Bassmaster Classic Winning Baits from the Past Decade
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Known as the Super Bowl of bass fishing, the Bassmaster Classic, organized by the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, is the most prestigious tournament in the sport of fishing. Each year, anglers qualify through the Bassmaster Elite Series, Opens EQ Series, Bass Nation Championship, and the College Championship to compete in this three-day tournament that the world of fishing draws their eyes upon every year. Join us for a recap below of the champions and winning baits from the past ten years of Bassmaster Classics!
2014 Lake Guntersville Classic Champion: Randy Howell
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Randy Howell took home the Classic trophy in 2014 on famed Lake Guntersville in North-Central Alabama. He relied on a Rapala DT 6 in the Demon color pattern and targeted riprap along a causeway bridge in Guntersville's Spring Creek. The Demon DT 6 has held on as one of the best-selling mid-depth crankbaits of all time, years beyond Howell's victory!
2015 Lake Hartwell Classic Champion: Casey Ashley
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South Carolina native, Casey Ashley, relied on his years of experience fishing Lake Hartwell to effectively target quality-sized spotted bass that suspended over open water and beneath Lake Hartwell's numerous boat docks. Utilizing a classic late-winter pattern, Ashley relied upon a homemade underspin (similar to the Fish Head Spin Underspin) paired with a white Zoom Super Fluke Junior and hovered his presentation above suspended fish to get them to commit.
2016 Grand Lake O' the Cherokees Classic Champion: Edwin Evers
Facing typical cold weather prespawn conditions, Oklahoma native, Edwin Evers, relied on a War Eagle Spinnerbait around shallow cover to fill the majority of his limits. He also mixed in a compact, home-made finesse jig on the final day of the event to weigh a whopping 29 pound, 3 ounce limit to keep a charging Jason Christie at bay and win the event by an outstanding 10-pound margin.
2017 Lake Conroe Classic Champion: Jordan Lee
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Rising star, Jordan Lee, took home his first Bassmaster Classic trophy on legendary Lake Conroe, just outside of Houston, TX. Utilizing offshore power-fishing techniques, Jordan Lee amassed an impressive 27 pound, 4 ounce total on the final day. To achieve victory, Lee relied on a rotation of a Citrus Shad color Strike King 5XD and a homemade football jig paired with a Strike King Rage Tail Space Monkey.
2018 Lake Hartwell Classic Champion: Jordan Lee
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Unbe-LEE-vable! Jordan Lee does the unthinkable and marks back-to-back Classic championships on famous Lake Hartwell on the border of Georgia and South Carolina. The champ rotated through a variety of baits that targeted various levels of the water column, but found consistency in targeting prespawn bass that were staging around boat docks with a wacky-rigged Strike King Ocho and a Strike King Rage Swimmer paired with a 1/4 oz ball head jig.
2019 Fort Louden and Tellico Lakes Classic Champion: Ott Defoe
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Ott Defoe stood atop the field and held the classic trophy high in front of his hometown crowd in the Bassmaster Classic's first visit to Knoxville and the Tennessee River. Cold weather and low water levels resulted in a challenge on Fort Louden and Tellico Lakes, but Ott Defoe stuck to his pattern of slinging crawfish-colored Arashi Vibes and Rapala DT 4s across shallow rock bars to achieve his biggest victory in professional bass fishing.
2020 Lake Guntersville Classic Champion: Hank Cherry
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The Classic's return to legendary Lake Guntersville was marked with a new classic champion, Hank Cherry. After a few close calls in previous Bassmaster Classic's, Cherry finally achieved victory by targeting docks and other forms of shallow cover, relying primarily on his signature Picasso Dock Rocket Jig and also the ever-popular Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer Chatterbait in the Hite's Hot Craw color, which has proven to be one of the most popular prespawn Jack Hammer colors on the market!
2021 Lake Ray Robert Classic Champion: Hank Cherry
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Déjà vu times two?! For the second time in five years, we have repeat Bassmaster Classic Champions as Hank Cherry brings home his second title on Lake Ray Roberts, near Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. This big bass fishery is known for producing some of the biggest bass in the state of Texas, but thanks to COVID and an uncertain schedule, the Classic was pushed out to June, making it the first summertime classic in many years. With hot temperatures, anglers found Ray Roberts' bucketheads harder to catch than usual, but Hank Cherry cracked the code for a second year in a row thanks to his brand new signature jerkbait from Berkley, the Stunna 112.
2022 Lake Hartwell Classic Champion: Jason Christie
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Christie conquers the Classic! After years of dominant performance on the Elite Series and numerous high-ranking finishes in previous Bassmaster Classics, there is perhaps no angler more deserving of the win than Oklahoma's Jason Christie. Splitting his time between suspended fish in deep drains and targeting shallow fish under boat docks in just feet of water, Christie had the perfect gameplan for success. In the mornings, he would use his Garmin LiveScope to target deeper fish with the Yum FF Sonar Minnow, and as the day went on and the sun got high in the sky, Christie would move to shallow docks in flat pockets and relied on a War Eagle Jiu-Jigsu Jig to bring home the most coveted title in professional fishing.
2023 Fort Louden and Tellico Lakes Classic Champion: Jeff Gustafson
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Repeating upon his success from the 2021 season, where he won a regular season Elite Series event on the same body of water, Jeff "Gussy" Gustafson became the first Canadian in history to hoist the Bassmaster Classic trophy. Utilizing his Humminbird MEGA Live, Gustafson relied on his coined "moping" technique (also known as a Damiki Rig) to target better quality smallmouth bass that were positioned between lakes Fort Louden and Tellico. Although he was surrounded by numerous competitors on days one and two, Gussy felt confident in his trusty Smeltinator Jig Head paired with a Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ to bring the classic trophy home to Canada for the first time in history.
2024 Grand Lake O' the Cherokees Classic Champion: Justin Hamner
Justin Hamner of Alabama put on a show at the 2024 Bassmaster Classic, utilizing his prowess with a hard jerkbait and line sonar to target above-average sized largemouth on the 46,500-acre highland reservoir. No stranger to success on the biggest stage in bass fishing, the Megabass Vision 110 Jerkbait once again proved to anglers worldwide why it is the best jerkbait money can buy!
