Jason Christie Claims Victory at the 2022 Bassmaster Classic
Luke Cuenco 03.07.22
It took several years, countless casts, lots of skill refinement, and lots of waiting but Jason Christie has finally earned his first Bassmaster Classic victory. Jason claimed victory at the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk by hauling in a three-day total of 54 pounds of bass. Jason’s efforts not only earned him a first-place victory but also a $300,000 cash prize bringing him to a career total of over $1.5 million.
Jason Christie Claims Victory at the 2022 Bassmaster Classic
“A lot of times you throw a swimbait over the top of them and they’ll just trail it. But you can drop this bait right to the fish and keep it on top of him.”
The drain was good to Christie the first two days. But when he arrived there early on Sunday, he found what he described as a “ghost town.” A spot that had produced half of his weigh-in fish during the week produced only one on the final day — and even though it was his biggest bass of the day, a 4-11 largemouth, he admittedly started thinking, “Here we go again.”
Jason narrowly beat out the 2nd and 3rd place cash prize winners Kyle Welcher who weighed in 53-pounds and 11-ounces, as well as Stetson Blaylock who weighed in with 53-pounds and 5-ounces of fish. The event drew in a record-breaking 154,932 angler fans who witnessed both the fishing and the much anticipated final weigh-in. Jason made use of his Garmin LiveScope to find a nice pocket of “hundreds of fish” on the first two days where he caught over half his weight using this spot. To seal the deal Christie caught his final-day limit of 17 pounds, 9 ounces which earned him the title of Champion for the 52nd Bassmaster Classic event.
Christie and other top placing anglers noted that their strategy of alternating between deep and shallow water patterns is part of what helped them earn their spots within the tournament. This method of fishing is often overlooked as the two techniques are very different in how they are performed, however, I can see this being a more widely adopted strategy in future tournaments. Congratulations to Jason Christie and all of the other winning competitors!
