Christie Gets Long-Awaited Classic Win

By Vance McCullough
Special to BassFan

Jason Christie won the 2022 Bassmaster Classic at South Carolina's Lake Hartwell by the thin margin of 5 ounces over a hard-charging Kyle Welcher and a field of 53 other talented anglers.

The win vindicates a couple of Classic near-misses over the years, including one at Hartwell in 2018.

How does Christie feel about it?

“It takes a few days to set in. Right now, it’s like I’m in dream land, sitting up here with no clothes on and you guys are staring at me,” joked Christie with the crowd of reporters gathered backstage moments after his laser-lighted, confetti-blurred victory lap in the crowded Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.

“Tomorrow, when I look at that phone and there’s 500 text messages ... What this is for, more than me, is my family and my sponsors.”

Christie caught a 17-09 stringer on the final day to finish with a three-day total of 54-00 – the highest of any of the four Classics held at Hartwell. Welcher boxed 17-04 to conclude with 53-11.

Stetson Blaylock weighed the event's heaviest stringer (20-09) on day 3 en route to finishing 3rd with 53-05. Justin Hamner was 4th with 49-07 (16-05 on day 3) and Chris Johnston rounded out the Top 5 with 49-04 (18-05).

Christie said the reason he came back to B.A.S.S. after two years of competing on the MLF Bass Pro Tour (2019-20) was to pursue a Classic title.

“That’s what I wanted. I wanted to pull into an arena, like we did today. But the main thing is, that thing sitting right there,” Christie nodded to his trophy. “I missed out on it twice. Actually, out of the eight Classics I’ve had, I felt like could have won four. This is my time of the year. Prespawn. I can put a big bait in my hand and most of the time go fishing.”

“All of the tournaments I’ve won, they’ve come when I least expect them,” he continued. “I had one deep hole and then I ran around crazy, flipping boat docks. I mean, like, I had nothing. Nothing. I did all I could do. I fished for three days and I did not lose a fish that mattered. What more could you ask for?”

Christie refined his approach as the event wore on.

“In practice I didn’t find a lot. I was committed, for the most part, to the bank. One morning I just started running some drains with (Garmin) LiveScope, and one particular drain had fish. All three mornings I started there. It was really just a comfort thing, just to get a limit and, it’s been a while since I did one of these (Classics), so just to get in the groove. The more I fished it, the more I learned about it.

“I was throwing a 3/16-ounce jighead with couple of different minnows. One minnow is a new one that we have. It’s a prototype that we have at Yum called FF Minnow. ‘FF’ stands for Forward-Facing Sonar Minnow.”

Christie said the lure is almost ready for public consumption, but he has been working on it for several years and wants to get it exactly right before releasing it.

He fished the jig/minnow combination on 15-pound braid with an 8-pound Sunline leaders on a 7-foot Falcon spinning rod paired with a Lew’s 3000 reel.

“Then I would start running boat docks,” he said. “Five/eighths War Eagle Jiu Jigsu jig with a Yum 2.75 Craw Chunk on 20-pound Sunline Shooter, Falcon Rods Jason Christie Flippin’ Stick, 7’4”, and a Lew’s Pro SP, which stands for skipping and pitching. I’m not much of a skipper – I’m more of a pitcher.”

Welcher made a run at the title by spending most of his time around docks in pursuit of quality largemouth.

“I caught one deep this morning and after that I started running pockets, fishing 2 to 3 feet deep," he said. "I did catch one off a lay down, but it was 2 feet deep also. The rest came off docks in 2-to-3 feet of water.”

Welcher’s plan revolved around trying to catch a prespawn female or two each day.

“This place has so many fish that, at some point in time, you know you’re going to run into a good one. I was using a ton of different baits, fishing brush piles, docks, all that type of stuff. I was using shallow-running jerkbaits, deep-diving jerkbaits, a shaky-head. I used a wacky rig today. I was using a 2.8-inch swimbait, 6-inch swimbaits.”

While his lure selection was scattered, Welcher focused narrowly on one type of forage.

“It was more about staying around the threadfin shad and staying close to spawning areas. I felt like those fish were the most consistent.

“I didn’t see a ton of herring in practice and what little bit I did see, they were inconsistent day by day. I’ve got brush piles right now that threadfin are absolutely glued to and they have not left them and I don’t know when they are going to leave them. Herring will get out in timber, they’ll move up shallow, they just move around a ton throughout the day. Threadfin seem to stay put. You don’t have to hit a magical window. You can really cycle those baits in the same area a couple of times.”

In the final round, Welcher turned to a bait that had let him down the first two days.

“I had not caught a fish on a wacky rig. I caught them on it today.”

Welcher thinks a custom gray color may have been a key factor to catching fish on the unnamed stick bait.

Blaylock rode a “little red crankbait” as far it would take him.

“I caught a lot of fish just cranking those shallow points where I think those fish were prespawn, just moving in," he said. "Bright red in that clear water seemed to be the key on that deal, but that died off after Day 1. I did catch a couple on it every day but I started LiveScoping. It’s no secret, just looking around those points.

"When I realized those fish weren’t feeding up on top of them, I tied on a wacky-rigged Yum Dinger, put a nail in it throwing it on super light line. Some of them would come up to it before it ever hit bottom and some of them, it would have to hit bottom and sit for a minute or two before they would actually eat it. There’s a lot more big fish I left out there that wouldn’t bite.”

Justin Hamner placed 4th fishing deep.

“Mainly a Damiki rig, I was using a Freedom Tackle 1/4-ounce swimbait head and having to go back and forth between two little shad profile things. I was targeting 30 to 50 feet of water today. I could get one big bite a day doing that. I caught a 5-pounder somehow doing that every day.”

Johnston credited his Garmin electronics for his Top-5 finish.

“I caught 90 percent of my fish on LiveScope, but I was doing it a little different than these other guys. I was fishing high-percentage docks in pockets that had bigger largemouth.

"I’d pull up to the dock and scope it and make a cast and see one follow me down and I’d let that bait sit there a minute or two where I’d normally pull my bait out. I caught all mine on 8-pound (Seaguar) Tatsu line and just a Neko rig with a light nail weight.”

Day 3 (Final) Standings

1. Jason Christie -- Park Hill, OK -- 15, 54-00 -- 0 $300,000
Day 1: 5, 17-01 -- Day 2: 5, 19-06 -- Day 3: 5, 17-09

2. Kyle Welcher -- Opelika, AL -- 15, 53-11 -- 0 -- $50,000
Day 1: 5, 18-13 -- Day 2: 5, 17-10 -- Day 3: 5, 17-04

3. Stetson Blaylock -- Benton, AR -- 15, 53-05 -- 0 -- $47,000
Day 1: 5, 17-05 -- Day 2: 5, 15-07 -- Day 3: 5, 20-09

4. Justin Hamner -- Northport, AL -- 15, 49-07 -- 0 -- $30,000
Day 1: 5, 16-08 -- Day 2: 5, 16-10 -- Day 3: 5, 16-05

5. Chris Johnston -- Otonabee, ON -- 15, 49-04 -- 0 -- $25,000
Day 1: 5, 13-07 -- Day 2: 5, 17-08 -- Day 3: 5, 18-05

6. Luke Palmer -- Coalgate, OK -- 15, 48-02 -- 0 -- $22,000
Day 1: 5, 15-00 -- Day 2: 5, 17-06 -- Day 3: 5, 15-12

7. Taku Ito -- Chiba JAPAN -- 15, 47-14 -- 0 -- $21,500
Day 1: 5, 13-06 -- Day 2: 5, 18-07 -- Day 3: 5, 16-01

8. Taylor Smith -- Valleyford, WA -- 15, 47-13 -- 0 -- $21,000
Day 1: 5, 13-13 -- Day 2: 5, 16-09 -- Day 3: 5, 17-07

9. Bryan New -- Saluda, SC -- 15, 46-10 -- 0 -- $21,500
Day 1: 5, 20-00 -- Day 2: 5, 13-07 -- Day 3: 5, 13-03

10. David Mullins -- Mt Carmel, TN -- 15, 46-04 -- 0 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 15-13 -- Day 2: 5, 16-12 -- Day 3: 5, 13-11

11. Lee Livesay -- Longview, TX -- 15, 46-01 -- 0 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 16-14 -- Day 2: 5, 16-08 -- Day 3: 5, 12-11

12. Patrick Walters -- Summerville, SC -- 15, 45-09 -- 0 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 18-02 -- Day 2: 5, 13-10 -- Day 3: 5, 13-13

13. Joey Nania -- Cropwell, AL -- 15, 45-06 -- 0 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 16-10 -- Day 2: 5, 14-15 -- Day 3: 5, 13-13

14. Matt Arey -- Shelby, NC -- 15, 45-03 -- 0 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 15-12 -- Day 2: 5, 14-01 -- Day 3: 5, 15-06

15. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, AL -- 15, 43-12 -- 0 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 18-09 -- Day 2: 5, 11-09 -- Day 3: 5, 13-10

16. Caleb Sumrall -- New Iberia, LA -- 15, 43-06 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 14-11 -- Day 2: 5, 16-05 -- Day 3: 5, 12-06

17. Hank Cherry Jr -- Lincolnton, NC -- 15, 42-09 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 12-00 -- Day 2: 5, 19-09 -- Day 3: 5, 11-00

18. Nick LeBrun -- Bossier City, LA -- 15, 42-06 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 13-12 -- Day 2: 5, 15-11 -- Day 3: 5, 12-15

19. Scott Martin -- Clewiston, FL -- 15, 41-13 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 15-09 -- Day 2: 5, 15-04 -- Day 3: 5, 11-00

20. Buddy Gross -- Chattanooga, TN -- 15, 40-09 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 14-07 -- Day 2: 5, 15-07 -- Day 3: 5, 10-11

21. Brock Mosley -- Collinsville, MS -- 15, 39-13 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 18-07 -- Day 2: 5, 11-02 -- Day 3: 5, 10-04

22. Brandon Card -- Salisbury, NC -- 15, 39-08 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 14-05 -- Day 2: 5, 15-06 -- Day 3: 5, 09-13

23. Wes Logan -- Springville, AL -- 15, 38-14 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 14-03 -- Day 2: 5, 15-10 -- Day 3: 5, 09-01

24. Gerald Swindle -- Guntersville, AL -- 14, 38-08 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 17-06 -- Day 2: 5, 13-03 -- Day 3: 4, 07-15

25. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, LA -- 14, 35-14 -- 0 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 18-09 -- Day 2: 5, 11-08 -- Day 3: 4, 05-13