Evan Kung entered the record books at the 2026 Bassmaster Elite Series season finale on the St. Lawrence River when he landed the biggest all-smallmouth bag in Bassmaster history, topping out at an unbelievable 109 pounds, 9 ounces. The hefty bag was more than enough to clinch the win, enter Kung in Bassmaster’s Century Club, and give him his first B.A.S.S. trophy.
The key to victory was landing lots of big smallies, which is easier said than done on a pressured fishery amongst so many talented anglers. To do so, Kung leaned on a prototype bait from Great Lakes Finesse — the GLF Vibra Bug, which he helped develop. Kung rigged the Vibra Bug on a drop shot with 1/2- and 3/4-ounce weights, and went to town on 5- and 6-plus pound smallies.
“I chose the Vibra Bug on a drop shot because it’s a little different bait that fish aren’t used to seeing,” Kung said. “The matte finish and neutral buoyancy of the bait made a huge difference in getting a few extra key bites a day on super pressured bass.”
The Vibra Bug sort of looks like a cross between a hellgramite and an urchin bait. It has a distinctive vibrating action thanks to the spikes, and is built using a neutrally buoyant compound that neither sinks nor floats. The GLF team spent two years developing the bait. Kung fished the new bait by shaking it in front of fish, dragging it slowly or holding it in place, letting the current unlock the bait’s vibrating action. You can find the Vibra Bug in stores later this fall.
Kung also threw the GLF Stay-Pinned Spybait, which has earned a place in many smallmouth anglers’ tackle boxes. The bait’s subtle shimmy can be the key to getting temperamental smallies to bite, and it proved its worth at the Elite Series finale. Kung used both a prototype in the 80mm size, as well as the currently available 70mm version, depending on the depth of water he wanted to hit.
“I chose the new 80 size of the Stay-Pinned Spybait as a tool to cover water and to raise fish off cover so I could see what was in the area,” Kung said, using both Shiner and Matte Black versions. “I would slow-roll it over the top of grass patches, rock piles and sand flats so I could get the fish to react to it and then target them more effectively with the drop shot,” he said.
In It To Win It
Kung — a second-year Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Pickering, Ontario, Canada, and one of the Great Lakes region’s most accomplished smallmouth specialists — was in contention from the start, opening with 26-9 before following with 28-9 on Day 2 and 26-11 on Semifinal Saturday. That put him in second place heading into Championship Sunday, when he landed 27-12 to overtake Trey McKinney by two pounds.
His winning strategy centered on big smallmouth in 20 to 40 feet of water around boulders, grass, current breaks and other rock structure in both the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. Rather than simply targeting individual boulders, Kung looked for roaming fish between the structure, bass that had pulled away from heavily pressured areas.
Championship Sunday provided the defining moment. After building his limit and making a key return to a spot he had not previously fished, Kung caught a 6-pound, 13-ounce smallmouth that earned Big Bass of the Day honors and pushed his final weight to 109-9.
After a difficult second season on the Elite Series, Kung arrived at St. Lawrence focused first on simply earning enough points to remain on tour. Instead, he left with his first Elite Series victory, a $100,000 first-place prize, a Bassmaster Century Belt and a berth in the 2027 Bassmaster Classic.
