COLUMBUS, Miss. — Despite his 30-plus years of tournament fishing, Jason Christie was delighted to admit he was wrong about the Mountain Dew Bassmaster Elite at Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
Nevertheless, the decorated pro from Dry Creek, Okla., pulled off a nail-biting win to claim his ninth Bassmaster title with a four-day total of 58 pounds, 2 ounces.
“I thought there was zero chance I’d win,” Christie said. “When I was idling in, I figured somebody had caught ’em.
“It’s funny, in the previous Elite tournament (Lake Martin), I finished dead last and I win this one. Last year, I finished dead last (in another trail) and then I won.”
Tackling a tough, riverine fishery known as the Tenn-Tom, Christie started Day 1 by running north, locking twice and catching a limit of 12-5 that left him tied with Brandon Cobb for 37th place. The second round saw Christie change strategies and fish closer waters where he’d catch a limit of 16-10 and rise to fifth.
On Semifinal Saturday, Christie returned to his Day 2 spot and moved into the lead with another bag of 16-10. A painfully slow Championship Sunday saw Christie holding a small limit into the early afternoon, but two key bites — a 2-pounder at 1 o’clock and a 3-12 at 1:30 — lifted his final limit to 12-9 and pushed him across the finish line.
Edging second-place Dakota Ebare by 2-5, Christie took home the $100,000 top prize and his sixth blue trophy.
“It was a crazy week; on the first day, I thought I’d messed up,” Christie said of his early effort. “The difference was I caught two big ones yesterday and one today off stuff you couldn’t see.
“Garmin just released a new 360-degree sonar unit and I went into (his local spot) and marked those stumps, because I figured that’s where those big ones would hang out.”
After burning a big chunk of his first day running and locking, Christie committed the next three days to a shallow backwater right across from the tournament site on Columbus Lake. There, he diligently picked apart the shallow grass and wood cover for the better part of three days.
Christie left his main area around noon on Day 4 with hopes of finding a big bite. It took less than an hour for him to realize he’d be better off where he’d started.
“I wasn’t out there 45 minutes and I was like, ‘If I’m gonna lose this, I’m gonna lose it in my home,’” Christie said. “I went back in there and caught that big one.”
Christie, the 2022 Bassmaster Classic champion, did most of his damage on a 1/2-ounce white/blue/chartreuse Booyah Covert Spinnerbait with a single gold Colorado blade and a white YUM Covert Spinnerbait Trailer, both of which he designed. He also caught keepers on a 1/2-ounce Booyah Mobster swim jig with a YUM Craw Chunk trailer and a Texas-rigged YUM Wooly Booger.
“It’s getting harder every year to do this; these guys are just really good,” said the 52-year-old pro. “It gets in my head, ‘Am I getting too old for this?’
“It feels good to win because I fish to win every single time I go out. Getting older makes it sweeter — especially on a spinnerbait.”
Hailing from Brookeland, Texas, Ebare placed second with 55-13. Two weeks after a Top 10 performance at the Bassmaster Classic at the Tennessee River and a week after the birth of his first child, Bowen Cade, Ebare turned in daily weights of 13-10, 18-6, 10-8 and 13-5.
Spending all four days in the next pool below Columbus, Ebare experienced a tough final round and ended up locking back for the final weigh-ins with a light bag. Fortunately, a round of last-minute heroics pulled him higher in the standings.
“I had two minutes to fish down there (before locking back up) and put my trolling motor down, made one cast and caught my fourth keeper,” Ebare said. “I locked through, went to the first bank I saw and, on my second cast, I caught my fifth keeper.
“On my fifth cast, I caught another keeper and that (Journey) song Don’t Stop Believin’ was playing nearby. I told my cameraman, ‘That’s a fitting song right about now.’ I can’t sing, but I started singing and I hooked one. It was my second biggest one and I kept singing all the way in!”
Ebare caught his fish on a black/blue Strike King Rage Bug Texas rigged on a 4/0 Owner Jungle hook with a 3/16-ounce weight, a chartreuse black back Strike King KVD 1.5 squarebill and a 1/2-ounce chartreuse/white spinnerbait.
John Garrett of Union City, Tenn., finished third with 54-15. Spending his entire tournament within a couple miles of takeoff, Garrett caught limits of 12-6, 17-0, 10-13 and 14-12.
“This was a junk-fishing tournament,” said Garrett, who anchored his bag with a 4-3. “This place is just good enough where you think you might get a bite every now and then. That’s what keeps you in it.
“If you keep your head screwed on straight here and just keep going and keep going and fish as many trees or as much grass as you can, the bites will eventually come.”
Garrett caught his fish on a Strike King KVD 1.5 squarebill, a Texas-rigged Strike King Rage Bug and a Strike King Tour Grade swim jig.
Justin Atkins of Florence, Ala., won the $2,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award with a 6-4.
Ebare won the $2,000 Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag with his Day 2 bag weighing 18-6.
Ebare also the $1,000 BassTrakk Contingency prize for the angler whose BassTrakk estimates are closest to their official weight.
Christie won the $3,000 Toyota Bonus Bucks contingency award for the highest-placing eligible angler. Ebare took home an additional $3,000 for being the second highest-placing eligible angler.
Christie also won the $4,000 Yamaha Power Pay contingency award for the highest-placing eligible angler. Garrett won $1,500 for being the second highest-placing eligible angler.
Garrett of Union City, Tenn., leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 267 points. Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., is second with 262, followed by Cory Johnston of Otonabee, Canada with 258, Ebare of Brookeland, Texas with 253, and Brock Mosley of Collinsville, Miss., with 244.
Caleb Hudson of Lincolnton, Ga., leads the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Rookie of the Year standings with 223 points.
Visit Columbus hosted this event.
