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DAIWA’s Chris Johnston believes a well-rounded life and competitive mindset fuels his winning engine |
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FOOTHILL RANCH, CA (October 14, 2025) – There’s a migration underway and it has nothing to do with snowbirds or climate change. Bass anglers, not fowl, have been descending from the north and flocking to lakes and rivers once dominated by local species – southern bassers. It really started when KVD – the G.O.A.T. of competitive fishing – dropped down from Michigan in the late 80’s, winning 26 major tournaments and four Bassmaster Classics while feathering future nests for northern anglers. Many followed, too, with recent north of the Mason Dixon Line victors including Canada’s Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson and his 2023 Bassmaster Classic win, Easton Fothergill from Minnesota who scored the 2023 Bassmaster Classic, Wisconsin’s Jay Przekurat – the youngest to ever win a Bassmaster Elite event, and Pat Schlapper from Wisconsin, who won the Elite’s final event of the 2025 season. |
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Double Dose of AOY But perhaps the most notable modern feat of a northern angler is Canada’s Chris Johnston and his back-to-back Bassmaster Elite Angler of the Year titles. For the second-straight season, Johnston claimed the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year title, accumulating 776 points during the nine-tournament season. Only KVD, Roland Martin and the late Guido Hibdon have earned back-to-backs. |
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Image courtesy of B.A.S.S. |
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More of a Live Scoper? The established DAIWA pro hails from Otonabee, Ontario, which is north of Lake Ontario, near Peterborough and Toronto. Might sound like a remote outpost for trappers along Hudson Bay, but it’s not. Geographically, Otonabee is parallel to southern Minnesota and central Wisconsin. “I grew up flipping grass and reeds, punching, and frogging,” said the man often stereotyped as a “live scoper”. “It wasn’t until my 20’s that I really got into smallmouth and finesse fishing, especially after smallmouth bass basically took over the St. Lawrence River.” In fact, Johnston says 90-percent of his time on the water is fishing for non-brown bass. Truthfully, it’s improbable to win a Bassmaster Elite AOY fishing one-dimensionally. Two AOY’s? Impossible. Too many assorted environments, lakes, and rivers to employ only a trick or two, as competitors go from slop one week to pristine Great Lakes waterways the next... |
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Image courtesy of B.A.S.S. |
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Offseason Athletics This, however, is not another story about winning techniques and secret lures. Plenty of those to search online. Rather, it’s about Johnston’s life outside competitive fishing. Johnston’s competitive nature does translate to the hardwater, though, just not of the ice fishing variety. The now 36-year old athlete still plays full-contact hockey whenever he’s home. But not getting any younger, Johnston did say it might be time to slow things down a bit and play in a men’s league, not one laced with players still living the dream. Johnston’s hockey lifestyle includes coaching his boys Becket and Beau as well. “We’re on the ice almost every day,” said Johnston. And during the tail end of the Bassmaster Elite season, Johnston starts picking up the baseball bat and continues swinging it throughout the summer. “I grew up playing sports, and I apply that same competitive nature to tournament fishing,” said Johnston, who is also the first Canadian to ever win a Bassmaster Elite Series Event, sacking the St. Lawrence River in 2020. |
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There’s a Hunting Heritage Not a shock that most professional bass anglers also commute with the fields and forests. Most are four season guys who trade rods for shotguns and bows and swap back again before the first rules meeting of the year. “I’m very fortunate to have private hunting access within 20 minutes of my house,” said Johnston, who sits the woods for whitetail deer from October through the end of December. He hunts the same terrain for spring and fall turkeys, too. “Hunting resets and refreshens me to fish the next season,” said Johnston. “It also lets me spend time with the boys. Sometimes, I’ll get them out of school early to hunt or we’ll go out before school. Most recently, Johnston and his dad Lynn returned from a hugely successful elk hunt in Utah. |
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DAIWA Listens Sponsoring manufacturers regularly slap the names of influential pros on products to elevate sales. Works, too, in many cases. Unfortunately, though, pros don’t always have influential input, and the finished product sports a name, even a signature, but the resulting manifestation isn’t what the pro imagined. DAIWA is different. They worked closely with Johnston from start to finish crafting his now trademark models in the TATULA Elite and TATULA Elite AGS rod series. “It was a really long process, but well worth it,” said Johnston about the testing and retesting progression. “It started with me talking to DAIWA’s rod builders about specifically what I wanted in specialty spinning rods, one for hair jigs and the other for Ned rigs. We considered everything – length, sensitivity, tapers, stiffness, guides, the tips, and styles of handles.” Three rounds of samples were exchanged between DAIWA and Johnston. “I’d say it needed a bit more stiffness or power, maybe a change in the guides, and that input resulted in some excellent spinning rods.” |
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One of these specialty rods is the TATULA Elite AGS, model TTEL711MXS-AGS, which was crafted for working a Ned rig with precision. “It’s for bottom contact fishing with light jigs, so the rod needed to be sensitive – feel everything,” explained Johnston. “At the same time the rod needed to be fairly soft at the tip, so you don’t pull the hook, but still have some backbone.” The culminating 7’ 1” rod is a masterpiece, sporting medium-power and an extra-fast tip. |
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Image courtesy of B.A.S.S. |
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Johnston’s second effort was the TATULA Elite AGS model TTEL761MLFS-AGS, a precision instrument for operating hair jigs. “This was even more specific, for even lighter baits,” said Johnston. “It had to be long and soft with some whip to cast light jigs a long way. DAIWA didn’t have anything like it in their assortment until this one was released.” Now, bass anglers have a 7’ 6”, medium-light power, fast-action spinning rod for flinging hair with finesse. Johnston’s contribution to the TATULA Elite series is the TTEL761MLFS, a 7’ 6” medium-light power, fast-action spinning rod for hair jigs and Neko rigs. |
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800 Pound Gorilla in the Room Johnston isn’t an only child. His older brother Cory is also a DAIWA pro and formidable competitor on the Bassmaster Elite circuit. So, is there sibling rivalry? Damn straight there is. “There’s always been a rivalry fishing – who has bragging rights,” jabbed the younger of the Johnstons. “He’d be the first one to give it right back to me if the tables were turned. Cory knows he’ll get his opportunity!” Cory, too, has contributed to the TATULA Elite and TATULA Elite AGS programs. Known for his finesse baitcasting techniques, the older Johnston has rods for football jigs, stick baits, and flippin’. |
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For DAIWA’s latest color catalog and/or information on DAIWA dealers in your area, call DAIWA’s Customer Service Department at 562-375-6800 or e-mail inquiries to: CSR@DAIWA.com. The URL for DAIWA’s web site is daiwa.us |
