Baldwinsville, N.Y., 15 bass, 70-0, $11,925
4th: Colby Miller, Elmer, La., 15 bass, 68-7, $10,938
5th: Brent Anderson, Kingston Springs, Tenn., 15 bass, 68-1, $8,944
6th: Adam Howell, Embrun, Ontario, 15 bass, 67-10, $7,950
7th: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 15 bass, 67-4, $6,956
8th: Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 15 bass, 66-8, $5,963
9th: Kyle Hall, Granbury, Texas, 15 bass, 66-3, $4,969
10th: Lane Olson, Forest Grove, Ore., 15 bass, 66-0, $3,975
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Juan Darte of Middle River, Maryland, won the $500 Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Thursday with a bass weighing 6-8. On Friday, Rich Nelson of Smithville, Ontario, earned the award after bringing a 7-3 bass to the scale.
With all three regular-season events in the Northern Division now complete, Cortiana was crowned the AOY, earning the payout of $5,000 with 506 points.
