For the second year in a row, Abu Garcia pro Hank Cherry used professional bass fishing’s biggest stage to show the world what it means to fish to win. Equipped with Abu Garcia rods and reels, Cherry faced off against 53 of the world’s best bass anglers on Texas’s Lake Ray Roberts for a chance at the sport’s most prestigious prize and a chance to make history.
On Sunday, Cherry brought 13 pounds, 1 ounce to the 2021 Bassmaster Classic weigh-in stage, giving him a three-day combined weight of 50 pounds, 15 ounces. With the win, Cherry pockets the $300,000 first-place prize and etches his name into the history books as only the fourth angler to win the Bassmaster Classic in consecutive years.
“This is the biggest honor I could ever dream of as a kid,” said Cherry about winning the Bassmaster Classic for a second time. “I have fulfilled my childhood fantasy two times now. That hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Cherry spent a majority of the tournament fishing the new Berkley Stunna jerkbait, which he helped design. Cherry said he threw the size 112+1 Stunna in Stealth Shad on 15-pound-test Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon. He paired the line and bait selections with an Abu Garcia Zata casting reel (7.1:1) mounted on a 6-foot-10-inch Abu Garcia Winch rod.
In addition to tipping his flipping jigs with the soon-to-be-released Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Chigger Craw, Cherry said he turned to a 4-inch Berkley PowerBait Pit Boss in Green Pumpkin. He flipped the Texas-rigged Pit Boss on a 4/0 Fusion19 hook with 20-pound-test Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon spooled on an Abu Garcia Revo STX (7.3:1) paired with the new Abu Garcia Veritas PLX Tournament rod. The new rod, with its distinctive and aggressive all-black rod blank, is scheduled to go on sale in July.
“Whether they’re fishing for fun, fishing for a paycheck—even fishing for a place in bass-fishing history—Abu Garcia pros fish to win. That’s why Hank Cherry is a back-to-back Bassmaster Classic champion,” said Abu Garcia Senior Vice President of Marketing Jon Schlosser. “We couldn’t be happier for Hank and his family on this historic win. We congratulate Hank for the way he competes and the way he represents himself and Abu Garcia on and off the water.”
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