2021 Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River – Team Power-Pole Showed Up and Showed Out!

Team Power-Pole’sBernie Schultz and Cory Johnston were a show of force at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite event. Cory finished in 4th place with a whopping 88lb bag! In Cory’s own words,” The St Lawrence River is a place that I have a lot of history with. I finished 4th and any other place I would be happy with that finish, but not at the 1000 islands. Every time I fish there I am not satisfied unless I win. I had a good game plan and I almost executed it perfectly except I tried to save 2 fish for the last day that ended up costing me the win. The highlight of the tournament for me was being able to make a very long run and having all my gear work to perfection. In 4 days of fishing, I ran over 800 miles”.

Bernie’s experience also came in handy for this event. “The St. Lawrence River is my favorite freshwater fishery. I’ve had a lot of success there, including two victories. This year’s event was similar to many in the past, in that I relied primarily on smallmouth for my total weight. But instead of finding them deep or super shallow, they were in the mid-depth range — approximately 7 to 9 feet. I caught them on a variety of lures; everything from finesse soft-plastics to reaction lures like jerk baits and spinnerbaits. Although I didn’t pull off the victory, I did fish cleanly. And it was a fun, rewarding event. The highlight was probably the way it started out. In the first hour on day-1 of the competition, I caught a 5-pounder on my first cast. Then a 3 3/4-pounder. Then a 6-pounder … all in the first 30 minutes! From there, things just kept rolling, and I finished the day with more than 25 pounds — one of the largest stringers of smallmouth I’ve ever caught. There is no doubt that my Power-Poles made a huge difference in my overall performance. I was fishing super slow, and when I would zero in on the sweet spots, I would Power-Pole down and soak my baits in those areas that made a big difference. The fish never knew I was there. I am so proud to represent Power-Pole and run the CHARGE wrap on the Elite Series. It’s a regal brand backed by quality people. Enough said!”

We are very proud of the performance of both of these anglers!

Photo credit: Andy Crawford via https://www.bassmaster.com/