There was a lot at stake last week for South Carolina pro Jason Quinn. He sat about 20 spots away from a Bassmaster Classic berth in the points race, and even a win or Top 5 at the Oneida Elite Series season finale was no guarantee he'd reach the big show.

There's never been a year with more pressure

to make the Classic. The economy's in the toilet and sponsorships get harder and harder to come by. Even though Quinn holds one of the marquee sponsorships in the sport with Evan Williams, he still felt the added pressure a down economy brings.

But he beat the odds. He finished 5th at Oneida, moved up 20 spots in the points and earned his Classic berth.

With berth in hand, he feels he's finally on the up-curve. He was in the midst of a divorce for the past year and a half, he said, and he now feels that's all behind him.

Worst to Best

What was particularly dramatic about Quinn's Oneida achievement was his 5th-place finish there came right after a 92nd-place disaster at the Mississippi River that dropped him 14 spots in the points.

About making the Classic, he said: "It feels great. It sure made that 12-hour drive home a little bit easier. I've been out of the Classic for 2 years, but this will be my third Classic at Lay. I really wanted to make this one. It felt like a 1,000-pound weight was lifted off my shoulders. The economy's not good, sponsors are pulling back daily, and you have to do everything you can to hold on to what you've got. Believe me, nobody wanted it as badly as I did.

"When I came across the stage, and there were only four guys left, I knew if that bag put me in 5th place I was going to the Classic regardless," he added. "It did and I was real fortunate. There was a lot of emotion there. I've been struggling the last year and a half – going through personal issues. I went through a divorce. It was hard to focus. But all that's behind me now and I'm back on the upswing."

All-Day Haunt

Quinn said he first realized he could actually clinch a Classic berth on day 3, after he'd made the Top 12. He did the math that night and figured that a 7th-place finish or better could do it, but he could lock it in with a 3rd.

Knowing that, he looked at the weights, which were extremely close, and deduced that he needed 12 to 13 pounds to "pretty much lock it up."

That analysis didn't change his approach to day 4. He still "fished for the day." But an event on the morning of day 4 haunted him the rest of the afternoon.

"I lost a 4- or 4 1/2-pound smallmouth first thing that morning – it was a giant smallie – and I felt that was probably the deal-breaker," he noted. "It was the only fish I'd lost all week. It was one of those big, old rogue smallies and it jumped two or three times and came off."

Quinn's morning smallmouth pattern was to throw a topwater for smallmouths in about 3 feet of water. He found a little ditch that ran through scattered grass, and "there was nothing but giants in there."

"It haunted me all day long," he said of the lost fish. "It haunted me bad for about 30 minutes, but I figured I'd get an opportunity at another one. I went another 2 hours in the area without a bite, and then, for sure, it haunted me all day long."

Notable

> Quinn plans to visit Lay for a scouting trip in a week or so. He plans to spend a lot of time graphing the river – the portion of the lake he knows the least about.

> His previous Lay Lake Classic finishes were 9th (2007) and 47th (2002).

> He'll be attending Championship Week next month in Alabama. His sponsor Evan Williams title-sponsors the second Championship leg.