One imagines teenage Justin Hamner summarily setting aside the socks and underwear gifts and tearing into the shabbily wrapped package he knew came from his father, which was most always fishing related.
“Mama didn’t have nothing to do with it – you could tell,” Hamner said. “It wasn’t in a box or nothing. It was basically a circle because he just shoved paper around them and threw on a couple pieces of tape.”
Although inside the ugliest “wrapping you could imagine,” the two jerkbaits, just like what he used to win the 2024 Bassmaster Classic, remain high on Hamner’s all-time best Christmas gifts.
Already captivated with the suspending baits, the 15-year-old Hamner might have even left overt hints like Ralphie in A Christmas Story: “I want Megabass Vision 110+1 jerkbaits in Elegy Bone and Sexy French Pearl.”
And although never warned he’d shoot his eye out, Hamner had his hopes squashed.
“It was a stretch to try to buy a $15 Lucky Craft at that time. That was absurd,” the 33-year-old from Northport, Ala., said. “When I told my dad I wanted that $25 Megabass, he about lost it.”
But like “The Old Man” in the movie, who came through with a surprise Red Ryder BB gun, Carl Hamner came through for his son.
“When he gave those to me for Christmas, I was excited,” Hamner said. “I think I was running around the house. This was probably 2007. I was still in high school.”
Hamner said his first gun, which his grandfather gave him at 7, remains a special Christmas present, but those jerkbaits are probably the most impactful gift he’s ever received.
And like Ralphie, he pleaded to test them out right away.
“I think that Christmas we actually had snow,” he said. “Me and my dad, that afternoon I actually talked him into taking me out. My first catch was a big crappie. It was a giant.”
It could be said those lures helped Hamner’s journey from grass-cutter to giant in the bass fishing world. With nearly identical lures, he caught 58 pounds, 3 ounces last March on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake in becoming the 43rd person to hoist a Classic trophy.
“It’s not the exact ones, but it’s the same type and everything,” he said. “When I lost that one — I don’t know how long ago — I about cried.”
Favorite baits have that effect. Hamner was working on that part of his arsenal well before that Megabass Christmas.
“I was already pretty obsessed with the jerkbaits really,” he said. “That one just is so much better and made my obsession so much more. To me, it’s the most natural presentation. There’s no other bait that can suspend like that.”
While jighead minnows and live scoping have come along to help unlock suspended bass, Hamner said jerkbaits were his path to the unknown of bass in the middle of the water column.
“That’s the untapped resource,” he said. “I spent a lot of time just targeting suspended fish, and there’s no better bait than the jerkbait.”
Hamner doesn’t lose jerkbaits often, but he does wear them out rather quickly. With catches and time, the paint will rub off, and “hook rash,” where the metal rubs, will degrade the plastic and affect buoyancy.
“I go through them so much because there’s no paint left on them,” he said. “After you catch 100 fish in one day, that bait will be destroyed. Those days are few and far between, but you give me about a week with one and it’ll be pretty rough.
“But I think that’s what also makes it so good, that it’s such a thin plastic. There’s something about it that gives it that different action.”
That’s in part why Hamner has a sleigh full. He safely estimates he owns thousands of jerkbaits.
“Oh my gosh, I probably have 1,000 Yo-Zuris, and that’s not counting all the other brands,” he said. “I don’t have a 1,000 Megabass, but I probably bought 1,000.”
Hamner has wrapped away a couple super special ones for safe keeping — his winning Grand Lake lure and the one he used three weeks earlier to catch an 11-7 at the Lake Fork Elite, the biggest bass ever caught on Bassmaster LIVE. Seems like a pretty good start to the Justin Hamner Museum.
“It’s just starting, but hopefully it will be a big museum by the time it’s over,” he said.
The Hamners’ merriest of Christmases could have had more decoration. Heading into the final event, Hamner led the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race and was positioned to become only the third to win both major titles in the same season before falling. Hamner sure isn’t discounting his blessings.
“There’s no doubt. I would have loved to have won AOY, too — the Classic alone is amazing,” he said. “All the other moments that just happened throughout this year and all the opportunities I’ve been able to have is just unreal.
“Life is good. I’ve been blessed beyond what I ever could have imagined. Going from a couple years ago just trying to get by and support my family, to now we’re actually about to start building a house.”
In early December, Hamner and wife, Christina, welcomed little baby Ben to the family, if you can call an 8-3 little.
“He was a chunky one, about 2 pounds heavier than (daughter) Scarlett,” he said. “Got a new baby, a house on the way, it’s all looking good.”
Asked the best gift he’s given to Christina, Hamner said “just me,” before thinking that through. “She might not agree.” Hey, the new house works. As for the kids?
“We’ll see what my son’s first fishing lure is for Christmas. I’m excited about that,” he said. “It might be a jerkbait.”
He’ll poke his eye out!
“I might just take the hooks off so he can teethe with one,” he said. “I might have to steer him in that direction. He’s got to learn young.”
