“I had some missed opportunities,” 5th place finisher Caleb Kuphall said onstage today at Lake Chickamauga, echoing the statements of several of his peers. Indeed, with weights down today, anyone could have claimed the title with a banner Sunday performance, but lost chances were the name of the game.
A big part of that was the addictive nature of swimbaits. Carl Jocumsen, Drew Benton, Matt Robertson and Clifford Pirch all got sucked in to the siren call of the “high risk, high rewards” big baits for various periods of time this week and all fell short of the victory. Meanwhile Jason Christie went old school with a spinnerbait and earned his eighth Bassmaster win.
Christie had the first limit before 9 a.m., and it took Brock Mosley over three more hours to become the second to reach that mark. Ultimately, only four of the 10 finalists brought five to the scales today.
Our winner likely made no friends today when he said on stage that “I did not lose a fish all week that is going to matter.” Most of today’s competitors were just one good Chickamauga bite from overtaking him, and most of them had at least one slot left on their dance cards. That’s gonna sting for a while.
Bring back misery – The weather through the first three days of competition was downright miserable, with snow, sleet, rain and wind mixing their wrath at various times. Today it slicked off and warmed up – the weather many begged for – and the fishing suffered. After seeing 17 bags over 20 pounds the first three days, we saw none today. In fact, today’s best weight, Christie’s 15 pounds 12 ounces, would’ve been good enough for 28th place on Day 1. Better to catch that on Day 4, of course. Carl Jocumsen was the only other pro who eclipsed 12 pounds today, and four fell short of double digits.
Under pressure – Early today on LIVE, Christie talked about the value of seeking out underfished areas on lakes like Chickamauga that get a ton of pressure. Places that are “textbook” get hit heavily. Accordingly, he said, “I want that in-between ugly stuff more so than I want the obvious.” Scott Martin, commenting on LIVE Mix, said it’s something he subscribes to as well, and called it the “Dumb and Dumber pattern.”
Best of times, worst of times – For 7th place finisher Carl Jocumsen, this was his first Day 4 appearance since he came in 2nd at Santee Cooper in the fall of 2020. Last year he had four Top 15 finishes across the Elites and the Opens, including two on the Tennessee River – 13th in both the Guntersville Elite and the Pickwick Open. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he suffered through some of the most painful and inexplicable fishing disasters on multiple days of this tournament – experiencing lost fish and missed opportunities again and again and again. He’ll no doubt have multiple chances to replay those in his mind and on his screen in the future. However, part of the skill of being a big bait specialist is having a short memory, and while the glide bait or swimbait may not prove to be his primary tool at Lake Fork, no one with half a brain doubts that he’ll try his hardest to make it work there.
Musky country – Both Jocumsen and Pirch reported bass following their glide baits through a figure-eight or around the boat, with varying levels of success in closing the deal. Maybe one of my editors will assign me an article about figure-eighting for bass, as I don’t believe that’s ever been written about. Unfortunately, it might end up being a pretty shot piece. Jocumsen used the Arashi Glide and the Molix 178. Pirch used an “HPH” (High Powered Herring), which I believe was the same lure he used at the Knoxville Classic, when my photographer partner and I watched him share a tiny bridge with fellow competitor Adrian Avena.
On his back – If you haven’t seen the footage of Hunter Shryock falling backwards off his graph after setting the hook on a bedding bass, you need to find it on Bassmaster.com. It’s amazing that he managed to catch the fish, and even more incredible that he didn’t seriously hurt himself. I can’t figure out if all of those years of motocross racing made him impervious to the pain or put him in a position to really get hurt by slamming to the carpeted deck.
Sunshine State AOY – John Cox, who finished 33rd, still leads the Angler of the Year race, but he ceded ground to Clifford Pirch, Drew Benton and Brandon Palaniuk, who finished 9th, 10th, and 12th, respectively. If he wins the title he’ll be the first angler with a Florida address to claim it in nearly 40 years, since Roland Martin won in 1985.
The hair up there – Seth Feider and Chad Pipkens are so 2020. Between Jacob Foutz, Matt Robertson, and KJ Queen, we are living in the golden age of flow on the Bassmaster Elite Series. Rick Clunn = still the hair GOAT.
Making other people happy – Who was made happiest by Jason Christie’s latest Bassmaster victory? Well, beyond Christie, his friends and family, it’s probably some other yet-to-be-determined Elite Series pro. It could even be someone who didn’t even make the cut this week. You see, while the Elites are no longer “Win and You’re In,” the Classic remains that way. Accordingly, barring the unforeseen Christie has already earned a spot in Knoxville next year. This finish bumped him to the “good side” of the Classic cut line. If he double-qualifies, that makes space in next year’s Classic for one of his peers. That, of course, remains someone else’s unfinished business.
Speculation on the Hall – Because I’m a pundit, and also work with the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, today my mind drifted to the question of whether his Classic win, with or without today’s additional victory, earned Christie an eventual berth in the Hall. Based on eight B.A.S.S. wins, including the Classic, I think he eventually gets there, even if he never makes another cast. Putting that into even greater perspective, he’s achieved all of that in a relatively short Elite career. Two of his Opens wins came the year before he joined the Elites, but he’s only been on the Senior Circuit since 2013, and he left for two years in 2019 and 2020 – that’s a total of just seven-plus Elite seasons. Nevertheless, when you combine the wins with nearly $2 million at B.A.S.S. and over $1 million at FLW, his track record is even more impressive. Had he won one of the other Classics that he led, I’d think it would be even more of a lock, but even without that he’s likely a shoo-in.
