Jason Christie won the last Elite event held on the Sabine River in 2021, making a long run upriver and squeaking out just under 11 pounds per day. He started today in a crowded backwater a little closer to home. But he’s already questioning that decision, citing that there’s “6% of the field” in this small backwater out of the “500 square miles or whatever is” of water open to the competition this week.
“I’d have a 5% chance of making it back,” Christie said, as he ran the odds in his head of still committing to a long run upriver an hour and a half into Day 1. He has three keepers in the boat now, for an estimated 2 pounds, 12 ounces. While Christie has been known to underestimate his catches a time or two in the past, a gross adjustment for any sandbagging would have him closer to four pounds, maybe.
When Christie put his first keeper in the boat, a 13- and 1/2- incher, he exclaimed something along the lines of, “Let’s go back to the ramp and weigh that one in.” This from the guy who won $100,000 here just two years ago, and a Bassmaster Classic since. Bass fishing is a humbling sport. No more humbling a playing field than the Sabine.
