Old School Bassmaster Win for Jason Christie

Last weekend’s Bassmaster Elite Series event on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway had an old-school feel that made it really fun to watch, and Jason Christie epitomized that as he took down the title with a spinnerbait rod in hand.

For this Elite Series season, for about half the events, chosen preseason by random drawing, no forward facing sonar may be used. Tenn-Tom was one of those. Add a dirty, cover-laden river system with volatile conditions, and the situation dictated working trees, stumps and weeds with spinnerbaits, swim jigs, frogs and flipping baits. And old-school fish finding and patterning.

I should note up front that I am not an FFS hater. I’ve done a bit of it, mostly for crappie, and think it’s a lot of fun. And I’m not one who thinks it’s cheating and should be disallowed in every tournament. Success doesn’t require less skill. It’s just a different skill set. And I enjoy watching pros who understand what they are looking at read the fish’s mood and figure out how to catch the biggest ones.

That said, watching top pros make decisions about similar looking backwaters, strategize long runs vs extra fishing time, adjust for changing conditions and meticulously pick apart mostly-visible cover in dirty water was just plain fun.

Jason Christie is one of the most intuitive fish patterners on tour. He quickly figures out which cover to go right past and which to hit and the ideal angle and presentation for every piece of cover. He’s also a master with a spinnerbait and supremely confident when he’s throwing a BOOYAH Covert Spinnerbait (a series he designed).

Winning last weekend took more than cast and retrieve execution, though. Decisions about locations and adjustments were paramount, and Christie made several key decisions that helped him finish on top.

Interestingly, Christie commented some point that the Tenn-Tom felt familiar because it looked just like the Oklahoma section of the Arkansas River, which is about 20 miles from where Christie lives and where he largely honed his spinnerbait skills. Guess where the Elite Series is headed next!

 

Species 10 & Georgia Bass Slam

 I added species 10 for 2026, but not much else about the catch was noteworthy. It was a spottail shiner and was only a bit larger than the lure. That said, it was hooked in the mouth so apparently it tried to eat my lure.

I had a video clip of the catch, which I would have liked for grabbing a photo and maybe for novel entertainment value, but I accidentally deleted the file.

More noteworthy on the same outing, I caught a couple of ahoal bass, one of which was a little more than16 inches, which makes it a qualifying fish for the Georgia Bass Slam.

That is slam species number two for me. The requirement for achieving the Georgia Bass Slam is to catch qualifying fish of at least five black bass species. 

I catch largemouth and spotted bass pretty much every year in Georgia, so those feel almost free. So that means I’ll really only need to actively pursue one other species. Considering that it’s only March, I feel pretty good about my chances of achieving the Georgia Bass Slam again in 2026!

A Little Trout Flair

Painting a pair of coasters was part of an evening event my wife and I recently attended. When I pick up a paintbrush, markers or other art supplies, a fish — or at least something fish related — usually forms.

In this case it was a square of the side of a brown trout. Mostly anyway. I went a little off script with some of the spot coloration. I was mostly content with the result and ready to try something else. 

My wife suggested another kind of trout, and that would have been best. Instead I went for a what was supposed to be a Bob Rossish “happy little scene” with mountains, a little stream and some flowers. Not too far into it I knew it would be dreadfully lame and that I’d paint over it at home. That became the rainbow.

We ended up with a couple of extras, so I decided to add a brook trout to the set. I’ll probably stop there, but it’s not impossible that a cutthroat will eventually join the set.

The coasters are now part of my little basement studio area. I can’t say it makes perfect sense to have only one chair and three coasters on a chest that serves as an end table. However, I like having a few of my own fishy scruples as part of my video set.

A LOT of Water Coming

It seems likely any creek fishing ideas I might have might need to be put on hold for a few days anyway. Streams in my area are certain to be blown out by this afternoon.

I haven’t seen an actual rain volume forecast for this one. I just know it’s supposed to hit hard, all at once, pour for a few hours, and continue raining at a more moderate rate for a few more hours.

It’s not a bad thing. Our streams in the northeastern corner of Georgia are low for March. Heavy rains refresh the systems in the big picture and moderate late summer warming. It just hampers immediate fishing plan. 

It’s also 60 degree outside now, and we might get flurries on the backside of the rain this afternoon. That has nothing to with fishing prospects. It’s just very interesting to me and pretty weird, even for March!

A Few More Species Added to 2026 Catch List

My most recent post focused on others’ reports of fish biting because I hadn’t been out, and I ended it with me saying I hoped my next post would be a positive fishing report of my own. I’m glad to say that is indeed the case.

I can’t report a bunch of fish or a red hot bite. In fact, I only caught three fish in a couple of short afternoon outings. That said, all three were different species, and all were species I’d not yet caught this year. Bartrams bass, redbreast sunfish and shoal bass bring the 2026 species total to nine.

All were caught on Rebel Ultra-Finesse Jigs, which I was taking photos of as my primary objective both afternoons. They are brand new from Rebel. In fact, they were just released on Lurenet today! Because they are so new, I’m pretty confident I caught the first-ever Bartrams and Shoal bass on them. 

To check out the catches, hop on over to Fishing on Foot on YouTube.

As a bonus, the Bartrams bass gets me started on this year’s Georgia Bass Slam. 

Shoal bass are a qualifying species also, but the minimum size for keeping a shoal bass is 15 inches, so that’s also the minimum for a Slam qualifying fish, and mine was only 11 inches. Good chance I can find a bigger one eventually this year.

All three were fun to catch!

Spring Springing

Flowers in my yard suggest that spring is springing,  and fishing reports I have been hearing concur. I need to go experience the fishing part myself for the change to be fully real to me.

The catch-logging/social app Fishbrain really lit up last week, with folks all around my region sharing pics of bass, trout, crappie, bluegills and more. Someone is always catching something — even when conditions are bad — but last week saw more than a small uptick in fish pics shares!

My buddy Jeff (Str8slayem on Fishbrain) is among those who really caught them well. Largemouth, smallmouth, spots, Coosa bass, rock bass, crappie and bluegill were just some of fish he found during recent creek outings. Two of his most productive baits during recent outings, both from Rebel Lures, were a LIVEflex Cata Crawler and a Crickhopper.

The Crickhopper is one of my go-to lures for creeks and rivers, but I’ve seldom thrown it this early in the year. Based on his recent success, I’m going to have to try it my next time out!

I’m not sure when that next time out will be, but it kind of seems like it needs to be as soon as I can make it happen! Hoping the next post will be my own report!

Better than No Fish

I knew pickings might be slim. While some trout can be found year-round in the river section I chose to hit, it’s pretty stocking dependent, and this year’s first spring stocking hasn’t happened yet — although it should be very soon!

I wasn’t too worried about catching prospects. Days are finally long enough to allow for quick after-work outings, the weather was good, and no one needed an afternoon ride anywhere. I was glad to be going fishing, and a near-home spot with quick and easy bank access seemed like the best plan.

Of course the afternoon’s start falsely elevated my hopes. I made my first cast to the far bank, beneath a bridge, and a fish bit almost immediately. Not long after I was admiring and then releasing a beautiful brown trout. 

I fired back to the same spot to no avail and then proceeded to work that spot and another nearby thoroughly before moving to another access area.

To shorten the story, I ended up hooking one more brown trout at the other spot and get it almost to the rod tip before it got off. That was it, though. Zero other fish caught, strikes detected or followers seen. 

Oh well. One fish beats no fish, and even no fish beats staying home and only wondering what the fishing would have been like!