Deuces Wild

Sometimes in fishing, as in life, it’s easier to be known for what you did not accomplish than for all the times you managed to cross the goal line.

Our sport is filled with countless “what ifs,” starting with and revolving around the misery known as Jim Bitter at the 1989 Bassmaster Classic. But for one photographer’s request, and one misplaced measuring board, and one flopping fish, he would be known as a Classic winner, and multiple-time BASS winner, instead of the unluckiest sad sack to compete.

He’s not the only one. Roland never won a Classic. Fifty years later, his son is trying to close out that family business. Bill Dance never won one, either. Gerald Swindle has two AOY titles, arguably the sport’s hardest hardware to obtain, but you’re just as likely to hear about the fact that he’s come close, but never won, an Elite Series event. Close counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but not necessarily in fishing.

Sometimes people make light of it. Back when Mark Zona was still a hot and heavy competitor on regional circuits instead of a major media figure, he won the 2003 EverStart Northern Division points title by 6 points. Beating a stacked field is one thing, but almost as memorable is the fact that he was the bridesmaid in three of the circuit’s four events that year.

“You know what’s sad? I was at a regional tournament a couple weeks ago and I overheard someone say, `Man, I Zona’d today,'” he told FLW Outdoors. “Dude, I’m like the Cubs.” His wife even got him a license plate that read “Zona-2.”

Of course, 13 years later (in this case, 13 being a lucky number), the Cubs went on to win the World Series with a dramatic Game Seven victory. Once you’ve got that trophy in hand, you’re neither Capital-L-Losers nor also-rans anymore. You are a World Champion. At least for a year, there’s only one, but the ring lasts forever.

That’s where we found Jason Christie this month. It’s not like his career hadn’t been a success so far. He’d excelled at FLW and won six Bassmaster events before leaving for the Bass Pro Tour. Deciding that was a mistake – and that only a Classic win would salve his wounds after multiple near misses (along with a second place finish in the 2017 AOY race) – he rampaged through the Opens to get back to the Elites, a ridiculously uphill climb in and of itself. Then he won an Elite event his first year back. Still, that only got one of the two monkeys off his lanky back. He said he still had “unfinished business.” He finished it off, taking what had been a borderline Hall of Fame career with plenty of miles left on the treads, and likely cementing a spot in Springfield. The fact that he won it at Hartwell, where he came so ridiculously close in 2018, made it all that sweeter.

Making it sweeter for the rest of us, at least from a poetic sort of karma perspective, is that he did it after the passing of Aaron Martens. I know nothing about the relationship between Christie and Martens, if any. With no disrespect meant to either one, I don’t think they had much in common. Oklahoma vs. California/Alabama. Basketball star vs. volleyball player. Finesse guru vs. power fisherman – although that assumption sort of got turned on its head when Christie used a spinning rod to help his Classic chances. But Aaron, despite winning three AOY titles, three US Opens and multiple tournaments across multiple circuits, was in some way the patron saint of unfinished business. His four Bassmaster Classic runner-up finishes were his calling card, and his albatross. He’ll never have another chance to make that right. Nevertheless, it seems only fitting that several years after Martens left B.A.S.S. many of the competitors’ boats and motors had decals honoring him – not as a four-time Classic runner-up, but as a first-class person and first-ballot Hall of Famer.