RICHMOND, Va. — With the combination of a good tide sequence and prespawn largemouth, Erik Brztowski took the Day 2 lead at the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier at James River presented by Lowrance with a two-day total of 36 pounds, 9 ounces.
Landing in second on Day 1 with 17-12, the 22-year-old caught 18-13, the tournament’s biggest bag so far, on Day 2 to vault into the top spot. He holds a 3-7 advantage over Alabama’s Connor Jacob and Virginia’s Ryan Lachniet who are tied for second with 33-2.
After missing the chance to qualify for the 2025 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at Upper Mississippi River presented by Lowrance at the first Qualifier at Pickwick, Brztowski is in prime position to punch his ticket to La Crosse, Wis., for the October event.
“It will be a cool experience (to lead the field),” he said. “I just need to catch some bass tomorrow. I’m grateful for the opportunity. I can’t take it for granted because it is hard to lead a big tournament like this.”
The James River continued to produce limits of bass on Day 2 of the three-day tournament, but the big ones the eastern tidal fishery are known for have still been hard to come by. A 20-pound stringer has yet to hit the scales, but with a better tide cycle, competitors got closer to that mark on Thursday.
Thus far, Brztowski has targeted shallow-water largemouth that have been in all stages of the spawn with one particular type of hard cover producing better than others. A mix of four baits have produced his better bites.
Although he caught bass in all stages again today, he fished two areas where prespawners are moving up, and those areas produced his best bites on Day 2.
“Since we are around the spawn, I’m fishing mostly hard cover and a little bit of grass depending on the tide,” he explained. “I’m fishing slower. I caught a couple bass today that were fat and cooler. So maybe there are some new ones moving up.”
The Illinois boater landed a 3-pounder when he arrived at his starting spot, but with an unfavorable tide at that point, Brztowski moved on to an area he fished in practice and landed his first 4-pound prespawner.
“That settled me down,” he said. “The tide changed a little. Our high tide was the same time, but in some of the creek the water was lower to start with.”
Once he filled out his limit, he moved to another area and made several important culls with bass he also believed to be prespawners.
“That is pretty helpful for me tomorrow,” Brztowski said. “I’m just running around and moving based on how I feel. Just like at home, I’m fishing with my gut.”
From there, he made several more moves that resulted in upgrades, and towards the end of the day he landed another 4-pounder in a spot the tide was hitting to his liking.
Jacob, meanwhile, is trying to qualify for his second-straight Nation Championship. The Auburn University grad has spent his entire tournament in a gravel pit off the Appomattox River catching spawning and postspawn largemouth with his forward-facing sonar. He followed up his 15-12 Day 1 limit with 17-6 on Day 2.
A jerkbait has been a primary player for the postspawners while a flipping bait has landed the spawners. He has also utilized a Megabass Magdraft swimbait.
“It worked well yesterday. I caught half bed fish and half postspawners. Most of them were 3-pounders,” the 2025 Classic qualifier said. “Today was the opposite. I had four decent ones and a great big one, a 6-pounder I caught at the end of the day.”
Jacob was fishing for a spawner when the 6-pounder and another bass close to the same size swam up to the same spot as the bass he was fishing for.
“I couldn’t get the one to bite,” he explained. “Out of nowhere, two blobs pulled up on the hard spot. I thought they were carp. But I casted at them and one looked up at the jerkbait. I twitched it, and the one came up and ate it. It pulled me in a tree, but I was able to get it out and land it.”
Lachniet, who rooms with Jacob during St. Croix Bassmaster Opens as well as this tournament, has been consistent this week, landing bags of 16-6 and 16-12 to put himself in contention for a Nation Championship berth.
A Virginia native, Lachniet made a long run downriver and landed his entire bag within 30 minutes of fishing. Two spots a short distance from each other produced all of his bass. Two baits have triggered the most strikes this week.
“I didn’t really know what to do after that because I didn’t want to run my other good stuff and waste a bunch of fish,” the Campbellsville University angler said. “I looked for a big bite and never really found what I was looking for.”
As a frequent fisher, Lachniet said he is surprised the better-quality bass haven’t shown up as frequently this week.
“I would have thought the weights would have been a lot higher than this. I figured it would take 20 pounds a day to win, maybe 21. I think they are further ahead than I expected. It seems like every bass I catch is postspawn.”
Austin Burton of North Prince George, Va., took over Big Bass of the Tournament honors with a 6-13 largemouth he landed on Day 2.
Jim D’Ambra from Hanover, Mass., leads the nonboater division with a two-day total weighing 23-9. Connecticut’s Gary Belanger is second with 21-13 and Massachusetts resident David Tsao is third with 17-15.
The Top 20 anglers from each division will launch from Osborne Park beginning at 6:30 a.m. on Friday and return for weigh-in at 2:30 p.m. The Top 13 boaters and nonboaters will claim their spot in the 2025 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at Upper Mississippi River presented by Lowrance scheduled for Oct. 22-24.
Richmond Region Tourism and Visit Henrico County are hosting the event.