Many expected a tight-knit race to the finish line for Day 4 of the Bassmasters Elite Series tournament on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the last 10 standing professional bass anglers delivered in front of hundreds of excited spectators on Sunday.
In quite the turnaround, Oklahoma native and 18-year pro Jason Christie, who sat at 38th place after Day 1, hauled in a five-fish bag of 12 pounds, nine ounces to help capture the tournament victory with a total weight of 58 pounds, two ounces – which squeaked him past second-place finisher Dakota Ebare’s total of 55 pounds, 13 ounces. The victory comes just over a month after Christie finished dead last at the last Elite Series tournament at Lake Martin in Alabama and netted him a check for $100,000.
“You know it was just a crazy week,” Christie said of his ninth career Elite Series victory as cheers rained down upon him from a raucous crowd. “The first day I kind of thought I messed up and on the second day I went out here. What I think the difference is, I caught two big ones yesterday and one today on stuff you couldn’t see. … I went in there and marked those stumps because I figured that’s where the big ones would hang out.”
As his Day 4 morning bites started to slow and the time waned toward the afternoon hours, Christie made an executive decision to go back to a spot that had provided some key fish earlier in the tournament and it paid off with a three-pounder that provided the winning difference, though in the moment he didn’t think it was enough.
“I came out, and not 30 or 45 minutes (there), I was like, ‘If I am going to lose this I’m going to lose it in my home.’ I went back in there and caught that big one,” he said. “It’s the only bite I got (later in the day). I had zero chance I thought I was going to win. When I idled in I just figured somebody had caught them today.”
Tennessee’s John Garrett finished in third place with a Day 4-high of 14 pounds, 12 ounces for a total of 54-14. Seth Feider of Minnesota captured fourth place with a total of 54-11, and Day 3 leader Wesley Gore of Alabama rounded out the top five with 52-3.
“Fun week,” said Garrett, who earned $15,000 for third place. “Like (Mike) Iaconelli said, this is just a junk fishing tournament and this place is just good enough, and I mean just good enough where you think you might get a bite every now and then. If you keep your head screwed on straight here and just keep going and fish as many trees or grasses as you can, those bites will eventually come.”
Second-place finisher and eight-year pro Ebare left with $20,000 and his head held high after a great few recent weeks on and off the water. Just last week he welcomed his newborn son into the world.
“Last year by this time I was really in a bad place both on and off the water. I’ll be honest with you guys, I didn’t know if I had a place in this sport anymore to be honest with you,” Ebare told the large gathering of spectators. “I got some good friends and family that stood behind me and I prayed a lot and I’ve come a long ways. … I’ve got a family started and I’m just so extremely thankful and I’m having fun fishing. Thank ya’ll for coming out and making a guy feel special. This is unbelievable, Columbus.”
A strong showing of Mississippi’s bass fishing faithful was a talking point among both the anglers and representatives of the Bassmasters Elite Series, and all left town surprised and thrilled at the reception of the tournament – one of whom was Eric Lopez, Bassmasters’ director of event operations.
“It’s an amazing location,” he said. “We knew that there were bass fishing fans here based on us having the (2025 Bassmaster) Open Series here last year, but people have been coming out.”
After seeing the standout reception all week, coupled with a week of competitive fishing, Lopez indicated that bringing the Elite Series back to Columbus is a real possibility.
“When the event is done, what we do is we regroup with the city and if the definition of success for the city and for Bassmasters has been met then absolutely we will engage in those conversations. I mean, it’s hard to look at the crowd that has shown up and not think that we’re going to have those conversations. Everyone seems happy and if that maintains the wave, I have a feeling that we will have those conversations about coming back. We’re based in Birmingham, Alabama, just two hours down the road, so it’s pretty easy for us to get here – and the anglers seem to be pretty happy.”
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