By B.A.S.S. Communications Staff

Jason Christie had more gas than he needed and more water than he wanted, but the Oklahoma angler’s three-day total of 35-11 allowed him to maintain his lead on day 3 of the Sabine River Bassmaster Elite Series in Orange, Texas.

Christie was 2nd on day 1 with 15-01 and took over the top spot Friday by adding 13-14. On Saturday, the Sabine was in a stingier mood and Christie found only a small limit of 6-12. He holds a 15-ounce lead over day-1 leader Brock Mosley.

Returning to the same narrow backwater about two hours upriver, Christie found that increased water releases from Toledo Bend Dam had raised the water level in his area about 6 to 7 feet.

With the extra weight of a cameraperson and gear in his boat Friday and Saturday, Christie has been carefully monitoring fuel consumption. On Saturday, the high water facilitated his run but it inundated his playing field.

“Once I got about 15 miles from where I was going, the (river) water was up in the trees,” Christie said. “The good thing was I could run a little straighter line and I had more gas left, but it doesn’t help when you don’t catch a lot of fish.

“I went from 40 to 50 bites a day to seven. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but at least I got (a limit) today.”

Christie is a shallow-water specialist who surgically picks apart visible targets like the laydowns, cypress knees and cut banks abounding in his backwater spot. On Saturday, the extra water covered most of those features and scattered the bass into the surrounding forest.

Despite his flipping prowess, Christie relied on a 1/2-ounce chartreuse/white/blue Booyah Covert spinnerbait with tandem nickel and gold Colorado blades to catch a limit of spotted bass, including one about 2 1/4 pounds.

“There’s not that many (quality fish) in there and when you quadruple the amount of water, it just spreads them out,” he said. “I’m sure some people might say, ‘Pick up a flipping stick and go to work,’ but with only four hours to fish, I don’t have time to stop and flip.”

After losing a good fish early and struggling to find additional opportunities, Christie pushed farther into the creek. On days 1 and 2, he fished a half-mile in. On Saturday, he went about twice as far.

Same as the first two days, Christie allowed himself sufficient time to make the downstream run to weigh-in. Arriving with time to spare, he flipped a few spots close to the ramp with a YUM Spine Craw and culled out his smallest spot with a largemouth.

Despite the changing conditions, Christie’s confident the area he’s fished for three days offers his best opportunity to win.

“I’ve just kept myself in the only place I feel like there’s a big concentration of fish,” he said. “If the water’s still high, I have a couple of places that I tried to get into in practice and I should be able to get into.

“I can’t stay (close to takeoff) and fish. I can’t do it; that’s not me. I gotta go with what got me here.”

Mosley ran 110 miles west to fish Clear Creek near the metro Houston area. He’s made that run each day, but Saturday yielded a small limit of 6-14 to go with his previous weights of 15-10 and 12-o4. His three-day total is 34-12.

Mosley started with his game plan of fishing a 1/2-ounce chartreuse/white Z-Man JackHammer ChatterBait with a white Yamamoto Zako trailer along seawalls, docks and shoreline wood. On Saturday, he also reached deeper into the area’s backwaters.

“The last couple of days, I haven’t been able to move around because I’ve been spending some of my day playing defense and keeping (competitors) off the spots where I’ve been catching my better fish,” Mosley said. “Today, I was able to move around a little bit.

“I don’t think my areas are necessarily going dry, but today it seemed like the tide stayed up and I never really felt like the water was moving really strong. I had a lot of bites, but they were just slapping it; they weren’t eating it like they were the last two days.”

Chris Johnston is in 3rd with 32-03. After weighing bags of 9-04 and 12-04, he added 10-11 Saturday.

Johnston, who became the first Canadian to win an Elite event with his 2020 victory at the St. Lawrence River, targeted shallow backwaters in the Neches River. He varied his presentations based on tide stage.

“I caught quite a few fish on an unweighted black floating worm when the water was low,” Johnston said. “That seems to be the way I can get a limit. I hadn’t caught any big fish on it all week, but today, I caught a 3 1/4-pounder on it.

“When the water gets back into the (vegetation), that’s when I flip. I caught my biggest fish (3 1/2 pounds) flipping a Strike King Rage Bug with a 3/8-ounce Woo Tungsten weight.”

The remaining 10 anglers will take off at 6:45 a.m. CT Sunday from the City of Orange Boat Ramp. The weigh-in will be held at the ramp at 3 p.m.

Live coverage of the event can be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms. FS1 will also broadcast the action live with the leaders beginning at 7 a.m. CT.



Day 3 Standings

1. Jason Christie -- Park Hill, OK -- 15, 35-11 -- 100
Day 1: 5, 15-01 -- Day 2: 5, 13-14 -- Day 3: 5, 06-12

2. Brock Mosley -- Collinsville, MS -- 15, 34-12 -- 99
Day 1: 5, 15-10 -- Day 2: 5, 12-04 -- Day 3: 5, 06-14

3. Chris Johnston -- Otonabee, ON -- 15, 32-03 -- 98
Day 1: 5, 09-04 -- Day 2: 5, 12-04 -- Day 3: 5, 10-11

4. Seth Feider -- New Market, MN -- 15, 30-12 -- 97
Day 1: 5, 09-13 -- Day 2: 5, 10-13 -- Day 3: 5, 10-02

5. Caleb Sumrall -- New Iberia, LA -- 15, 30-10 -- 96
Day 1: 5, 09-11 -- Day 2: 5, 09-09 -- Day 3: 5, 11-06

6. Taku Ito -- Chiba, JAPAN -- 15, 29-11 -- 95
Day 1: 5, 09-02 -- Day 2: 5, 08-05 -- Day 3: 5, 12-04

7. Kyle Welcher -- Opelika, AL -- 15, 29-09 -- 94
Day 1: 5, 10-02 -- Day 2: 5, 07-11 -- Day 3: 5, 11-12

8. Lee Livesay -- Longview, TX -- 15, 29-06 -- 93
Day 1: 5, 12-08 -- Day 2: 5, 08-10 -- Day 3: 5, 08-04

9. KJ Queen -- Catawba, NC -- 15, 29-02 -- 92
Day 1: 5, 11-05 -- Day 2: 5, 09-12 -- Day 3: 5, 08-01

10. Drew Cook -- Cairo, GA -- 15, 29-00 -- 91
Day 1: 5, 09-15 -- Day 2: 5, 07-07 -- Day 3: 5, 11-10

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not fish on day 4.

11. Matt Robertson -- Kuttawa, KY -- 15, 28-08 -- 90 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-11 -- Day 2: 5, 09-00 -- Day 3: 5, 08-13

12. Caleb Kuphall -- Mukwonago, WI -- 15, 27-15 -- 89 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 13-00 -- Day 2: 5, 09-03 -- Day 3: 5, 05-12

13. Randy Sullivan -- Breckenridge, TX -- 15, 27-10 -- 88 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 08-03 -- Day 2: 5, 07-12 -- Day 3: 5, 11-11

14. Yusuke Miyazaki -- Forney, TX -- 15, 27-03 -- 87 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 08-10 -- Day 2: 5, 08-05 -- Day 3: 5, 10-04

15. Brandon Cobb -- Greenwood, SC -- 15, 26-12 -- 86 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 11-14 -- Day 2: 5, 06-14 -- Day 3: 5, 08-00

16. John Cox -- Debary, FL -- 15, 26-07 -- 85 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 09-04 -- Day 2: 5, 11-05 -- Day 3: 5, 05-14

17. Tyler Rivet -- Raceland, LA -- 15, 25-14 -- 84 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-09 -- Day 2: 5, 07-14 -- Day 3: 5, 07-07

18. Hank Cherry Jr -- Lincolnton, NC -- 15, 25-12 -- 83 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-09 -- Day 2: 5, 07-11 -- Day 3: 5, 07-08

19. Mark Menendez -- Paducah, KY -- 15, 25-08 -- 82 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 05-12 -- Day 2: 5, 09-04 -- Day 3: 5, 10-08

20. Brett Preuett -- Monroe, LA -- 15, 25-07 -- 81 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 08-07 -- Day 2: 5, 09-13 -- Day 3: 5, 07-03

21. Quentin Cappo -- Prairieville, LA -- 15, 25-02 -- 80 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 06-10 -- Day 2: 5, 08-08 -- Day 3: 5, 10-00

22. Pat Schlapper -- Eleva, WI -- 15, 25-02 -- 79 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-13 -- Day 2: 5, 07-11 -- Day 3: 5, 09-10

23. Ray Hanselman Jr -- Del Rio, TX -- 15, 25-01 -- 78 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-09 -- Day 2: 5, 10-00 -- Day 3: 5, 07-08

24. Luke Palmer -- Coalgate, OK -- 15, 24-15 -- 77 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 09-01 -- Day 2: 5, 10-07 -- Day 3: 5, 05-07

25. Harvey Horne -- Bella Vista, AR -- 15, 24-12 -- 76 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-05 -- Day 2: 5, 08-10 -- Day 3: 5, 08-13

26. Marc Frazier -- Newnan, GA -- 12, 24-06 -- 75 -- $11,000
Day 1: 5, 12-02 -- Day 2: 2, 02-15 -- Day 3: 5, 09-05

27. Hunter Shryock -- Ooltewah, TN -- 15, 24-01 -- 74 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 06-13 -- Day 2: 5, 08-02 -- Day 3: 5, 09-02

28. John Crews Jr -- Salem, VA -- 15, 24-00 -- 73 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 09-02 -- Day 2: 5, 08-00 -- Day 3: 5, 06-14

29. Bob Downey -- Hudson, WI -- 15, 23-10 -- 72 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-01 -- Day 2: 5, 07-03 -- Day 3: 5, 06-06

30. Clark Wendlandt -- Leander, TX -- 15, 22-14 -- 71 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-14 -- Day 2: 5, 06-14 -- Day 3: 5, 08-02

31. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, AL -- 15, 22-10 -- 70 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 06-13 -- Day 2: 5, 08-05 -- Day 3: 5, 07-08

32. Patrick Walters -- Summerville, SC -- 15, 22-07 -- 69 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 08-09 -- Day 2: 5, 06-09 -- Day 3: 5, 07-05

33. Justin Atkins -- Florence, AL -- 15, 22-04 -- 68 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 09-11 -- Day 2: 5, 06-01 -- Day 3: 5, 06-08

34. Gerald Swindle -- Guntersville, AL -- 15, 21-05 -- 67 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 06-11 -- Day 2: 5, 08-05 -- Day 3: 5, 06-05

35. Brad Whatley -- Bivins, TX -- 15, 20-13 -- 66 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 05-14 -- Day 2: 5, 09-01 -- Day 3: 5, 05-14

36. Matt Arey -- Shelby, NC -- 15, 20-13 -- 65 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-08 -- Day 2: 5, 07-11 -- Day 3: 5, 05-10

37. Scott Martin -- Clewiston, FL -- 14, 19-14 -- 64 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-04 -- Day 2: 5, 08-15 -- Day 3: 4, 03-11

38. Robbie Latuso -- Gonzales, LA -- 11, 19-13 -- 63 -- $10,000
Day 1: 2, 05-10 -- Day 2: 5, 09-03 -- Day 3: 4, 05-00

39. Matt Herren -- Ashville, AL -- 13, 19-08 -- 62 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 09-03 -- Day 2: 5, 06-02 -- Day 3: 3, 04-03

40. Brandon Card -- Salisbury, NC -- 10, 19-06 -- 61 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-11 -- Day 2: 5, 11-11 -- Day 3: 0, 00-00

41. Jake Whitaker -- Fairview, NC -- 12, 19-02 -- 60 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-09 -- Day 2: 5, 07-12 -- Day 3: 2, 03-13

42. Bill Lowen -- Brookville, IN -- 13, 18-02 -- 59 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-02 -- Day 2: 5, 07-13 -- Day 3: 3, 03-03

43. Paul Mueller -- Naugatuck, CT -- 12, 18-01 -- 58 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 04-02 -- Day 2: 5, 10-11 -- Day 3: 2, 03-04

44. Stetson Blaylock -- Benton, AR -- 11, 17-10 -- 57 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-03 -- Day 2: 4, 04-07 -- Day 3: 2, 03-00

45. Skylar Hamilton -- Dandridge, TN -- 12, 17-10 -- 56 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 10-00 -- Day 2: 5, 05-08 -- Day 3: 2, 02-02

46. Brian Snowden -- Reeds Spring, MO -- 11, 17-06 -- 55 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 08-12 -- Day 2: 5, 07-12 -- Day 3: 1, 00-14

47. Koby Kreiger -- Alva, FL -- 11, 16-14 -- 54 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-10 -- Day 2: 5, 07-03 -- Day 3: 1, 02-01

48. Destin DeMarion -- Grove City, PA -- 11, 16-06 -- 53 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 06-02 -- Day 2: 5, 08-13 -- Day 3: 1, 01-07

49. Drew Benton -- Blakely, GA -- 10, 14-11 -- 52 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 07-04 -- Day 2: 5, 07-07 -- Day 3: 0, 00-00