The bass on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees are in transition, and all of the 55 anglers in the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro are doing a decent job staying ahead of them.
But on Friday, one angler — a local favorite who lives right down the road — did it better than anyone else.
Jason Christie, a Park Hill, Okla., pro who lives just an hour away from the lake, brought five bass to the scales that weighed 20 pounds, 14 ounces and took the opening-round lead in the Super Bowl of professional bass fishing. Alabamian Greg Vinson, who almost missed the event due to the lingering effects of a concussion, is second with 18-1, and Texas pro Alton Jones is third with 17-13.
Even after a big day, Christie admitted the fishing was tough.
“It was slow. It was a grind, but it was a grind in practice,” Christie said. “I honestly didn’t think I had that kind of weight, but the fish up here just fool you because they’re thick and heavy.
“I’m not getting a lot of bites. I think the most I’ve had in one day is nine — and that’s including practice.”
Getting just nine bites during an eight-hour day forces an angler to exercise patience and remain focused through the downtime so he doesn’t miss the next bite when it finally comes.
Being a local favorite, Christie wasn’t surprised that he drew a large gallery of spectators Friday. He hoped to feed off the energy of the home crowd, but he said all of the downtime made it tough to do that.