As thousands of fans waited outside the BOK Center in Tulsa to witness the final weigh in of the 2016 Bassmaster Classic, rumors swirled like the Oklahoma wind that stirred the bass fishing world today. Word was Edwin Evers had caught considerably more than the 25 pounds that the BassTrak system had credited to him. He had caught enough, it was speculated, to surpass fellow home state favorite and two-day tournament leader Jason Christie in Sunday’s final round.

Fans were in for a show.

Anglers had bemoaned the slow bite they endured under calm conditions on Friday and Saturday. Many said they welcomed the wind that was to blow hard from the south on Sunday. “It’s got to make things better,” said Evers. It did. For him.

Evers started the day about 6 pounds out of the lead and quickly caught an initial limit that weighed an estimated 18 pounds. BassTrak had him at 25 pounds for the day when it stopped updating results. In any case, he had made the most of the opportunities the whitecapped lake had afforded him.

Christie worked as best he could around a navy of bass boats. Each time he moved they followed and often pushed into the pockets he was fishing. “I have to pick a side of the pocket because there will be boats on the other every time go into one. I have to fish what I think is the best side and just know that the other side will probably be unfishable on my way out,” said Christie.

When Evers stepped to the scale the bass fishing world found out that his fish weighed an astounding 29 pounds, 3 ounces.

Christie answered with 12-09.

Evers won by over 10 pounds, 60-07 to 50-02.

Christie said he will be less bothered by the loss, and all of the various contributing factors because he didn’t come close to winning. “Had gotten beat by a pound or two, I’d probably be a little upset. Dude, I got beat down,” he said. “I’m gonna go to sleep tonight because I just got beat. Sometimes in fishing you just get beat.”

Christie admitted that his game plan started to deteriorate during last Sunday’s practice round, not just on each successive competition day. “When we got that wind and everything started warming up, it started going away. Those females are not predictable (under such conditions). They just move around. I was concerned, but I thought I could ride it out. I didn’t.”

Evers on the other hand, went to a part of the lake he would not have imagined could produce the win. When one door closed, the season veteran of the Elite Series noticed that another door had opened.

December’s flooding put the lower end of Grand Lake high and muddy. “I know that lower end really well and I wanted it to go down down there but it was just muddy. It was not anything like I needed it to be. It’s just weird how these things work out. Here I am Classic Champion on a whole complete end of the lake that you could have told me it could be won on and I’d have said ‘no, there’s no way’ but I’m sitting here next to this trophy.

Evers adjusted by going way back in the Elk River to a flat that required wind in order to produce fish because the water is crystal clear and shallow. The same flood that took the lower lake out of Ever’s game plan also deposited a lot of logs on the clear water flat that eventually gave up his winning fish.

The Elk holds a special place in Evers’ heart. “It’s my most favorite place in the world. Ever. Me and my son go camping there. But we camp way up it. That water is flowing all the time. It’s crystal clear. It’s beautiful and it hits a flat. This flat is wide but it’s shallow and that water has got to go over that flat.”

Evers caught his first day fish on a MegaBass Flat Slab, “fishing rocks in a mid-lake area. That was a dying pattern. After only catching 4 fish I thought I’d let the Classic slip through my hands.

“The 2nd day I went into what I call damage control. At 10:30 I didn’t have a bite. I ran way up the river and I started flipping my all-time confidence bait – a Zoom Z Hog – and a War Eagle spinnerbait and I had the 17 pounds the 2nd day.”

He caught all of Sunday’s fish on a small jig with a craw trailer. “I caught those fish all on a little Andy’s Custom Jig. It’s a really cool jig. Their one of the few companies that still has living round rubber – something that you have to have in that clear water situation. I caught them pretty early. Once the wind started blowing it all happened in an hour-and-a-half or two hours.”

As for technique with the 5/16-oz. jig, Evers considered water clarity. “I was making long presentations, casts or long pitches with 12 lb. Bass Pro fluorocarbon line. I’ve got a Zoom Little Critter Craw trailer. It’s just a Midwest, highland reservoir type bait. In that flat there are little veins where the current has made it just a little deeper and you’ve got those laydowns that they use as a home but the best laydowns had a little undercut right next to them to where there’s kind of a little dark spot right there where they could hide. Those fish were just sitting there, facing up in the current.”

The win is a fulfilling one, to say the least. Evers shares, “When I saw shooting stars as a kid, my dream was to win the Bassmaster Classic.”

As for his young son, after seeing Dad win the Classic, what does he want to be? A paleontologist.

 

2016 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro 3/4-3/6
Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees, Tulsa  OK.
(ANGLER) Standings Day 3

Angler                   Hometown              No./lbs-oz  Pts   Total $$$

1.  Edwin Evers            Talala, OK              14  60-07    0 $300,000.00
Day 1: 4   13-12     Day 2: 5   17-08     Day 3: 5   29-03
2.  Jason Christie         Park Hill, OK           14  50-02    0  $50,000.00
Day 1: 5   20-14     Day 2: 5   16-11     Day 3: 4   12-09
3.  Aaron Martens          Leeds, AL               15  46-05    0  $40,000.00
Day 1: 5   13-08     Day 2: 5   16-13     Day 3: 5   16-00
4.  Bill Lowen             Brookville, IN          15  45-11    0  $30,000.00
Day 1: 5   16-09     Day 2: 5   13-15     Day 3: 5   15-03
5.  Randy Howell           Guntersville, AL        15  45-10    0  $25,000.00
Day 1: 5   17-06     Day 2: 5   11-13     Day 3: 5   16-07
6.  Todd Faircloth         Jasper, TX              15  44-15    0  $22,000.00
Day 1: 5   14-15     Day 2: 5   16-15     Day 3: 5   13-01
7.  Dean Rojas             Lake Havasu City, AZ    13  42-11    0  $21,500.00
Day 1: 5   12-07     Day 2: 3   11-14     Day 3: 5   18-06
8.  Alton Jones            Lorena, TX              14  42-08    0  $21,000.00
Day 1: 5   17-13     Day 2: 4   11-12     Day 3: 5   12-15
9.  Keith Combs            Huntington, TX          13  40-13    0  $20,500.00
Day 1: 5   12-14     Day 2: 3   11-06     Day 3: 5   16-09
10. Greg Hackney           Gonzales, LA            15  40-09    0  $20,000.00
Day 1: 5   16-02     Day 2: 5   09-13     Day 3: 5   14-10
11. Bobby Lane Jr.         Lakeland, FL            12  37-15    0  $15,000.00
Day 1: 4   11-02     Day 2: 3   09-12     Day 3: 5   17-01
12. Brandon Palaniuk       Rathdrum, ID            12  37-15    0  $14,500.00
Day 1: 4   12-07     Day 2: 4   12-07     Day 3: 4   13-01
13. Brent Ehrler           Newport Beach, CA       11  37-03    0  $14,250.00
Day 1: 3   10-13     Day 2: 3   07-07     Day 3: 5   18-15
14. Micah Frazier          Newnan, GA              15  36-15    0  $14,000.00
Day 1: 5   13-02     Day 2: 5   13-10     Day 3: 5   10-03
15. James Watson           Nixa, MO                13  35-08    0  $13,750.00
Day 1: 5   13-10     Day 2: 5   14-07     Day 3: 3   07-07
16. Casey Ashley           Donalds, SC             12  33-04    0  $13,000.00
Day 1: 5   15-05     Day 2: 4   11-02     Day 3: 3   06-13
17. Boyd Duckett           Guntersville, AL        12  33-02    0  $12,900.00
Day 1: 3   08-08     Day 2: 4   10-02     Day 3: 5   14-08
18. David Walker           Sevierville, TN         12  33-00    0  $12,800.00
Day 1: 5   14-02     Day 2: 5   15-04     Day 3: 2   03-10
19. Skeet Reese            Auburn, CA              11  32-03    0  $12,700.00
Day 1: 3   12-12     Day 2: 4   10-09     Day 3: 4   08-14
20. John Crews Jr          Salem, VA               12  31-13    0  $12,600.00
Day 1: 3   07-02     Day 2: 5   16-10     Day 3: 4   08-01
21. Matt Herren            Ashville, AL            11  30-15    0  $12,400.00
Day 1: 5   16-04     Day 2: 2   05-12     Day 3: 4   08-15
22. Greg Vinson            Wetumpka, AL             9  30-03    0  $12,300.00
Day 1: 5   18-01     Day 2: 2   05-12     Day 3: 2   06-06
23. Marty Robinson         Lyman, SC               10  28-07    0  $14,700.00
Day 1: 4   14-12     Day 2: 2   04-10     Day 3: 4   09-01
24. Chris Lane             Guntersville, AL        12  27-05    0  $12,100.00
Day 1: 5   11-01     Day 2: 4   09-00     Day 3: 3   07-04
25. Ott DeFoe              Knoxville, TN           11  26-02    0  $12,000.00
Day 1: 5   11-01     Day 2: 4   08-07     Day 3: 2   06-10
BIG BASS OF TOURNAMENT
Marty Robinson           Lyman, SC           07-00      $2,500.00
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