Too tall Jones: Big man from Waco wins first Bassmaster Classic
Alton Jones' life will never be the same now.
The Waco angler won the 2008 Bassmasters Classic last month on South Carolina's Lake Hartwell, a victory akin to a Super Bowl championship for an NFL quarterback.
Except there's one big difference. In professional bass fishing, the spotlight is completely on you as you compete on a watery stage where weird things happen, often for no apparent reason. And with no teammates to help you find fish in whatever elements Mother Nature tosses your way, you either bask in the glory or shuffle off into obscurity -- alone.
Jones enjoyed the good end of the individual sport at the 38th annual Classic. He fished flawlessly over three days, landing 28 of 29 bass that hit the lures he crawled slowly along stump-studded creek channels and ditches in water ranging 28-40 feet deep. Jones ultimately parlayed his 15 heaviest bass into a 49-pound, 7-ounce winning total that gave him more than a 5-pound cushion between second-place finisher Cliff Pace of Petal, Miss.
Five pounds may not sound like much of a margin, but it made a huge difference when it came time to cut the paychecks. Pace's second-place finish netted him $45,000.
Jones earned $500,000.
The 44-year-old pro was sitting in the parking lot of a Bank of America branch in Greenville, S.C., when I caught up with him via cell phone two days after winning the sport's most hallowed title. He was giddy about entering the bank lobby, where he was preparing to make the largest deposit of his life.
"They are going to have a cow when I walk in there with this check," Jones said. "I deposited a $100,000 check at a bank in California once, and the teller did a double take on the check, then told me she was going to have to get the manager. I would imagine I will be talking to the manager about this one, too. I'm going to enjoy this."
Others wanted to quiz Jones about his most recent BASS victory, which was his fifth in 16 years on tour. He also got a cell phone call from the White House.
"The lady on the line said she had someone who very much wanted to speak with me," Jones said. "I told her, 'Yes, ma'am, I can make myself available.' Then she said she was going to connect me with the president."
Jones, an 11-time Classic qualifier, has shared the casting deck of a bass boat with President Bush before. The two fished together when Bush was one of the owners of the Texas Rangers baseball team, before he became Texas' governor. They have spoken on the phone since and shook hands a couple of years ago on a golf course in Waco, near the President's ranch in Crawford.
Jones said President Bush offered his congratulations on the Classic victory, talked fishing, then issued an invitation to him and his family to visit the White House in March. The President also talked to Jones' 15-year-old son, Alton Jr., for about 5 minutes.
The conversation with President Bush was paramount in a long list of Jones' experiences after claiming the world champion trophy.
Within hours of a post-tournament press conference, BASS loaded Jones on a private jet and flew him to Bristol, Conn., where he appeared on a number of ESPN talk shows the following morning. And throughout it all, he did countless interviews with reporters from newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations from around the globe, all of whom wanted to know how he pulled it off and what it feels like to be BASS' newest posterboy.
A devout Christian who wears the Bible verse Acts 12 on his tournament jersey, Jones was quick to point out that a power much larger than he guided him to the monumental victory he has been dreaming about since fishing as a kid.
"I don't want anyone to think that Alton Jones is the great one who won the Classic," he said. "God chose to bestow that blessing upon me. That's the long and the short of it.
"Winning the Bassmaster Classic is everything that I ever dreamed that it would and could be. I watched as the first 10 Classics I fished were won by my peers. I was excited for each one of those guys, and I can remember getting choked up seeing them take that victory lap that we all dream about. I wasn't disappointed when I got to do it myself, and the neat thing is my wife and kids got to make the lap with me. God gave us all a great day that we can remember for the rest of our lives."
Jones collected the victory on the strength of a brilliant deep-water performance under some of the most unfavorable weather conditions imaginable.
"I'd classify Day 1 as brutal," Jones said. "It was cold and rainy with some wind and sleet mixed in. It was beautiful and warm on Day 2, then it turned cold and nasty again on Day 3."
Through it all, Jones was able to maintain sharp focus by sticking to a crafty game plan that he, at times, rehearsed out loud as he crawled his various baits slowly across Hartwell's stumpy bottom. He summarized his strategy as one that involved taking "baby steps."
"My plan going in was to stay with the basics, set attainable goals and go after them one by one," he said. "Rather than thinking about catching a limit, I focused on two things every day: catch the next fish and make every cast count. I tried to be efficient with my time and emotions, and I paid close attention to every cast and presentation. I fished extremely slow, which paid off for me on the final day when I only got five solid bites and put every fish in the boat."
Jones used three lures to win the Classic. He caught a few keepers using a Cordell CC spoon, but his bread-and-butter baits were a pair of prototype jigs made by Booyah.
The jigs -- a Pigskin football head and a AJs Go2 -- were adorned by an extra long brown/purple skirt. Matched with a black/blue YUM chunk trailer, the bulky jigs displaced gobs of water and provided a large profile the bass seemed to prefer.
Jones chose the odd color scheme for his jigs based on a heads-up discovery he made during pretournament practice.
"I caught several bass in practice that had crawfish pinchers sticking out of their throats," he said. "I made my lure color selection based on the color of those crawfish."
So what's next for the newest Classic champ?
With a busy 2008 Elite Series schedule about to get under way this month in Florida, Jones already has set his sights on qualifying for his 12th Classic in 17 seasons. He won't have far to drive if he makes it. BASS recently announced its 2009 Classic will be on the Red River out of Shreveport, La.
In the meantime, Jones intends to stay busy promoting his sponsors and being a strong ambassador for his sport.
"I am not going at this just looking out for my own best interest," Jones said. "My main goals are to help my sponsors get what they need out of this title and to tell the world what a great sport bass fishing is. I feel a big responsibility to be a spokesman for the sport. I am looking forward to that opportunity."
• Matt Williams' e-mail address is mattwilliams@netdot.com.
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