By MLF Communications Staff

MASSENA, N.Y. – Drew Gill has enjoyed a lot of memorable days on the water during his rapid rise through the tournament ranks. The Bass Pro Tour rookie has two wins this season — one in the BPT event on the Chowan River and one at the Invitationals season opener on Sam Rayburn Reservoir — and has finished in the Top 10 eight times in 11 total events across those two circuits.

But Gill’s first day of competition at the St. Lawrence River earned a special place in his memory bank. Gill racked up 36 scorable bass for 100 pounds, 4 ounces. That has him atop ScoreTracker after the first day of qualifying for Group B He's 16-6 ahead of 2nd-place Spencer Shuffield.

“If you want to rank the level of fun, it’s like not even on the grading scale,” Gill said. “It’s like S-Tier levels of fun. It is absolutely a blast. I think today was probably the most fun day of smallmouth fishing I’ve ever had in a tournament.”

Gill was far from the only angler to stack up a gaudy total on the fruitful fishery. As was also the case for Group A’s first day on the water, it took more than 58 pounds to claim a spot in the Top 10, and nine anglers crossed the 60-pound mark.

Gill admitted that it can feel at times like catching bass on the St. Lawrence is easy. In some ways, though, that actually makes strategy more stressful for the pros, as they have to be just about perfect in order to keep up with the pace.

While some anglers (like Shuffield, who boated eight smallmouth of 4 pounds or heavier) targeted a bigger average size, and a few even amassed strong totals of all or mostly largemouth, Gill’s gameplan focused on maximizing his catch rate. He started fishing right at “lines in” and only spent about 20 minutes of his day running his Mercury. His resulting tally of 36 scorable bass (35 of them being smallmouth) bested his next-closest competitor by seven and marked the most fish he’s boated in a day of competition this season.

“Time management and keeping the pace is the most important thing in a slugfest tournament,” Gill said. “And the best way to keep that pace is to make the run time as manageable as possible. ... Just making decisions that are really time-management conscientious and focusing on maximizing fishing time, because every interaction you have with a fish here can be a 3- to 5-pound smallmouth.”

While Gill noted that his catch count could have been even higher had he not lost nine or 10 scorable bites, he’s excited by the fact that he maintained his rapid rate despite sampling several different areas and techniques. A forward-facing sonar guru who can often be spotted with just a handful of rods on his front deck, Gill said that’s not the case this week. He caught bass from as little as 5 feet of water to as deep as 54. He also found a new stretch of productive water during Period 3 that he’d never fished before and caught nearly 20 pounds off it in 22 minutes.

Gill believes having multiple options at his disposal will be key as the fishery evolves throughout the event.

“This is not one of those tournaments where you’ve got primary stuff and you’ve got some stuff in your back pocket,” he said. “Dude, you’ve got to be in all the pockets in this tournament. Front pockets, back pockets, side pockets, all the pockets, because if you’re not firing on all cylinders, you’re getting left behind.”

Gill will look to add to his repertoire of areas and techniques when he returns to the water Friday. With more than 45 pounds of cushion over 11th place, he can use the day as extra practice in advance of the Knockout Round. And with northern smallmouth known for their transient nature, plus stormy weather from Hurricane Debby forecast to arrive this weekend, Gill knows he’ll need to adapt if he wants to add another trophy to his rapidly growing collection.

“Now that we’ve given ourselves a little bit of a head start, I’m looking forward to the time to expand the strategy,” he said. “I’m going to go expand on it, hopefully go find a few more areas, keep an eye on the stuff I’m fishing and try to prepare for the weekend.”

The $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award went to Shuffield, who weighed in a chunky 6-pound smallmouth that he caught in Period 3. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day and another $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

Jacob Wheeler came into the event needing only to advance to the Knockout Round to clinch his third Angler of the Year title in the past four years, and he’s off to a strong start. Wheeler totaled 74-5 on 29 bass, which has him third in Group B. He’s nearly 20 pounds clear of 11th place.

One more day like that and Wheeler will join a select group of anglers to win three AOY crowns on national tours. Should he falter, Alton Jones, Jr. would be best positioned to take advantage, as he entered the regular-season finale 19 points behind Wheeler.

The 39 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day Qualifying Round on Tuesday and Thursday, with the 39 anglers in Group B on the water on Wednesday and Friday. After each two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the anglers who finish first through 10th from each group advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round.

In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round, when weights are again zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers depart at 6:45 a.m. ET each day from the Massena Intake Boat Launch, located at 1415 State Highway 131. Anglers are allowed to trailer to any ramp of their choosing within the fishing boundaries, and competition will begin on the water at 7:30 a.m. Each day’s takeout is held at the launch beginning at 4 p.m.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action live starting Thursday morning from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

The event features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.



Group B Qualifying Round – Day 1

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the round)

1. Drew Gill -- 100-04 (36) -- 5-07

2. Spencer Shuffield -- 83-14 (24) -- 6-00

3. Jacob Wheeler -- 74-05 (29) -- 4-05

4. Bryan Thrift -- 68-13 (25) -- 3-15

5. Fletcher Shryock -- 65-06 (23) -- 4-02

6. Michael Neal -- 64-03 (19) -- 5-03

7. Skeet Reese -- 63-07 (20) -- 4-04

8. Justin Cooper -- 61-10 (18) -- 5-08

9. Josh Bertrand -- 60-14 (21) -- 4-07

10. Chris Lane -- 59-02 (22) -- 3-10

11. John Murray -- 54-10 (17) -- 5-08

12. Keith Carson -- 54-03 (17) -- 5-01

13. Ron Nelson -- 53-05 (18) -- 5-02

14. Jared Lintner -- 52-13 (19) -- 4-07

15. Martin Villa -- 52-12 (17) -- 4-08

16. Adrian Avena -- 49-02 (17) -- 5-06

17. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 48-04 (16) -- 4-09

18. Alton Jones -- 47-04 (15) -- 4-11

19. Jeremy Lawyer -- 43-03 (15) -- 5-02

20. Jeff Sprague -- 41-01 (14) -- 4-11

21. Shin Fukae -- 40-03 (12) -- 5-02

22. Casey Ashley -- 40-03 (15) -- 4-02

23. Andy Morgan -- 39-03 (13) -- 4-07

24. Cole Floyd -- 38-08 (14) -- 4-07

25. Dylan Hays -- 37-03 (12) -- 4-13

26. Brandon Coulter -- 35-11 (11) -- 4-12

27. Matt Lee -- 35-00 (12) -- 5-06

28. Wesley Strader -- 33-13 (10) -- 4-13

29. Andy Montgomery -- 33-03 (11) -- 4-02

30. Nick LeBrun -- 32-01 (11) -- 4-01

31. Takahiro Omori -- 29-11 (11) -- 3-06

32. Jacopo Gallelli -- 28-12 (8) -- 5-00

33. Randy Howell -- 25-13 (9) -- 4-01

34. Ryan Salzman -- 25-04 (9) -- 3-09

35. Terry Scroggins -- 23-07 (8) -- 3-14

36. Gerald Spohrer -- 20-03 (7) -- 4-05

37. David Walker -- 17-09 (7) -- 3-05

38. Todd Faircloth -- 16-15 (6) -- 4-01

39. Colby Schrumpf -- 12-09 (4) -- 4-01