By Bryan Brasher
BASS PRESS RELEASE
A big spinnerbait and local knowledge assist Christie on Day 2. (Photo: BASS) |
For the first 43 years of the GEICO Bassmaster
Classic presented by GoPro, only one angler managed to win the event in his
home state.
Now, there’s a chance it could happen for the third year in a row.
After
establishing a solid lead with 20 pounds, 14 ounces on Day 1 at Grand Lake O’
the Cherokees, Oklahoma pro Jason Christie added 16-11 Saturday and
maintained his spot atop the leaderboard with a two-day total of 37-9. Christie
leads second-place angler Todd Faircloth (31-14) by more than 5 pounds, and has
better than a 6-pound advantage over third-place angler Edwin Evers (31-4),
another Oklahoma native.
“It wasn’t a great day by Grand Lake standards, but
it was pretty good compared to what everybody else did today,” said Christie,
who lives in Park Hill, Okla., just an hour from Grand Lake. “Just
like Friday, I was surprised that I had as much weight as I did.”
Christie
was emphatic Friday that he was going to stick with the one tactic
that’s really been working for him since practice began for the event last
week.
Like most of the field, he found the fishing slow and sometimes
frustrating.
“It’s so hard to stay focused when you’re going so long between
bites,” Faircloth said. “When you’re not getting many bites, you really need to
execute on every one you get. It’s tough.”
The Texas pro, who is fishing his
14th Classic, said he also plans to stick with what’s been working — even
though the fishing hasn’t been fast and furious.
“I’m fishing everything in
front of me,” said Faircloth, who holds five B.A.S.S. victories but no Classic
titles. “I’ve been catching them off docks, off wood — a little bit of
everything.
“I do have a couple of spots that I haven’t been to, and I caught
a couple of big fish on those places in practice. But I could go
there tomorrow and not get a bite.
So I’m going to stick with what
I’ve done the last two days and see what happens.”
With 13-12 on Day 1 and
17-8 on Day 2, Evers was one of the few anglers whose catch improved
dramatically Saturday. He said his better catch was the result of a
complete change in strategy.
“It’s not hard to improve when you only catch
four fish the first day,” Evers said, laughing. “I went and did something
totally different today, and it’s not really the kind of thing that you
normally do to win on Grand.
But Grand is not normal right now.”
After a
recent cold front, the water temperature is now rising rapidly on the lake, and
many of the anglers think the fish are slightly in shock because of it. Some
competitors have also been hurt during the first two rounds by a lack of wind
that has made the lake slick and caused fish to be more skittish than they are
in choppier water.
With more wind in the forecast for Sunday, Evers said
he may redirect again.
“I think I made a good decision today, but I honestly
don’t think I’ll go and do it again tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t think I
can win with it, and that’s what I’m trying to do — win this thing.”
The
tournament’s championship round will begin Sunday, with the Top 25
remaining anglers leaving Hard Rock Dock at Wolf Creek Ramp in Grove, Okla.,
at 7 a.m. The weigh-in is set to begin at 3:15 p.m. at the
BOK Center in Tulsa.
The winner will receive $300,000 and the most coveted
trophy in the sport.
Christie will be attempting to win a Classic in his home
state, just as South Carolina native Casey Ashley did last year on Lake
Hartwell and Alabamian Randy Howell did in 2014 on Lake Guntersville. Prior to
Howell’s win, only one other angler had won a Classic in his home state —
Alabamian Boyd Duckett on Lay Lake in 2007.
Christie will receive another
$1,000 as winner of the GEICO Everyday Leader Award for leading the second day,
plus an additional $1,500 for having a GEICO decal on his boat’s windshield.
Christie has earned a total of $5,000 in GEICO bonuses.
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