Nov. 26, 2025
Tyler Campbell should feel right at home in 2025 TNT Fireworks Bassmaster Team Championship
ANDERSON, S.C. — It was redemption, of sorts, when Tyler Campbell snapped a run of second-place finishes and won last year’s Bassmaster Team Championship Classic Fish-Off on Tennessee’s Kentucky Lake.
Not surprisingly, Campbell is expected to be a contender at the 2025 TNT Fireworks Bassmaster Team Championship scheduled for Dec. 3-6 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, S.C. Not only is he the defending champ in the Classic Fish-Off, but he lives in Martin, Ga., just across the state line from Green Pond Landing, the site of take-offs and weigh-ins during this year’s championship.
Like he was a year ago, Campbell, 24, is looking once again to shake off some disappointment heading into the last tournament on the annual B.A.S.S. schedule. Despite finishing fourth in the points race in this year’s Division I of the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN (and 46th in Division 2), Campbell didn’t finish well in the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers. His best showing in the three-tournament showdown was 39th at Alabama’s Wheeler Lake, sandwiched by 67th place at Florida’s Lake Okeechobee and 74th at New York’s Lake Champlain.
As a result, he finished well outside of the Top 10 in the EQ standings and wasn’t invited to compete in the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series.
Now he’s returning to Hartwell, the place where he learned to fish and where he now guides eager anglers dozens of times per year.
“On paper, this has been one of the best years I could ask for,” Campbell said “I got a check in eight of the 10 B.A.S.S. tournaments I fished. I was in the (Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster) Classic (presented by Under Armour). I had two hiccups at the end of the year, and it cost me my dream, which is to fish in the Bassmaster Elite Series.”
Many of the 450 or so anglers set to compete in the Team Championship on Dec. 3-4 share the same lofty goals. Qualifying duos from team trails around the U.S. (and three other countries) will vie for $120,000 in total prize money, including $50,000 for the winning tandem.
Last year at Kentucky Lake, Clint Knight and Noah Morgan (Russellville, Ky., natives fishing with the National Team Bass Association,) won team honors. Campbell, along with 5 Alive Sunday Series partner Blake Campbell (no relation), finished second in the team standings. The father-son duo of Ryan and Fisher Anaya placed third.
This year, the Top 5 teams (10 anglers in all) advance to the Classic Fish-Off portion of the event on Dec. 5-6 (up from the Top 3 teams in previous years.) Their weights will be zeroed and they’ll fish individually for two days with the top angler claiming the final berth in the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour when it’s held March 13-15 on the Tennessee River in Knoxville, Tenn.
Tyler Campbell spent most of 2025 preparing for Opens events around the U.S., so he didn’t have the time he’s accustomed to on Hartwell. In the days leading up to Hartwell being off-limits to competitors, he said conditions were “typical for Hartwell in the fall.”
“The weights were all over the place,” he said. “One day it’s 20 (pounds), then it’s 16 or could be 13. We’ve had some wild weather here recently, including snow when I was fishing the EQ at Okeechobee (Nov. 13-15). I was on Lake Murray (in central South Carolina) a few days later, and the water temperature was 60 degrees. Hartwell’s two hours north of that, so it was likely 55, 56 up there. That’ll shake things up a bit.”
Campbell said the water level has been down in Hartwell, which often causes largemouth bass to congregate, he added. Still, he expects a mix of spotted bass and largemouths to compose the best bags of the Team Championship.
“Most tournaments on Hartwell historically have been won with a mixed bag,” he said. “And with Forward Facing Sonar, we’ve figured out how to catch the really big spots in mid-range to deep water. Fish still will school in the backs of drains, too. That’s the typical winter approach.
“But honestly, I think I’m gonna’ try to do something totally different, hoping to blow it out,” Campbell said. “I’m gonna’ take some tactics that work in different parts of the lake and try them in some other places. It’ll be against the grain. That’s one of the benefits of knowing the place the way I do. In December, the whole lake can play.”
Just how well remains to be seen.
“Weight-wise, I think it’ll be pretty similar to the last Team Championship,” he said. “That means 16 to 18 pounds a day should give you a good shot at winning. Then you’ll probably need 15 to 16 pounds a day in the fish-off.”
Campbell expects the biggest bags of the week to be caught on the first day of competitinon, with anglers who survive the cut having to work harder for their final couple bags. No doubt they’ll give it their all with the final 2026 Classic berth on the line.
“A lot of guys who know this lake will be fishing,” he said. “The young guns from college programs, even a high schooler, could win it. I think it’ll be a shoot-out; a real close one.”
Green Pond Landing, 470 Green Pond Road, in Anderson, S.C., is ground zero for the TNT Fireworks Bassmaster Team Championship. Anglers take-off from there in flights beginning at 7:20 a.m. ET. Weigh-ins begin at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Fans can follow live coverage of the 2025 TNT Fireworks Bassmaster Team Championship on Bassmaster.com and across B.A.S.S. social media platforms, including live weigh-ins, photo galleries and on-the-water updates.
Visit Anderson and Green Pond Landing are hosting the week’s events.