TULSA, Okla. — Jason Christie has caught two 35-pound bags, neither in a tournament, in his decades of experience on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees. It will take something like that if he’s going to overcome the 11 pound, 3-ounce margin he’s trailing leader Justin Hamner going into the final day of the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors here Sunday.
Christie rallied from 35th place after Day 1 with 18-2 Saturday to vault him into 12th place. With 10 anglers between him and the leader plus trailing by a double-digit margin, we’re talking about long, long odds for Christie to earn his second Bassmaster Classic trophy.
However, he has one factor that may be an equalizer for him: Christie’s experience in high wind on Grand Lake. It’s predicted to blow 20 to 30 miles per hour from the south Sunday, with gusts to 45.
“It will get rough, and it’s a different kind of rough than Lake Erie rough, especially when it bounces off the bluffs,” Christie said. “It gets rough and these fish will position in places where they’re predictable.
“I’m excited to go. I wish that I hadn’t boogered up the first day. I could be within five pounds and had a really good chance.”
Christie weighed only 13-1 on Friday. Christie has experienced the good and bad of Grand Lake in a short period of time. One of those 35-bags he caught here was in second day of practice for the 2016 Classic.
“The biggest was an 8-3 and the smallest was a 6-9, or something like that,” said Christie. After leading going into the final day of that Classic, he weighed only 12-9 on Sunday when Edwin Evers blew away everyone with a 29-3 bag to win by just over 10 pounds.
“A guy is not going to get a lot of big bites here, and you’ve got to get them in when you do,” Christie said. “I’ve fished here, gosh, a thousand days and those were two days (when he had 35 pounds). I’m just saying with the wind there are some big fish that are going to move around (Sunday). Anything can happen.”
Christie wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t wishing bad luck against leader Justin Hamner or third place Cody Huff, two anglers he’s become familiar with while competing on the Bassmaster Elite Series.
“You can see it. Justin and Cody are fishing good,” said the 50-year-old Christie, who is near the $2 million mark in B.A.S.S. tournament winnings. “They’re making good decisions. They’re hard guys to beat.
“I’m just glad I’ll be retired when they’re in their prime.”
