Canadian Evan Kung, as shown in this handout photo, won the Elite Series final tournament of the year Sunday at Clayton, N.Y. Kung finished with 109 pounds nine ounces, a record weight for a Bass smallmouth event.HO/The Canadian Press
Canadian Evan Kung saved his Elite Series career in a big way Sunday.
Kung, of Pickering, Ont., won the season-ending event at the St. Lawrence River for his first Elite Series victory. Kung’s five-fish limit weighed 27 pounds 12 ounces, giving him 109 pounds nine ounces for the tournament, a record total for a smallmouth bass event.
Kung, 27, claimed the $US100,000 winner’s share and an additional US$1,000 for the day’s biggest fish (six pounds 13 ounces).
The win was a very timely one for Kung, who entered this event standing 72nd in the overall standings. He needed a solid finish to crack the top-70 and remain on the circuit.
Sunday’s victory not only took care of that – Kung finished 55th overall – but the Canadian also qualified for the US$1-million Bassmaster Classic slated for March 19-21 on Lake Hartwell in Greenville, S.C. It will be Kung’s first career appearance in pro bass fishing’s marquee event.
“It’s going to be much better to fish in it than work in the Expo,” Kung said. “I’ve done that the last couple of years and it’s not fun.
“I’ve waited so long to get to my first Classic.”
Kung qualified to compete on the final day after standing second Saturday, 1.5 pounds behind American Trey McKinney. McKinney was the last competitor to weigh in Sunday and needed 25 pounds five ounces to win but had 24 pounds four ounces to finish second with 107 pounds nine ounces.
McKinney captured the overall title with 735 points, four more than Cory Johnston of Cavan, Ont. Johnston also qualified for Sunday’s final round and had the day’s heaviest bag (29 pounds nine ounces) to finish fourth with 106 pounds seven ounces.
“I had a great day [Sunday], couldn’t ask for anything better but a lot of highs and lows out there this week,” Johnston said. “[Saturday] cost me winning the tournament, for sure.”
Johnston’s five-fish limit Saturday was 23 pounds two ounces, his lowest total of the tournament. But on Sunday, Johnston was able to deftly scoop up a six-pound bass just as it became unhooked at the side of his boat.
“I pulled up to a spot [Saturday] where there were big ones and I caught three six-pounders there [Sunday],” Johnston said. “I hooked a seven-pounder, it jumped and the line broke when it was in the air.
“I was thinking it was probably a six but after catching those three today, it was definitely a lot bigger than that. But that’s fishing, that’s what keeps us coming back.”
Nine of the tournament’s top-10 finishers cracked the 100-pound mark.
Johnston’s brother, Chris – the overall champion the previous two seasons – finished 17th in the tournament with 73 pounds 14 ounces. Jeff Gustafson, of Kenora, Ont., was 39th (69 pounds 10 ounces) while Cooper Gallant of Bowmanville, Ont., was 64th (45 pounds eight ounces).
Chris Johnston was 11th in the overall standings while Gustafson was 25th. The Johnstons and Gustafson also qualified for the ’27 Classic.
Gallant was 82nd overall.
Kung was fourth after the first day of competition, then moved into second Friday behind McKinney, whose limit of 30 pounds 11 ounces was the heaviest bag of smallmouth bass in Bass history.
“I knew every day going in what I needed to catch just to stay in the Elites,” Kung said. “I went out [Sunday] wanting the century belt [100 pounds overall] and once I had that, I went looking for big ones.
“I pulled up to a spot I didn’t fish all week, caught two big ones and then I said, ’I need a couple of real big ones,’ so I went to the lake [Lake Ontario] for three hours and didn’t catch a fish. I came back into the river [St. Lawrence River] and caught that big one in the last 20 minutes.”
Kung got the majority of his fish on a dropshot rig using a Great Lakes Finesse prototype bait that he said will be hitting the market soon.
“This was a tough year on me so it’s great to end it like this,” he said. “I couldn’t have thought of a better ending.”