A single dock on the Chowan River carried Jason Christie to the 10th B.A.S.S. victory of his career. The Oklahoma pro won the Maxam Tire Bassmaster Elite at Pasquotank River/Albemarle Sound in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, with 92 pounds, 7 ounces over four days — and he reckons he caught more than 28 of those pounds off one structure another angler told him about.
Competitor David Mullins pointed Christie to the dock after Day 2. It rescued a week in which the Dry Creek angler never found a rhythm, picking off scattered fish two feet down in six or seven feet of water.
"It is the best dock I have ever fished. It took care of me yesterday and today. Without that, I wouldn't be standing here," Christie said. "It was something about the current. When I would pull up there would be baitfish jumping out of the water."
The win, his second of 2026, made him the seventh angler in history to record double-digit Bassmaster victories, alongside Kevin VanDam, Rick Clunn, Denny Brauer, Larry Nixon, Edwin Evers and Roland Martin. It nearly didn't happen: Christie built his total from only 19 bass and blanked on a limit during Day 2.
"Even today, I thought my luck was going to run out," he said. "I could go up there tomorrow and not catch one. It was so random where I was catching them."
Just as unlikely was his go-to lure — an urchin-style soft plastic in watermelon he grabbed almost on a whim at a Scheels event, fished on a 2/0 Trokar Frog Hook with a small drop-shot weight.
"I'm 100 percent serious when I say I don't know the name of them," Christie said. "I bought one, tried it at home and caught two bass on it. I had to work an event at Scheels, and I bought three or four there. I won using that one."
"I don't know how I'm feeling. Not good," Anaya said. "The first day bit me in the rear end... It was a heck of a comeback, though. I almost pulled it off."
Ohio's Hunter Shryock rounded out the podium at 86-10, boating the event's only 30-pound bag on the final day with a glidebait and a Berkley Chop Block.
"It was a great week. I went a long way to fish one creek and it provided each day," Shryock said. "Even after those two bass, I knew I needed another 8- to 10-pounder to win the event. I felt like I capitalized the best I could."
The result also reshuffled the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race, with Trey McKinney moving back to the top on 554 points.
