Jason Christie, the local hero and pre-tournament favorite in Muskogee, gave his Day 4 effort a grade of A+, but said that his decision-making was at best a D.
Jacob Foutz, on the other hand, was the teacher’s pet this week.
He heeded the advice of Oklahoma’s favorite son, Will Rogers, who famously said that “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
Despite the potential for a fog delay today, Foutz never wavered from his plan to lock down a pool, but for a long time it looked as if that was a mistake. Through about 11 o’clock, he just had four swimmers in the livewell, but he pulled up stakes, made a move and got healthy in a hurry. A 5-pounder sealed the deal.
The other great decision he made was not to burn the house down on Saturday. He saved fish that he knew he might need.
In some sense, it was a case of turnabout as fair play. In 2022, Christie won an Elite on Chickamauga, which Foutz calls his home waters, and Foutz finished third. This week, on Christie’s home waters, he finished fourth and Foutz won.
Once again, it’s a reminder of how tough it is to win at this level and how everything has to go right. To quote Rogers once again, “We can’t all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.”
Here’s what I heard, saw, thought and imagined on a day that looked much closer than we expected, until it turned into a dominant win:
Winning by a Lot – With Foutz’s 6-pound, 13-ounce margin of victory, this is the first Elite event of the year that could be characterized as a blowout. At Guntersville, Hank Cherry won by 1-13. At Martin, Fisher Anaya won by 1-8. At the Tenn-Tom, Jason Christie’s winning margin was 2-5. The Classic was an outlier, as Dylan Nutt ended the derby with a margin of 9-9 over second. Of course, Elite rookie Pake South’s win at the Rayburn Open was even more dominant, as he prevailed by 15-14 over second and then went on to win the Eufaula Open by 10-2.
Bests and Worsts – Six members of the Top 10 had their worst day today. None of them had their best day.
Inflation – Around 10:30 Pat Schlapper (third, 64-10) landed a fish that weighed 1.94 pounds on his digital scale. “You can probably call him 2,” he said to his cameraman, which may make him the first angler in Elite Series history to knowingly enter a fish into BassTrakk at more than its confirmed weight. We’re more used to seeing five fish for 10 pounds on the estimate and having them somehow grow to 18 pounds by weigh-in.
Oklahoma Again – Trey McKinney (10th, 55-13) was the only angler who made the Top 10 this week and also a Top 10 last year at Tenkiller, when he finished sixth.
Sleep Remedy – This was the tenth Elite Top 10 for Austin Felix (second, 65-7) and his first since Champlain in 2023. Prior to this, three of his last five Top 10s were in New York. His previous Oklahoma events produced unremarkable results: 46th at the 2024 Bassmaster Classic on Grand; and 48th in last year’s Elite on Tenkiller.
Cory Johnston (seventh, 61-15) on the AOY Race – “Just give me a chance going into the last two events. I’m going to put some time in on Champlain. I want to win that one.”
Twenties and Teens – For the first time this week, no angler topped 17 pounds, let alone 20. Wisconsin’s Pat Schlapper was the daily top dog with 16-8, and Austin Felix had 16-0. Foutz, Felix, Schlapper and Johnston were the only anglers to have 13 pounds or more each day.
Class Act – Randy Howell showed up for Live this afternoon, a day after one of the most disappointing episodes of his lengthy career – he spun a hub and didn’t make it back to weigh-in for an otherwise-certain Top 10 finish. No one would’ve blamed him if he’d gotten in the truck and hit the road instead or just declined the invite to contribute. That’s the lesson younger pros should learn from him as much as from how he fished this week.
Scared Straight – As Austin Felix got comfortable in the Yeti Hot Seat, Dave Mercer told him that Jason Christie (fourth, 63-8) was next to weigh. “You don’t need to remind me of that,“ Felix said. “I was having fun up here.”
Luke Palmer (sixth, 62-4) – “I got to fish like I grew up doing – flipping a Wooly Bug on 65-pound Sunline braid and a Falcon Amistad rod.”
Tackle to Buy – Burtek Crankin Bug.
Like Sands Through the Hourglass – Cole Sands (ninth, 58-13) had zero Top 10’s in his first 25 Elite Series events, but he’s had three in the last six, including two in a row. “Honestly, looking at the schedule, these were the two I was most afraid of,” he said onstage.
Turnpike Troubadours (from nearby Tahlequah) – “The only thing that keeps me from leavin’ is the only thing that keeps me here.”
Pat Schlapper – “This river fits my style of fishing. There’s lots of fish, lots of cover to fish and it’s big.”
Points Gains and Losses – Two anglers – Foutz and Caleb Hudson – held onto their Day 3 positions while four rose and four fell. Pat Schlapper gained the most places, rising from ninth to third. Trey McKinney dropped the most, falling from sixth to 10th. His current AOY nemesis, Cory Johnston, dropped two spots.
Fisher Anaya (fifth, 63-0) – “I just kinda sat in one area and did circles.” The real magic, as with Foutz, lay in the decisions. He may have fished the same general area for four days, but he used four different techniques to amass his catch.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rookie of the Year Leader – In four Elite events, Caleb Hudson (eighth, 59-3) has four checks and two Top 10s. This eighth-place finish was his best to date, beating out the 10th he earned at Lake Martin. Hudson has largely flown under the radar as super-rookies Fisher Anaya and Pake South have grabbed headlines. “I guess that makes me angry,” he said lightheartedly. “I am concerned about Rookie of the Year and AOY. They’re all about consistency and mean more than any single tournament.”
Silver Lining, Uno – Trey McKinney on his worst day of the week: “We got four bites. We caught four. That’s 100%.”
Silver Lining, Dos – Jason Christie, who had to have been disappointed by the 4th place finish: “It’s all about the points, getting back in the Classic.” He’s fished ten of them and won in 2022 but hasn’t qualified the past two years.
Unsung Heroes – The tournament support crews have been working overtime this week, replacing lower units, reattaching trolling motors and securing all manners of other things that have been knocked loose – and they’ve rightfully been praised for their efforts. But don’t forget about the videographers, photographers and camera boat drivers. They’ve taken a beating, too, and delivered an incredible product. The Jason Christie drone footage will go down as iconic, but all of the coverage we’ve enjoyed would’ve been impossible even a decade ago, and unthinkable at the turn of the century.
Mark Menendez on Christie – “You never see a knee jerk reaction out of Jason. He’s a dynamite handler.”
Child’s Play – On “Mercer in the Morning” prior to blastoff, Fisher Anaya admitted that he hadn’t rigged up his rods last night. The reason? He went out, bought a Nintendo, and stayed up too late playing Fortnite. Did he win? Absolutely not, the rookie admitted. He’d been beaten by a horde of 8-year-olds. “Now you know how it feels,” said Mercer.
Tony Manero Division – Foutz ascends the stage to the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive,” released 21 years before he was born. Applicable lyrics: “Well now, I get low and I get high/And if I can’t get either, I really try/Got the wings of heaven on my shoes/I’m a dancin’ man and I just can’t lose.”
This is a day for Foutz to shine, but no one should disregard Christie’s final words: “If we make the Top 10 again, we’re going to swing again.”
Closers close, it’s what they do. There’s no backing down and no apologizing. Now the Tennessean who almost left the game two years ago is among their ranks.
See you in South Carolina.
