Jason Christie is ready to get back to a high-risk, high-reward mentality for the 2020 Bass Pro Tour season. Photo by Josh Gassmann

By Jason Christie - October 17, 2019 | From MajorLeagueFishing.com

High risk, high reward. It’s how I played the game of professional bass fishing when I was performing at my best. And it’s how I’m going to be fishing from now on.

Tournament bass fishing is a sport where you’re going to fail the most. Every competitor – even one as great as Kevin VanDam – has a terrible winning percentage when compared to other sports. Even though I know this

As much as I love to compete on the Bassmaster Elite Series, it is nice to bring it down a few notches and enjoy a more relaxed element of the fishing industry. I got a good dose of this over the Labor Day weekend during the Jason Christie Children’s Fishing Derby, which was part of the Cherokee National Holiday.

This annual event brings together all the Cherokee tribes and visitors from all over to the Cherokee Nation capital in Tahlequah, Okla. There are all kinds of activities from softball and volleyball tournaments, to arts and crafts, a rodeo, an inter-tribal

It's shaping up to be quite a month for professional anglers from the state of Oklahoma.

Last week, Bradley Hallman and Zack Birge finished 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the FLW Tour event at Georgia's Lake Lanier. Now, fellow Sooner State residents Jason Christie and Edwin Evers sit atop the opening-round standings in the 48th Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina.

Christie, who finished 2nd to traveling partner Evers two years ago at Grand Lake in their home state, caught day 1's lone 20-pound stringer. His 20-14 haul gave him a 1-05 advantage over Evers and a larger