Jason Christie Winning Setup (2026 Tombigbee)
Jason Christie's Winning Setup
The 3 Rods That Took Tombigbee
When Jason Christie won the Bassmaster Elite on Tombigbee, he did it with three Falcon rods — not a tackle shop's worth of options. A pitching stick, a swim jig, and a Head Turner. That's the whole setup. Here's how each one earned its spot and why they still beat more complicated rigs.
A lot of anglers overthink their rod selection. Christie doesn't. After years of stage-tested Elite-level fishing, he has pared his lineup down to rods that fit exactly what he wants to do on the water — and then he trusts them. The Tombigbee win was a perfect case study: three rods, three very different presentations, one event. Here's what he had rigged and why.
The Three Rods on the Deck at Tombigbee
Each rod Christie reached for on Tombigbee was built for a specific job, but he chose each of them because it can stretch beyond that job when the day calls for it. That's the thread running through his whole lineup — technique-specific, but never one-trick.
Pitching Stick
The 7'3" JC Flippin' — his go-to for pitching lily pads, stumps, and basic bank targets. Half-ounce and 3/8-ounce presentations, a Yum Wooly Bug, and a rod he has "used for years."
Swim Jig
The 7'2" Cara Swim Jig. Soft tip for braided line, enough backbone to steer fish out of cover. Christie used it to land the biggest fish of the final day.
Head Turner
The 6'10" Cara Head Turner — the MVP of the week. Half-ounce Covert spinnerbait tied on. The rod that did the bulk of the work and boated the majority of the weigh-in fish.
Why Christie Fishes Falcon in the First Place
Before breaking down the three rods themselves, it's worth understanding why Christie is on Falcon to begin with. He could fish anything he wants. He picks Falcon for three reasons — and all three show up in the Tombigbee setup.
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1Weight — or Lack of It
The first thing Christie notices picking up a Falcon is how light it is. On the water all day, rod weight compounds. A light rod is the difference between fishing sharp at 4 p.m. and going through the motions because your arm is cooked. Every rod in his Tombigbee setup is built to be fished hard for eight hours without thinking about it.
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2Components That Stay Right
Guides, cork, reel seats, finishes — Christie calls out component quality because he's watched cheaper rods fail on him. The Falcon Expert topwater rod he still fishes is years old and still in the boat. He's not sending rods back. He's fishing them.
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3Technique-Specific, Not Technique-Locked
Every Falcon rod is built for a technique — but designed to be versatile inside that technique. The Head Turner is a spinnerbait rod. It's also Christie's bladed jig rod. It's also his little jig rod. One rod, multiple baits, because the action was designed that way from the start.
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4Price-Point Options Within the Family
Cara, Expert, LowRider, BuCoo — different series at different price points. Christie fishes the Cara on tour, but he knows the LowRider is built on the same blueprint for anglers who want the same fit at a different price. That's why you can build Christie's exact Tombigbee setup at either tier.
Matching Rods to Christie's Three Presentations
Each rod gets its job because of a specific blend of tip action and backbone. This is where the technique matters — not every 7-foot rod is a pitching stick, and not every medium-heavy is a swim jig rod. Here's what to look for if you want to build the same setup.
Pitching Stick — The JC Flippin'
Christie's pitching rod is the 7'3" JC Flippin' — a rod he says just fits everything he wants to do going down the bank. Pitching lily pads, pitching stumps, 3/8 and 1/2-ounce jigs and Texas-rigged plastics. It's the basic bank-beating setup, and it's the one he has caught more bass on than he can count.
What makes it a pitching stick and not just a flipping rod is the length and balance. 7'3" gives you the reach to make accurate pitches into tight targets without loading a full overhead cast. The backbone is stiff enough to drive a single hook through a fish, but the rod isn't so broomstick-heavy that you lose feel on a 3/8-ounce weight. It's the sweet spot for anglers whose day is spent making a thousand accurate short casts.
Swim Jig — The 7'2" Cara
The Cara Swim Jig is the rod Christie caught the biggest fish of the week on, and it's a perfect example of how a "soft" rod can still handle heavy fish in cover. He fishes braided line on a swim jig — which means something has to flex. It can't be the line, it can't be the hook, so it has to be the rod. The softer tip lets fish load up and get the bait all the way into their mouth before the rod loads and the hook buries.
Once a fish is pinned, though, that same rod has enough backbone lower in the blank to force fish out of grass, wood, and pad stems. It's also an underrated buzzbait and whopper-plopper rod — anything moving on the surface where fish need a split second to commit before you set. Any time you're fishing a moving bait on braid, this rod is the play.
Head Turner — The MVP
If one rod gets credit for the Tombigbee win, it's the Head Turner. Christie had a half-ounce Covert spinnerbait tied on, and that combination did the bulk of the work. The Cara Head Turner is 6'10", which usually makes people ask why a bigger angler would pick a shorter rod. The answer is in the reel seat placement — it sits lower on the blank, which leaves more rod above the seat. The rod fishes like a 7'2" or 7'3" while loading like a 6'10". You get length on the cast and leverage on the fight without the fatigue of a longer handle.
The tip is the part Christie watches. When that spinnerbait is coming back and a fish is tracking it, the rod tip tells him before anything else does. When the fish commits, the tip loads for a split second — letting the bass actually get the bait — and then he crosses their eyes. That is exactly what a spinnerbait rod is supposed to do, and this one does it better than most.
Let the Rod Tip Do the Work
The common thread through all three of Christie's setups is the tip. The pitching stick has enough tip to load the cast on a light weight. The swim jig has a soft tip so fish can load up on braid. The Head Turner has a tip he literally watches to time his hookset. A good rod tip lets fish eat the bait — and that's what turns bites into hooksets.
It's why Christie kept a rod in his boat for years on a technique he didn't initially love it for. He picked up the 7'2" Cara Swim Jig years ago, ignored it for a while, and now won't leave the boat without it — because that tip does things other rods can't do with braided line. When you shop a technique rod, pay attention to what the tip is designed to do. That's where the action lives.
The Bottom Line
The lesson from Tombigbee isn't that you need a dozen rods to win a tournament — it's the opposite. Christie won with three. Each rod had a specific job, each one was paired to a specific bait and line type, and each one was picked because the action matches the presentation. That's the foundation of every smart bass-fishing setup: pick rods that fit the technique, not rods that look impressive in a rod locker.
If you're building a shallow-water setup, start with these three — a pitching stick, a swim jig rod, and a Head Turner spinnerbait rod. Christie wins Elite events with them. They'll cover most of what you run into on any given day on a Southern reservoir or a Northern natural lake.
Fish What the Pros Fish
Browse the full Cara, Expert, and LowRider lineups and build out the same three-rod setup that took the Elite on Tombigbee.
