MASSENA, N.Y. – It’s always good to get out of the blocks fast with a win in your first tournament of the year. It’s also pretty terrific to earn another trophy, a big paycheck and some major momentum as you head into “championship season.”
Seven months after kicking off his 2025 campaign in late January with a win at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats season opener at Sam Rayburn, Brody Campbell added another win to his resume thanks to a 26-pound bag of smallmouth on the final day of the Northern Division tournament on the St. Lawrence River. The Ohio pro finished the three-day event with 79-1 to outdistance Alex Korol (78-1) and Erik Luzak (74-11) and earn a $72,402 paycheck (including a $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus). He also moved into the lead in the division’s Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race.
Campbell’s win came three weeks to the day after a disappointing 47th-place finish in the final Tackle Warehouse Invitationals tournament of the year – also on the St. Lawrence – cost him an invitation to the Bass Pro Tour by 1 point.
“This place is special, but I was really mad at ‘em this week,” Campbell joked as he accepted the trophy. “I went out there every day, daylight ‘til dark, and tried to learn as much about this fishery as possible. I think I learned some key new areas and put all of that time and energy to work this week.”
Korol made a fierce run at Campbell with 25-10, 25-15 and 26-8, competing in his first-ever Toyota Series tournament. Luzak, who electrified the Day 2 weigh-in with an MLF-record 31-5, earned his first MLF Top 10 and big-fish honors with a 7-14.
Campbell’s consistency was key
Campbell has invested a hearty portion of his past two summers fishing the St. Lawrence every day from sunup to sundown, and it paid off handsomely this week – he was the model of consistency on the big river, weighing in 26-2 on Day 1 and 26-15 on Day 2 to set the stage for his 26-0 winning bag on Saturday, all on spots that he’s identified recently.
He landed on a school of big smallmouth early on Day 1, loading up nearly 27 pounds in 45 minutes with a Deps Sakamata Shad on a 1/4-ounce jighead and a Megabass Hazedong Shad on a 3/8-ounce drop-shot. For the drop-shot, he used a 7-foot, 2-inch medium Bird Dog BDR-862S spinning rod.
He returned to the same spot to start Day 2 and found “almost nothing” (one bite) before hopping to a handful of other places, eventually settling onto a choice spot where he dragged a drop-shot and loaded up another 26-pound bag.
“I had a couple of key places that I ended up bouncing around on Day 2,” Campbell said. “Knowing other places to go that day was a key for me. I started running new stuff after that first spot didn’t pan out, found a subtle little vein of rock and caught 26 again. I couldn’t see any of those fish – I just knew that’s where they should be.”
He entered the final morning with 4-4 to make up on Luzak, but the Canadian pro couldn’t match his big-fish mojo from the previous two days, faltering Saturday with 17-6 and opening the door for a Campbell comeback. Campbell repeated his pattern on the final day, moving around between a handful of spots with the drop-shot, eventually “scrounging up” another 26-pound bag to claim the win.
“Spending as much time here as I have and just knowing where big fish are was big for me this week,” Campbell said. “I didn’t waste my time on anything I didn’t think had big fish, I knew that, if I was catching fish on those spots, they were going to be big. Going all-in like that can work out really good or really bad – it turned out to be good this week.”
Continuing the roll
Campbell’s ascension to the Bass Pro Tour seems inevitable, considering his tournament success the past handful of years. He’s stacked up 21 Top 10s in BFL, Toyota Series and Invitationals competition since 2023, including seven so far in 2025. He’s been a shark on the Toyota Series in particular since 2023, racking up wins at Lake Chickamauga, Sam Rayburn, and the St. Lawrence and accumulating nine Top 10s in 22 events.
He’s piloted a steady progression up the MLF circuits, earning 53 Top 10s in MLF competition since his first tournament with the league, a Phoenix Bass Fishing League Gator Division tournament at Lake Okeechobee, Florida, in early January of 2013.
“I might have the record for farthest mileage between Toyota Series wins, from Texas to New York,” Campbell joked. “All I do is fish tournaments. Chad Mrazek and I have truck campers and all we do is travel from tournament location to tournament location for most of the year. We get on the road around Christmas and learn as many of these tournament lakes as we can.
“I plan on doing the same thing next year, I’ll fish the Invitationals, all of the Toyota Series and several BFLs. It’s helping me (fishing several tournaments a year), but I’m not where I want to be yet, which is the Bass Pro Tour. I’m grinding to try to get there.”
Campbell will return home to Ohio briefly and then prepare for his two remaining major tournaments: the Invitationals Championship on the Mississippi River in September, and the Toyota Series Championship on Grand Lake in November. He’s encouraged to bring positive momentum into the final lap of the season following his win on the St. Lawrence.
“I believe in momentum, you bet,” he said. “I was on a bit of a downward trend for an event or two, but went to Lake Champlain and got a Top 10 in a BFL. It’s always good to be trending up. My next tournament is a big, big deal and I’m glad to be trending the right direction going into it.”
Top 10 pros
1. Brody Campbell – 79 – 01 (15) – $72,402 (includes $35,000 Phoenix Bonus)
2. Alex Korol – 78 – 01 (15) – $14,300
3. Erik Luzak – 74 – 11 (15) – $12,571
4. Tommy Dickerson – 73 – 00 (15) – $9,226
5. Logan Dyar – 71 – 05 (15) – $8,303
6. Jeremy Gordon – 70 – 00 (15) – $7,380
7. Dante Piraino – 69 – 15 (15) – $6,458
8. Hayden O’Barr – 69 – 10 (15) – $5,535
9. Lee Stephens – 69 – 05 (15) – $4,613
10. Spike Stoker – 69 – 03 (15) – $3,690