Elite

Foutz faces Championship Sunday on Chickamauga

Posted on
Photography by
Kyle Jessie
At 23 years old, Foutz has made his way through the B.A.S.S. ranks. The Tennessee native began in the Bassmaster High School Series, then had a historic career on the Bassmaster College Series.
To start Championship Sunday of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake, Jacob Foutz makes the run up the Hiwassee River.
Jacob Foutz and Jason Christie were the lone anglers fishing the Hiwassee River to make Championship Sunday.
Jacob Foutz may not have been the hometown favorite quite like Buddy Gross, but he certainly has plenty of hours under his belt on Chickamauga.
The former College Bracket champion started his morning fishing wood targets with a spinnerbait.
With so many areas to hit, Foutz never stayed in one area for too long.
The second spot Foutz fished, he boats his first keeper. A solid two pounder.
Fishing laydowns and trees on the main stretch of the Hiwassee, Foutz rotated between a spinnerbait, chatterbait and jig.
Not long after making another short run, Foutz boats another fish.
Unfortunately, this fish won’t quite keep.
As you can tell in the early morning photos, the fog was thick this morning.
Not only was the fog thick, but the temperature was hovering around 30 degrees.
The Hiwassee is icredibly shallow, so Foutz had no choice but to idle in a lot of areas.
With one fish in the box at this point in the morning, Foutz was confident that his day was going to turn around.
Foutz mentioned that his big bag on Day 3 came mostly after 10:00 AM.
Another short move ends up being a good call as Foutz hooks up with his second keeper.
Not a giant, but still a bonus at this point in the morning.
Although the day started extremely cold for the month of April, it ended up being a fairly warm day once the sun came out.
Foutz was confident that the warmer weather and sun would push the fish up on the isolated wood.
It was evident watching Foutz fish that he had an enormous amount of knowledge on Chickamauga. He would hit areas just to make a few cast, then head to the next spot at times.
For instance, this spot was less than a foot deep for nearly 200 yards, but Foutz made it all the way to the back to fish a run off.
No luck at the run off, so Foutz makes another move.
Foutz works back through an area in which he fished early in the day and hooked up.
This fish ends up being just short.
Foutz even fished a few offshore areas late in the day in hopes of finding a sweet spot.
After spending the majority of the day in the Hiwassee River, Foutz made the decision to head back down lake.

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