Christie Goes From 11th To 1st With 18-Pound Bag

By BassFan Staff

A lot of Oklahomans were disappointed when native son Jason Christie failed to win the Bassmaster Classic on his home waters at Grand Lake. He's sure done a lot to make up for it since.

Fresh off a victory at the Beaver Lake FLW Tour, Christie rallied from 11th place today to win the Bassmaster Elite Series event at Bull Shoals. A chance encounter with some big schooling fish produced a tournament-best 18-pound bag that gave him a 4-day total of 56-08.

The final-day comeback was the biggest in the history of the Elite Series, which dates to 2006. Kevin Short had previously held that mark, coming from 6th place after day 3 to win at the Mississippi River in 2009.

"It's apples and oranges trying to compare the two (April triumphs)," Christie said. "They both mean a lot, I can't tell you how much, but what this one means is I'm in the (2014) Classic and I don't have to stress about that all year. That's the biggest thing.

"I almost have a numb feeling with the way it happened today."

He finished a little more than a pound ahead of Fred Roumbanis, another Oklahoma resident (but native Californian) who staged a big rally of his own. He sacked 14-15 to finish with 55-06.

Day-2 leader Casey Scanlon ended up 3rd with 54-11 after a 10-13 final-day stringer. Cliff Prince also dropped two positions as his 11-02 bag left him 4th with 54-01.

Britt Myers, the runner-up at Bull Shoals in 2012, weighed 13-09 to claim the No. 5 spot with a 53-15 aggregate.

Here are the totals for the remainder of the Top 12:

6. Terry Scroggins: 53-11
7. Cliff Pace: 53-05
8. Brian Snowden: 52-15
9. Jonathon VanDam: 52-11
10. Chris Zaldain: 51-01
11. Greg Hackney: 50-10
12. Casey Ashley: 48-03

The event was the third on the eight-stop Elite schedule – the circuit will reach the halfway mark with the derby at Georgia's West Point Lake next week. Edwin Evers has taken over the lead in the Toyota Tundra B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year (AOY) race, supplanting previous pace-setter Brandon Card, who fell to 6th after a 53rd-place showing in this event.

Fortune Smiled on Christie

> Day 4: 5, 18-00 (20, 56-08)

Christie began the final day flipping bushes near the Lead Hill area of the lake, which is what he'd done en route to compiling a 12-01 sack the previous day to climb from 14th to 11th and qualify for the final round. The first stretch he tried was fruitless and he was on his way to another when he went around a corner and stumbled onto hundreds – perhaps thousands – of bass conducting a major shad-busting party.

The feast was occurring in 50 feet of water over a stretch that was perhaps 300 yards long and 50 yards wide.

"You could've put 10 tournament boats in there and everybody would've caught them," he said. "What's funny is I fished that creek all week and probably spent half my time in there, and I hadn't seen that yet.

"They'd probably been doing it, but I couldn't see it because of the wind. With it being slick-calm today, you could see them everywhere."

He initially thought they were small spotted bass, and the first fish he caught on his Heddon One Knocker Spook was a member of that species. It was all largemouths after that, though, including a 5-pounder and two 4s.

The action started at about 7:30 and lasted for 2 hours. When it was over, he had all the weight he'd eventually take to the scale.

He didn't think it'd be enough to win.

"I told my marshal I needed another 5-pounder to have a chance because I thought one of those other guys would catch 15 and I really thought I needed 20.

"After they quit busting, I fished around there for awhile and then I left – I was going fishing somewhere else. I was back 30 minutes later because I realized the fish were all in there and it was up to me to figure out how to catch them. I caught one or two more, but they were just keepers and they didn't help me any."

The specifics of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other top finishers, will be published in the coming days.

2nd: Roumbanis had Hope

> Day 4: 5, 14-15 (20, 55-06)

Roumbanis' bag was dwarfed by Christie's, but it was nonetheless a stout haul under the conditions and gave him at least a faint hope that he could pull off his third career Elite Series victory.

"In my mind, I knew I probably needed one more 4-pounder, and that ended up being the case," he said. "When I got to the weigh-in and saw a lot of the guys had stumbled, I was pleasantly surprised.

"It was a good finish, though, and it helped me a lot in the points."

He went through eight keepers on the final day, the biggest of which was a 3 1/2-pound spotted bass.

"I'd been finesse-fishing and throwing a swimbait, but I really just threw the swimbait today. I didn't catch a lot of fish, but when I got a bite, it was a good one."

3rd: Rough Day for Scanlon

> Day 4: 5, 10-13 (20, 54-11)

Scanlon's final-day bag was his lightest of the tournament by nearly 3 pounds.

"It was a disappointing day," he said. "I had one fish get off and I caught my biggest one on the next cast, so I assume (the escapee) was a good one. Would it have been a 2-pound cull? Probably not, so it didn't cost me the tournament by any means.

"I tried to make some adjustments, but the fish I'd been on all week just kind of left. Some other guys who were fishing deeper said the same thing.

He caught seven or eight keepers, including a smallmouth that was close to 3 pounds.

"I went shallow for a couple hours and caught two, then I went back out deep and tried to stick it out, but it didn't happen. I think if the nights would've stayed colder, those fish would've stayed put."

4th: Mixed Emotions for Prince

> Day 4: 5, 11-02 (20, 54-01)

Prince logged his second straight Top-5 finish after a season-opening bomb at the Sabine River, but he nonetheless had somewhat of an empty feeling after starting the day just 15 ounces out of the lead.

"It feels good, but it's a bittersweet kind of deal," he said. "I just didn't get the bites I'd been getting.

"A couple more 3-pounders and I would've won this thing, but that's part of it. All you can do is keep putting yourself in position to win one, and one of these days it'll happen when it's your turn."

A 2 1/2-pound spotted bass was the largest of the eight keepers he boated. His bag also contained two largemouths and two smallmouths.

"That was the first one of those I'd weighed," he said of the spot.

5th: Big Boost for Myers

> Day 4: 5, 13-09 (20, 53-15)

Myers was in dire need of a high finish after 92nd- and 95th-place showings in Texas.

"I haven't been very consistent this year and I don't know what's been going on," he said. "I had very high expectations for this year and then we started at the Sabine, which was a crapshoot, and then at Falcon I just had a bad tournament.

"Maybe this will get me on the upswing. I need a couple more of these to get me back up there in the points."

He caught 15 keepers on the final day, which was about half of what he boated on day 1.

"I stayed out a little deeper and with it being dead-slick, I finally settled in to what the bigger fish were doing. I started to realize that those fish were definitely spawning down 20 feet in that really clear water."

6th: Flip-Flop for Scroggins

> Day 4: 5, 10-09 (20, 53-11)

Scroggins fell four places in the standings today, but it was nonetheless a major reversal of his 2012 showing at Bull Shoals, when he was 92nd. He's now in the No. 2 slot in the AOY standings.

"It was a very good week and I'm tickled after what I did last year," he said. "But anytime you get that close, you want to win.

"I was fishing deep and for whatever reason those fish left. I fished shallow for a good part of the day, but I couldn't make it happen there, either. I feel like I did the best I could today with what I had to work with.

He focused on the 12- to 20-foot depth range and threw a YUM Mightee Worm on a shaky-head.

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.

Final Standings

1. Jason Christie -- Park Hill, OK -- 20, 56-08 -- 100 -- $101,500
Day 1: 5, 14-15 -- Day 2: 5, 11-08 -- Day 3: 5, 12-01 -- Day 4: 5, 18-00

2. Fred Roumbanis -- Bixby, OK -- 20, 55-06 -- 99 -- $25,500
Day 1: 5, 14-00 -- Day 2: 5, 14-00 -- Day 3: 5, 12-07 -- Day 4: 5, 14-15

3. Casey Scanlon -- Lenexa, KS -- 20, 54-11 -- 98 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 14-13 -- Day 2: 5, 15-05 -- Day 3: 5, 13-12 -- Day 4: 5, 10-13

4. Cliff Prince -- Palatka, FL -- 20, 54-01 -- 97 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 14-03 -- Day 2: 5, 14-01 -- Day 3: 5, 14-11 -- Day 4: 5, 11-02

5. Britt Myers -- Lake Wylie, SC -- 20, 53-15 -- 96 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 13-05 -- Day 2: 5, 14-06 -- Day 3: 5, 12-11 -- Day 4: 5, 13-09

6. Terry Scroggins -- San Mateo, FL -- 20, 53-11 -- 95 -- $13,500
Day 1: 5, 14-14 -- Day 2: 5, 14-11 -- Day 3: 5, 13-09 -- Day 4: 5, 10-09

7. Cliff Pace -- Petal, MS -- 20, 53-05 -- 94 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 15-02 -- Day 2: 5, 14-12 -- Day 3: 5, 12-01 -- Day 4: 5, 11-06

8. Brian Snowden -- Reeds Spring, MO -- 20, 52-15 -- 93 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 14-08 -- Day 2: 5, 13-05 -- Day 3: 5, 11-12 -- Day 4: 5, 13-06

9. Jonathon VanDam -- Kalamazoo, MI -- 20, 52-11 -- 92 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 12-12 -- Day 2: 5, 13-06 -- Day 3: 5, 14-05 -- Day 4: 5, 12-04

10. Chris Zaldain -- San Jose, CA -- 20, 51-01 -- 91 -- $11,500
Day 1: 5, 14-00 -- Day 2: 5, 13-09 -- Day 3: 5, 10-05 -- Day 4: 5, 13-03

11. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, LA -- 20, 50-10 -- 90 -- $11,000
Day 1: 5, 13-11 -- Day 2: 5, 12-00 -- Day 3: 5, 13-01 -- Day 4: 5, 11-14

12. Casey D Ashley -- Donalds, SC -- 20, 48-03 -- 89 -- $10,500
Day 1: 5, 13-13 -- Day 2: 5, 12-06 -- Day 3: 5, 13-05 -- Day 4: 5, 08-11