April 1st 2025
By Calvin Herndon
My Thoughts on the 2025 Bassmaster Classic
As we all know, the Super Bowl of bass fishing was held last week in Texas at Lake Ray Roberts. If you have been listening or viewing anything around bass fishing this week you would have seen everyone have their thoughts on the Classic. Those thoughts could have been Good, Bad, and ugly. Here are my thoughts on the Classic.
I would like to begin with something that I was both happy and unhappy with during this Classic. The commentary I thought was needed at times during the classic, but also I understand people tune into the Classic to see the best of the best catching fish. I do understand that to keep fans engaged you have to have some sort of commentating during a 8 hour fishing day,but it seemed to overwhelm this year’s classic. I also understand that the anglers were dealing with tough fishing conditions this year and there were not alot of limits caught. All in all commentary has to happen in a sport like bass fishing. I wish it was done a little better.
My second point has to do with the television production. Whether you watched Bassmaster.com or Fox I could not help to mention the amount of commercials there were during the Classic. From a fan’s perspective there were way too many. I understand that brands have to advertise their products, but it seemed like every ten minutes there was a commercial. As a fan that does not make me wanna tune into a sporting event if all I am going to see is commercial. I hope that for 2026 Bassmaster could limit the amount of commercials during the Classic. The final thing I want to mention is not something I would complain about but I saw a lot of complaints online that I want to address.
Let’s talk about weighing in times being too long. Historically the weigh-in has been long. If you sit and think about it there are a lot of things that have to happen while anglers are taking out of the water to get to the area. Bassmaster has to put other activities in place to keep fans engaged. Not to mention Bassmaster also has to weigh in the high school and college tournament that is also going on during the classic. So weight in length should not bother people as much as some of the other things I have mentioned.
In conclusion I really enjoyed the Classic this year and Congratulations to Easton Fothergill on the win. I think some things were done really well, but there are also some things that could have been done better, but in a business there is always something you can improve on.
By Bruce Callis
The Greatest Show in Bass Fishing:
Living the Dream
by Bruce Callis
The biggest show in bass fishing just concluded and we have a new Bassmaster Classic Champion, Easton Fothergill. A 22 year old edged out a 20 year old, Trey McKinney, with a record breaking 76 pounds 15 ounces. Kevin VanDam was the record holder with 69 pounds 11 ounces. And he becomes the second youngest behind Stanley Mitchell who was 21 when he won the 1981 Classic. What a show!
But, there are some who say that this Classic wasn’t as exciting as previous years. And the crowds looked down to viewers. Maybe it was the economy, maybe it was the distance that you had to travel to attend, or maybe something else. Only time will tell. And yet, a select few are saying the Classic is dying. I just DON’T buy into that at all.
For those who have watched Randy Blaukat’s latest video, he says that Bassmaster is losing it’s appeal because of the kids and forward facing sonar. He claims that they haven’t paid their dues yet, whatever that is supposed to be. He complains about the new faces in bass and that he hasn’t a clue who they are. He keeps referencing back to 1975-2000. Well, a lot of those anglers have retired from fishing.
Every year the Classic has some new faces. This year’s winner is really a new face. Every year there are new anglers making the Elite Series. I remember when Kevin VanDam, John Crews, Mike Iaconelli, Jordan Lee, Stetson Blaylock and others were those fresh new faces. They were using the technology of the day, but that was just the way things were. The anglers who started with B.A.S.S. have long stopped fishing the series and the Classic.
The fact that the fresh, new faces are better with the new technology isn’t because of video games. They have put time on the water to learn how to use the tools available to them. They aren’t sitting at home playing videos, they are out learning to fish. You can’t say they wouldn’t know what to do with the new technology. What technology are you going to take away? Forward Facing Sonar, Side Scan, ClearVu or should we just go back to only having flashers? Where do we draw the line. KVD learned to use new technology, side scan and was far ahead of his competition. Do we put an astrick beside his name on his wins because he used new technology?
I don’t see B.A.S.S. and the Bassmaster Classic going anywhere. I have been to enough Classics to tell you that it is a special time for anyone who is able to attend. You get to talk with the guys who actually make the tools we use. You get to meet the pros not fishing in the Classic and pros who are fishing other trails. I didn’t go this year, only because of how far away it was. After last year, I decided that either I can drive there or stay home. That still hurts because I so enjoy being there, talking to friends and industry representatives. I miss see the fans and families who attend.
The greatest event that Ray Scott invented may look a little different than the first Classic, and that is good. It has gotten bigger and better. Growing up, our Classic event was the fishing show. It was pre-internet, pre-online sales, so every company had to be there to sell you their baits. It was the glory days! Now the glory days have moved to a big venue, the Classic. And we love to go.
The fresh new faces will always be there and they come to the Classic to meet the idols of theirs. They are there absording everything just like we did. Those fresh new faces are us back when we were kids. I dreamed of being up on the stage of the Bassmaster Classic and lifting that trophy. Life got in the way of that dream. But that doesn’t dim the allure of being there. I still dream about it, but it would take a miracle for it to happen. Now I see myself through those fresh, new faces that are living the dream that I share with them. The Classic will never die as long as the dreams live!
By Carson Maddux
2025 Bassmaster Classic in review
For most fishing fans, the Bassmaster Classic is the most iconic and legendary event in the
sport. Lives have been changed by hoisting the “Ray Scott” trophy and many more have been
inspired by watching the champion do so. Huge congrats to Easton Fothergill on winning the
2025 Bassmaster Classic in dominating fashion. He set the all-time heaviest weight caught in
Classic Competition and is the second youngest angler to ever win the event. The Classic is
often called the “Super Bowl of Bass Fishing”, but what makes this event so special?
Taking away outside factors, the Classic is technically the “easiest” major event to win in our
sport. Only 3 days of completion (in comparison to 4 for Elite series events) and you are only
competing against 50 anglers (rather than 100 for the Elites and 200+ for the Opens). Fishing
less days and against less people should in theory increase your odds of success. While the 3
days of completion are what we see on the final scoreboard, the reality is far larger than that.
The anglers are faced with a week-long affair of practice and intense media coverage. The
practice days are a few days in advance from the actual event so a lot can change on the water.
Being that the event is held in the spring, the conditions are often changing daily so anglers
have to think on the feet when it comes to derby day. Also, the lake is often a pretty far drive
from the expo venue. This means long travel days to and from the lake and very little sleep. It is
an exhausting event from start to finish.
Being a classic champ stamps your name into the history books and sets your career up for life.
Bassmaster was probably very thrilled to see Easton win this year’s Classic, not only because
he is a great ambassador of the sport, but he represents the “Big Dreams” that Bassmaster
preaches. Easton started in the highschool ranks, was recruited to a college on a fishing
scholarship, won the College Classic bracket leading to an all expenses paid trip to the Opens
where he won AOY. In his Opens EQ AOY run, he clinched two victories which ultimately
qualified him for this Classic which he also won. He is proof that the “dream” can be a reality if
all your cards line up and it was great to see.
While I do not know the actual numbers, I have heard chatter that the attendance and
viewership of this year’s Classic were worse than expected. People are quick to point fingers at
FFS but I think geographic location and timing had more to do with it. Texas has a big bass
fishing culture and I’m sure many locals showed up. That said, Texas is kind of in their own
world and not as interconnected as somewhere in the south/ east coast. There is a massive
population of fishing fans in this area that would’ve helped increase the attendance in my
opinion. Regardless of how you feel about forward facing sonar, the state of the industry, or
anything else, I would like to see more overall positivity around the sport. I do not want to give
free publicity, but there are a bunch of content creators who are making money by spreading
hate to their followers. It is shameful that negativity gets more attention than positivity but that is
just the way humans are flawed.
All things considered, this was a super cool classic to watch as a fan. Challenging conditions
and the ever changing variables of spring made it an interesting watch. Time to get ready for
Redcrest!