Bassmaster Classic #48 is in the books from Greenville South Carolina and it measured up to its moniker of the Super Bowl of bass fishing. Before the tournament this year there was a big difference from when BASS made Lake Hartwell the home of Classic #45 in 2015.
This year the weather was not as extreme as to when the morning temps hit 9 degrees the opening morning of the Classic in 2015. This year the weather was on track to be in the range of seasonal temps that you would expect on Lake Hartwell at this time of the year in fact many of the fishermen that you talked to at the Classic Media event expected the bass to start to hit the beds in the next few days, maybe turning this Classic into a sight fishing event before it ends, but that did not come completely true.
This year was no different as to who was picked to win this year’s event at Hartwell, but there were more anglers this year than in the past that thought that they could fish their strengths and had the confidence that this was their year to possibly hoist that Classic trophy over their heads.
On day one Jason Christie jumped into the lead with a 20-14lbs bag of Hartwell bass. Jason was the only angler to bring a 20lb bag to the stage out of the 53 anglers that took to the water in day 1. Following Jason in second place was Edwin Evers with 19-9lbs and taking up 3rd place was Jordan Lee who bagged 18-10lbs as he was surprised at his day one finish. Talking to anglers they were confident that Hartwell was getting warmer by the day, and they all thought that the bass were starting to come to them as they headed towards the bank.
One factor that happened during day one on the water was by Aaron Martens as he was assessed a 2lb penalty for having to many bass in his livewell. Aaron explains he had broke a bass off, and on his next cast he was able to snag the line with the bass still hooked. Hand lining the bass to the boat he unhooked it, and put into his live well, at that point he had 6 bass in his livewell. As he sat down to gather his thoughts of what had just happened he did not remove a bass from his livewell before his next cast. At weigh in he was assessed a 2lb penalty dropping his day one weight from 16-02lbs to 14-02lbs.
Weather was forecasted to change on day two, and the takeoff was delayed by 20 minutes as storms, and lightning rolled through the Lake Hartwell area. Anglers had varying results as they hit the stage, but as day two was put into the books Jason Christie came out with a 4-11lb lead over Edwin Evers and pulling into 3rd was Micah Frazier with the best bag of the day at 18-11lbs. Jordan Lee’s hope of a second Classic win took a bit of a hit on the second day as he only bagged 12-02lbs knocking him down to 6th place 6-08lb behind Christie.
For the last two years the Classic has been won by comeback days on day 3. In 2016 it was Edwin Evers who posted a 23-09lb bag on Jason Christie to take the Classic trophy out of his hands on Grand Lake, and it was Jordan Lee who came from behind to spoil Brent Ehrler’s first Classic win last year at Lake Conroe.
The night before the final day the Lake Hartwell area had storms that once again moved through the area setting the stage for a bright sunny day the last day of this years Classic. Bright sun, and little to no wind is what greeted the top 25 anglers as they left the dock that final morning.
Jason Christie struggled the first part of his day to even put a bass into his boat only to catch his first bass well into the afternoon. Brent Ehrler seemed to be having a good day on the water, boating a 3lb and a 3 1/2lb spotted bass on back to back casts, but the one that was making the biggest move was last years Classic winner Jordan Lee.
This was going to be a shoot out as they all were ready to hit the Classic stage for the Day 3 weigh in. Before the Top 6 were introduced to the crowd Brent Ehrler was sitting in the Classic hot seat but that only lasted one angler, the first angler was Jordan Lee to hit the weight in stage. Jordan weighted in 16-5lbs giving him a 3-day total of 47-01lbs knocking Brent Ehrler to 2nd place with a total weight of 46-01lbs. When Jason Christie weighted in last he was only able to bring 4 bass to the stage that weighted 8-11lbs giving and crowning Jordan Lee his second Classic.
Jordan joins Kevin Van Dam and Rick Clunn in winning back to back Classics, and also joins Bobby Murry, Hank Parker and George Cochran as two-time Classic winners in BASS record books.
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By: Scott M. Petersen