Johnston Leads Invitational Tournment at the St. Lawrence River

MASSENA, N.Y. (July 25, 2025) – Day 1 of Tackle Warehouse Invitationals tournament on the St. Lawrence River basically went to plan: Tons of big smallmouth hit the scales and Chris Johnston took the lead – the usual case on the big river. Weighing 25 pounds, 12 ounces, Johnston is only a few ounces ahead, and has many in hot pursuit – but so far, so good for the superlative Canadian pro.

In second, pro Banks Shaw basically put a bow on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year and Polaris Rookie of the Year honors, sacking up 25-8 before 11 o’clock in the morning. In third, pro Hayden O'Barr also got over the quarter century mark with 25-3, and pros Clay Reece, Jacob Walker, Marshall Hughes and John Levesque all broke the 24-pound mark. In all, 13 pros weighed in over 23 pounds on Day 1 – a pretty impressive feat considering the runs many are making, and Day 2 could set up a fascinating final day.

Running through all of Johnston’s accomplishments would take too much space, but he’s won at the top level in Florida and New York, and is coming off an AOY title on the Elite Series in 2024. Johnston won Angler of the Year way back in 2009, in his first season as a pro on the Toyota Series Northern Division – a sign of great things to come.

On Friday, Johnston said he got off to a slow start, well off his usual standard on the river.

“To be honest, it didn't start out the way I wanted it to,” Johnston said. “I made a big run, and I think in my first four stops, which took me to about 11:00, I had three or four bass for, like, 8 pounds – nothing I wanted to weigh in.”

Then, Johnston turned it on.

“I switched it up, I went to a different area of the river, and I had four or five areas, and every one of those areas had some fish,” he said. “And I’d catch two or three off each spot.”

With forward-facing sonar off the table on Day 2, Johnston isn’t planning on playing for an easy limit – something some of his competition is looking to do.

“I'll do a couple things different,” he said. “A couple of the areas I caught them, there was no ‘Scope today. But I'll fish a couple areas I didn't hit today that hopefully are not so much ‘Scope areas, but they're big-fish areas. I could probably go to some areas and catch 19 to 22, but I don't think I'm going to go that route. I'm going to go to areas where there's 5s and 6s, but I may not get five. But I'm going to try it and see what happens. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

If the plan works out, Johnston could put a big gap between himself and some of the competition.

Pro Banks Shaw also had himself a day on the river. Doubting Shaw this year has been a sure way to sink a Phoenix Fantasy Fishing team. Despite never having been to the St. Lawrence before, the young pro got out to a hot start on Day 1 and basically locked down both points titles.

Suffice to say, he’s going to be a handful next year on the Bass Pro Tour.

After a good practice, Shaw’s day went even better than he thought it would.

“I started on my main place,” he said. “Actually I ended up losing one, I snapped one off right off the bat, it come out of the water, like a 5 or 6-pounder for sure. And that kind of got to me a little bit, but I was like, ‘Oh well, there's plenty more down there.’ Like an hour and a half later, I had 25 pounds and I just kind of worked my way back toward the ramp and played it safe and looked for some new fish for tomorrow.”

Though Shaw could probably go back to his primary area and fish without LiveScope, he’s strongly considering locking up the points situation with a limit on Day 2 and leaving it at that.

“I think I can catch 15 pounds for sure,” he said. “I think that right there will have me in the cut, I would hope with, like, 40 pounds  for two days, but I'd like to have 21 or 22. I'm going to decide on it. I might run to those fish I had today because they're there. And I know I could grind out five bites, and they're going to be five good bites. But it's one of those deals where I just want to play it safe. Heck, I could go out there and break down tomorrow and not catch a fish and bump out of everything.”

Whatever he decides, the odds are good that Shaw will earn some hardware at weigh-in on Day 2 – his lead is too big. And if he comes in with another big bag, he’s likely to keep the heat on Johnston.

The top 20 pros after Day 1 on the St. Lawrence River are:

1st:        Chris Johnston, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada., five bass, 25-12
2nd:       Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 25-8
3rd:       Hayden O’Barr, Scottsboro, Ala., five bass, 25-3
4th:        Clay Reece, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 24-13
5th:        Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., five bass, 24-10
6th:        Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, five bass, 24-7
7th:        John Levesque, Nashua, N.H., five bass, 24-0
8th:        Bob Behrle, Shelby, Ala., five bass, 23-13
9th:        Lane Olson, Forest Grove, Ore., five bass, 23-12
10th:     Kyle Cortiana, Broken Arrow, Okla., five bass, 23-10
11th:     Nick Hatfield, Chuckey, Tenn., five bass, 23-5
12th:     John Murray, Spring City, Tenn., five bass, 23-3
13th:     Hayden Marbut, Grant, Ala., five bass, 23-2
14th:     Jimmy Washam, Stantonville, Tenn., five bass, 22-14
15th:     Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., five bass, 22-9
16th:     Brent Anderson, Kingston Springs, Tenn., five bass, 22-8
17th:     Jon Canada, Helena, Ala., five bass, 22-6
18th:     Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., five bass, 22-4
19th:     Ethan Greene, Eufaula, Ala., five bass, 22-3
20th:     Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., five bass, 21-12

Overall, there were 435 bass weighing 1,705 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 88 pros Friday. The catch included 86 five-bass limits.

Pro John Murray of Spring City, Tennessee, brought a bass weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces, to earn the Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award of $1,000.