BY DON SHOOPMAN

THE DAILY IBERIAN

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — And then there was one.

There was little suspense who was on top, alone, in the world of competitive bass fishing Sunday afternoon after the last drop of fish slime touched the scale inside the Legacy Arena at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center, approximately 75 miles away from Lake Guntersville, the site of the 50th annual Bassmaster Classic.

Hank Cherry Jr. led after the first day on Friday when he opened up a commanding lead with a 29-pound limit of five bass and came back on Saturday with 16 pounds, 10 ounces, on Saturday, which dawned with the temperature at 32 degrees. He closed it out after a slow start on the third and final day with 19 pounds, 8 ounces, for a total of 65 pounds, 5 ounces, to the roar of a large crowd inside the BJCC.

The Lincolnton, North Carolina, Bassmaster Elite veteran of eight years said he had a way to overcome the first two hours sans a nibble on the last day of fishing. He was fishing his fifth Bassmaster Classic.

Cherry, 46, shared the story with the crowd after being prompted by B.A.S.S. emcee Dave Mercer, a showman extraordinaire.

“I talked to (fellow Bassmaster Classic qualifier) Paul Mueller in the boatyard, and he told me the devil was gonna try to get in my head today. He said just tell the devil to get out of your boat. He said tell him you don’t have time for him,” Cherry said after coming to grips with his emotions.

“That’s what I did. I caught my first fish and then I lost a big one. I could hear those voices in my head, but I didn’t listen to them. I just went out and caught four more.”

He owned the gleaming trophy that 52 other pro bass fishermen coveted in the golden anniversary of the storied Bassmaster Classic. Two of them hailed from Louisiana — Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia and Darold Gleason of Many.

Cherry also collected $300,000 of the $1 million purse.

Todd Auten of Lake Wylie, South Carolina, finished nearly 7 pounds behind the winner to earn $50,000 for second place, plus $2,500 for scoring the Berkley Big Bass of the Classic, a 7-pouind, 9-ounce “hawg” he caught on a windy Friday.. His 20-pound, 10-ounce, limit on Sunday gave him 58 pounds, 10 ounces.

Those Carolinans were among the Top 25 Classic competitors who made the cut Saturday. Sumrall rallied on the second day but finished 3 ounces short of the cutoff line with a three-day total 25 pounds, 10 ounces. The New Iberian enjoying his third year on the Elite circuit won $10,000.

Louisiana’s only other Classic qualifier, Darold Gleason, finished 35th with 21 pounds, 3 ounces, worth $10,000.

Cherry, who finished third in the 2013 Classic at due to a key bass that came unbuttoned on the last day at Oklahoma’s Cherokee Lake, had the bass’ number from the start in 2020. It was a bass angler’s dream on the water Friday.

He nailed two 7-pound, 2-ounce bass and the others that beefed up his stringer mostly on a Z-Man Jack Hammer Chatterbait.

Cherry’s own green pumpkin Hank Cherry Signature Series Jig from Picasso with a similarly colored Berkley MaxScent ChunK Trailer and a Megabass 110+1 pearl jerkbait made the difference the last two days after he tweaked the latter, he said.

“I changed the hooks out to make it sink just the right way. About 90 percent of the fish I caught would be when it was directly falling. I had it heavy enough that I could see it falling, and if I saw one following it I could watch them kill oit,” he said.

He spent most of the tournament fishing one causeway and one grass flat, he said.