What a finale to the 2026 Bassmaster Elite Series regular season.
Nine different anglers crossed the 100-pound mark this week at the Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River — the most Century Belts ever awarded at a single smallmouth event in Bassmaster history.
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And shockingly, that historic number almost wasn’t even the most exciting thing that happened.
Evan Kung holds up his championship trophy for the Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence. (Amber Harding Snyder)
Evan Kung made a furious final-day charge from behind to run down leader Trey McKinney and steal the tournament win right at the finish, capping a week in which he entered with his Elite Series career on the line.
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Kung came into the St. Lawrence needing a strong finish just to keep his card in the Bassmaster Elite Series. Instead, he built a lead through four days of consistent fishing and closed it out with a Phoenix Boats Big Bass award (6 pounds, 13 ounces) on top of the tournament win.
“It was a crazy week,” Kung said. “I knew every day going in what I needed to catch just to stay in the Elites. Once I had that locked up, I went out today wanting the Century Belt. Once I had that, I just went looking for big ones.”
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He described a gutsy final-day gamble that paid off: “I went to the lake for three hours, didn’t catch a fish, came back in the river and caught that big one in the last 20 minutes. It was a crazy week.”
His pattern all week was simple and repeatable — about 95% drop shot, including several fish on a still-unreleased Great Lakes Finesse prototype bait.
“It’s coming out soon,” Kung said.
Kung entered the final day trailing McKinney’s overnight lead of 83-5 by a pound and a half. He weighed in first among the two leaders and delivered a final-day bag of 27-12 — enough to vault him into the lead at 109-9 for the first time all week. That put the pressure squarely on McKinney, who needed 26-8 to answer and reclaim the win. He came up two pounds short, sealing the title for Kung in the tournament’s final minutes.
“It was a tough year on me, so it’s great to end it like this,” Kung said after the win. “I couldn’t have thought of a better ending. I’m kind of at a loss for words right now.”
He thanked a support system that traveled with him all week — sponsors, friends, his mother, and his girlfriend’s family.
“It’s extra special to have them all here to see it,” he said.
The entire Top 10 showed out on the St. Lawrence
McKinney (2nd, 107-9) fell just short of the win but left Clayton with a much bigger prize waiting — Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year.
Trey McKinney poses with his friends and family after being named Angler of the Year. (Amber Harding Snyder)
Tucker Smith (3rd, 107-1) and Cory Johnston (4th, 106-7) both joined the Century Club with two of the heaviest four-day totals of their careers, finishing within a pound of one another.
Cole Sands (5th, 105-10) delivered one of the week’s best personal stories. The Tennessee pro spent a month and a half scouting the river ahead of the event and treated it almost like trout fishing.
“I wanted one of those Century Belts so bad for so long, and I finally got one,” Sands said. “And to get it with smallmouth at the St. Lawrence — this might be my favorite bass fishery on earth.”
Cole Sands shows off his Century Club Trophy. (Amber Harding Snyder)
On his approach: “I chose not to go to the lake — I saw in practice that the river had plenty of big smallmouth, and you just have to know how to read the current. It’s almost like trout fishing, the way you have to drift your bait. I kept it real simple — a drop shot and a minnow bait — and it led to a great finish. No complaints.”
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Rounding out the Century Club: Brandon Cobb (6th, 103-14), JT Thompkins (7th, 103-0), Bryant Smith (8th, 101-3) and Fisher Anaya (9th, 100-5), who claimed his own belt on the final cast of a week that carried much bigger stakes for him (see below). Only Easton Fothergill (10th, 99-8) narrowly missed joining the club.
This fishery lives up to the hype
Nine Century Belts in a single weigh-in is proof that the St. Lawrence River is one of the best bass fishing spots in the country. Between the goby-fed smallmouth population and a stacked Elite Series field pushing each other all four days, this event will likely be remembered as one of the heaviest, most competitive smallmouth tournaments Bassmaster has ever run.
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Kung’s name goes on the trophy. But on a leader board where 99 pounds wasn’t even enough to crack the top nine, this was a win for the whole field — and for a river that delivered on every promise made about it heading into tournament week.
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