Former Classic qualifier leading research for COVID-19 vaccine

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Working on a COVID-19 vaccine has kept Montana B.A.S.S. Nation angler and 2009 Bassmaster Classic qualifier Jay Evans, of Missoula, Mont., off the water for most of 2020.

The Big Sky Bassers Club member is the director of the Center for Translational Medicine at the University of Montana and the CEO of Inimmune Corporation, a biotech company focused on the development of vaccines and novel treatments for immune-related diseases.

“We have probably one of the larger vaccine discovery and development groups in the country here in Missoula, which I lead up,” Evans said. “We have a large and very active research team working on vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, tuberculosis, pseudomonas, influenza, pertussis, E. coli, opioid addiction, allergy and cancer.”

Evans said his research team started working on a COVID-19 vaccine in February. The virologist has also been advising the Montana B.A.S.S. Nation on how to practice social distancing when holding tournaments during the pandemic.

“I have been involved in discussions here locally in Montana about what to do about tournaments and if we can safely do tournaments in Montana,” Evans said. “Fortunately, Montana is the state with the fewest cases in the nation, which helps a lot.

“The state is going through a careful but pretty quick reopening. So, as the restaurants and things started to open, we also started holding tournaments. But we do it in a different way than we did it before. We have kept people from amassing in groups by limiting the number of weigh bags we give out, so we don’t have so many people waiting at the scales. We actually moved the location of the weigh-in at our last tournament from up near a restaurant and bar where we have crowds of people watching down to the ramp, which is a little quieter and faster, with less people congregating.”

Evans recalls his longtime association with the B.A.S.S. Nation started around 1993 when he decided to join the Evergreen Bass Club in Washington. “I had been fishing since before I could walk,” Evans said. “I sort of liked bass fishing, so I thought I would join a club to learn how to do it better. I enjoyed meeting other people to fish with and learning more about fishing.”

While working on his Ph.D. in molecular cellular biology at Oregon State University, Evans joined the Central Valley Bass Club. After earning his Ph.D., Evans went to work for a year at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., where he joined the Memphis Bassmasters Club. Then he moved to Texas and joined the Irving Bass Club while working at Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

When he moved to Montana and joined the Big Sky Bassers Club, Evans started compiling his impressive list of B.A.S.S. Nation accomplishments by fishing Montana Nation state-qualifier tournaments. Since then, Evans has made the Montana Nation state team to qualify for 16 B.A.S.S. Nation Western Regionals and competed in five B.A.S.S. Nation Championships and the 2009 Bassmaster Classic. 

His work schedule has made it tough sometimes for Evans to find time for fishing. “I also have three kids, and my two boys love to fish. (His son Tyler has fished in the Junior Bassmasters National Championship twice.) Juggling work and fishing and family time is a challenge, and right now fishing is suffering the most. I am not fishing the number of tournaments I typically would and not getting out as much as I normally would this time of year, but priority has to be family and a COVID-19 vaccine.”

His time-consuming work on a coronavirus vaccine caused Evans to skip a couple of Montana Nation tournaments and jeopardized his chances of making the state team. However, he was able to fish the Montana Nation State Championship on June 12-14 at Noxon Reservoir, where he finished in 10th place and made the state team on the boater side for the 2021 Western Regional. “I hadn’t been able to fish that much this spring because of the coronavirus vaccine work that I have been doing, so it was nice that I was still able to make the team,” Evans said.

The Montana angler has achieved some of the goals he has set for fishing in the B.A.S.S. Nation ranks.

“My lifetime goal when I first started was to make the Nation Championship, which was a thrill to do the first time in 2000, and then of course being able to fish the Classic is a dream that every Nation angler has from Day 1,” said Evans, who made the Classic final-day cut and finished 25th. Being able to fish all three days was a pretty neat experience.

“I am lucky enough to have done well enough in tournaments to make it that far, which is great. So now my goal is to grow the Nation and support the Montana Nation. The Nation has been great to me for all the years I have been in it. It is a great organization. I like the conservation, education and youth parts of it. When I joined a club years ago, people took me fishing, so I hope to do the same for kids and people wanting to join the Nation. That is kind of what the organization is all about.”

Evans said he would love to make the Classic again someday. For now, though, his main goal is to find a vaccine to curb a menacing disease.