MASSENA, N.Y. – A transplant of Kingston Springs, Tennessee, Brent Anderson – much like fellow Tennessean and two-time Bass Pro Tour winner Michael Neal – has an affinity for the St. Lawrence River. Whatever the unspoken, undefined kinship is, it’s a connection that’s paying big dividends for Anderson in pursuit of taking down the St. Lawrence for the second time in two years.

Last year, Anderson won a nail-biter over Gary Miller by 10 ounces with three 22-pound days. On Day 1 of the Toyota Series Northern Division finale on the St. Lawrence River Presented by FX Custom Rods, Anderson weighed in one of the biggest bags he’s ever caught from the stretch of river he often frequents for tournaments, bringing 26-13 to the scale by virtue of some truly big (and unexpected) fish.

“I’ve been up here guiding since July, but I haven’t really fished anywhere I like to fish in tournaments just because I didn’t want to beat up on them,” he said. “I went and spent a day and half looking at what I consider tournament areas and it was not good. I fished a lot the last month up here and I haven’t caught a 5-pounder in over a month, and I caught three 5s and a 6 today.”

Skill and experience often masquerade as fortune, and while Anderson knows his ample time on the St. Lawrence is a huge benefit in this tournament, he downplays the skill aspect in favor of talking up his multitude of waypoints from his countless days probing the fishery.

“If we’re being honest, it was luck, but I’ll take luck over skill any day,” he joked.

In reality, Anderson’s strategy on Day 1 involved playing the numbers game. His planned starting spot was covered up by another angler, so he opted for a different area in his preferred stretch of river between takeoff at Massena and Ogdensburg, New York, to the west. There, he caught just one 3-pounder and moved on to another waypoint where he didn’t find much during practice but where he’d caught them in the past.

“There’s a little spot where I caught a 5-pounder in the BFL a few weeks ago and I said, ‘Man, usually if I catch one out here it’s a big one,’” Anderson said. “I caught like 23 1/2 (pounds) in like 20 minutes. I checked it in practice and they weren’t there.”

Even when he is finding bass on his waypoints, they’re not always inclined to bite. Every place he’s ever caught a 5-pounder is denoted as such on his charts, but some of those spots produced a whole lot of nothing on Day 1. Still, he’s hopeful that might change on Friday.

“There’s a few areas that have some big ones on them,” he said. “They’ve been just really hard to catch. I actually didn’t catch fish on some of those places today, but they were showing more interest in my bait. If I can get enough of those places and trick five of them into biting, they should weigh pretty good.”

“Pretty good” might be all Anderson needs for two more days – though it’s not as if the field isn’t catching them right alongside him. Six other anglers weighed in at least 25 pounds and 23 pounds stretched all the way down to 18th place. In other words, the St. Lawrence is fishing hot despite all the recent fishing pressure from major tournaments. But if Anderson can get on another big school like he did today, he’ll be well on his way to carrying the lead into Saturday.

“That’s about as big of bag as I’ve ever caught in that section of the river,” he said. “I think I’ve been around 27 (pounds) two or three times, so it’d be a tall task to do it again, but I’m going to try.”

As for techniques and baits, Anderson isn’t doing anything too out of the ordinary. He caught them “from 10 to 50 feet” with a drop-shot and a football jig using his forward-facing sonar. Most of the fish he caught were near the bottom and feeding down.

With plans to just go out on Friday and try to repeat his success from Day 1 running the same program and some similar areas, Anderson is in prime position to make a run at another win on the St. Lawrence and lock up another trip to the Toyota Series Championship – which will likely only happen with a win after a couple less-than-stellar events to start the season.

“I don’t know why I’m so terrible at Champlain, but me and this place jibe,” he said. “I sucked at Potomac and I sucked at Champlain. My only shot at making the championship is winning this one.”

With Anderson’s recent success, his wealth of experience and a massive Day 1 bag, winning is certainly in the cards. He just needs the river to jibe with him for two more days.

Top 10 pros:

1. Brent Anderson – 26-13 (5)
2. Nolan Leger – 26-3 (5)
3. Kyle Cortiana – 25-12 (5)
4. John Duarte – 25-8 (5)
5. Colby Miller – 25-5 (5)
5. Ben McCann – 25-5 (5)
7. Mike Raber – 25-0 (5)
8. Cody Pike – 24-8 (5)
9. Dante Piraino – 24-4 (5)
10. Troy Stokes – 24-2 (5)

Complete results