Cherry Is 4th To Win 2 Straight Classics

By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

He's not a bass-fishing mystic like the legendary Rick Clunn. He's not the most prolific winner in the history of the sport – that title belongs to Kevin VanDam. He didn't put together a Hall of Fame-worthy résumé before his 30th birthday, as did Jordan Lee.

Hank Cherry has one thing in common with that trio, though – he's a back-to-back Bassmaster Classic champion.

The 47-year-old North Carolinian captured his second straight Classic title today, catching a 13-01 stringer from Texas' Lake Ray Roberts for a three-day total of 50-15. His winning margin over runner-up and fellow Tar Heel State resident Matt Arey was 1-14.

"It's the biggest honor I could dream of as a kid," who collected his second $300,000 paycheck in the span of 15 months. "I've fulfilled my childhood fantasy twice now and I'm not even thinking about a third. It hasn't sunk in yet and it won't until I go to sleep tonight.

"I'm proud of not giving up and fighting through the heat and just proud to be representing."

Cherry built a 4 3/4-pound advantage with a 17-10 haul on weather-shortened day 2. His final-day stringer was easily his smallest of the event and only seventh-best among the 25 anglers who survived the second-day cut, but more than enough to allow him to join the list of anglers who've won multiple Classics – the three guys mentioned above, along with Bobby Murray, Hank Parker and George Cochran.

After Arey, the next two positions in the final standings were occupied by non-Elite Series competitors. Oklahoma's Chris Jones, who gained his spot in the derby by winning last year's Arkansas River Central Open, weighed a 13-00 bag to finish 3rd with 45-09. In 4th was Arizonan Justin Kerr, a B.A.S.S. Nation qualifier and longtime standout in Western events whose 12-00 sack left him with a 45-02 aggregate.

Brock Mosley, who has four Top-10 finishes on the Elite Series this year but is still seeking his first tour-level win, boxed a day-best 19-01 to finish 5th with 42-00.

Here's how the lower half of the Top 10 stacked up:

6. Scott Canterbury: 41-06
7. Matt Robertson: 40-03
8. Chris Johnston: 40-02
9. Drew Cook: 38-07
10. Patrick Walters: 38-01

The event, originally scheduled for March but delayed three months due to the coronavirus pandemic was a big-bite affair in which a lot of potential game-changing fish either broke or pulled off of anglers' lines. The lake, with its water level four feet over normal pool for this time of year due to recent torrential rains, was still in a springtime mode when it started, but took some big strides toward a summertime scenario by the time it was over as the Lone Star State experienced its warmest week of the year so far.

Cherry caught his first final-day weigh-in fish – a 2 1/2-pounder, shortly after takeoff. He popped his biggest specimen – a 4 1/2 – at about 10:30 a.m. and added two more run-of-the-mill keepers over the next 45 minutes.

Four that went to the scale came via flipping and pitching to the flooded trees. His jerkbait program (he threw a Berkley Stunna that he designed and which is scheduled to hit retail shelves in July) on rip-rap in the vicinity of the dam accounted for the other one.

"I wasn't having the best day," he said. "I was trying to force-feed them the jig and I had one wrap up in a bush and break it off. I switched to a smaller hook, a lighter weight and a smaller bait and the dumbest 4 1/2-pounder in the lake comes out and gets it. That got the whole train rolling."

He came into the event with a high confidence level after catching numerous oversized specimens during practice including a personal-best 10-13. He basically rotated through eight places throughout the derby. He flipped a Berkley Pit Boss, pitched a Picasso jig at times and employed several different bladed jigs in addition to throwing the jerkbait. The latter produced six of his 15 weigh-in fish.

"I knew I had that ace in the whole with the dam and I knew I wouldn't have to catch as many from the bushes. Anytime I can tie on that bait, I feel good about it.

"I didn't catch a lot of fish from any one place, but I caught enough to win."

Arey flipped bushes and threw three different types of frogs. He lost a big final-day fish that could've propelled him past Cherry.

Jones threw a swimjig to capitalize on the early morning shad spawn and then switched to flipping a YUM Christie Craw when the sun got high. Kerr went with an old-school flipping setup – a 1/2-ounce jig that he tied himself and an Uncle Josh pork trailer.

(Outdoor Sportsman Group Senior Digital Editor Lynn Burkhead contributed to this story.)

Notable

> Day 3 stats – 25 anglers, 13 limits, 2 fours, 5 threes, 4 twos, 1 one.

Day 3 (Final) Standings

1. Hank Cherry Jr -- Lincolnton, NC -- 15, 50-15 -- $300,000
Day 1: 5, 20-04 -- Day 2: 5, 17-10 -- Day 3: 5, 13-01

2. Matt Arey -- Shelby, NC -- 15, 49-01 -- $50,000
Day 1: 5, 15-05 -- Day 2: 5, 15-12 -- Day 3: 5, 18-00

3. Chris Jones -- Bokoshe, OK -- 15, 45-09 -- $40,000
Day 1: 5, 17-02 -- Day 2: 5, 15-07 -- Day 3: 5, 13-00

4. Justin Kerr -- Lake Havasu, AZ -- 14, 45-02 -- $30,000
Day 1: 5, 13-06 -- Day 2: 4, 19-12 -- Day 3: 5, 12-00

5. Brock Mosley -- Collinsville, MS -- 13, 42-00 -- $25,000
Day 1: 4, 08-10 -- Day 2: 4, 14-05 -- Day 3: 5, 19-01

6. Scott Canterbury -- Odenville, AL -- 15, 41-06 -- $22,000
Day 1: 5, 14-11 -- Day 2: 5, 14-06 -- Day 3: 5, 12-05

7. Matt Robertson -- Kuttawa, KY -- 14, 40-03 -- $21,500
Day 1: 5, 16-04 -- Day 2: 4, 09-02 -- Day 3: 5, 14-13

8. Chris Johnston -- Otonabee, ON -- 14, 40-02 -- $21,000
Day 1: 5, 16-00 -- Day 2: 5, 13-09 -- Day 3: 4, 10-09

9. Drew Cook -- Cairo, GA -- 14, 38-07 -- $20,500
Day 1: 5, 16-10 -- Day 2: 5, 12-08 -- Day 3: 4, 09-05

10. Patrick Walters -- Summerville, SC -- 11, 38-01 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 22-07 -- Day 2: 1, 02-06 -- Day 3: 5, 13-04

11. Cory Johnston -- Cavan, ON -- 13, 37-00 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 16-02 -- Day 2: 3, 05-09 -- Day 3: 5, 15-05

12. Ed Loughran III -- Richmond, VA -- 11, 36-07 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 15-08 -- Day 2: 1, 07-13 -- Day 3: 5, 13-02

13. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, AL -- 11, 35-08 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 23-00 -- Day 2: 4, 09-11 -- Day 3: 2, 02-13

14. Todd Auten -- Lake Wylie, SC -- 12, 34-04 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 15-12 -- Day 2: 4, 10-15 -- Day 3: 3, 07-09

15. Matt Herren -- Ashville, AL -- 14, 33-11 -- $15,000
Day 1: 4, 10-02 -- Day 2: 5, 11-04 -- Day 3: 5, 12-05

16. Kyle Welcher -- Opelika, AL -- 14, 33-03 -- $13,000
Day 1: 4, 11-14 -- Day 2: 5, 09-09 -- Day 3: 5, 11-12

17. Brandon Palaniuk -- Rathdrum, ID -- 12, 32-00 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 14-04 -- Day 2: 4, 08-04 -- Day 3: 3, 09-08

18. Jamie Hartman -- Newport, NY -- 13, 31-09 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 16-04 -- Day 2: 3, 05-07 -- Day 3: 5, 09-14

19. Cody Bird -- Granbury, TX -- 12, 29-15 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 15-08 -- Day 2: 5, 10-05 -- Day 3: 2, 04-02

20. Paul Mueller -- Naugatuck, CT -- 10, 29-02 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 15-01 -- Day 2: 4, 09-14 -- Day 3: 1, 04-03

21. Jeff Gustafson -- Keewatin, ON -- 12, 28-07 -- $13,000
Day 1: 4, 08-08 -- Day 2: 5, 13-05 -- Day 3: 3, 06-10

22. Frank Talley -- Temple, TX -- 9, 27-13 -- $15,500
Day 1: 4, 15-10 -- Day 2: 3, 08-04 -- Day 3: 2, 03-15

23. Clark Wendlandt -- Leander, TX -- 11, 27-12 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 11-01 -- Day 2: 3, 10-12 -- Day 3: 3, 05-15

24. Chad Pipkens -- Dewitt, MI -- 8, 27-02 -- $13,000
Day 1: 4, 12-05 -- Day 2: 2, 10-10 -- Day 3: 2, 04-03

25. Seth Feider -- New Market, MN -- 10, 26-09 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 12-10 -- Day 2: 2, 08-06 -- Day 3: 3, 05-09