2025 Bassmaster Elite Season

That’s going to be pretty big deal. High Schoolers are already moving towards bass because there’s actual high school bass fishing teams and tournaments. This is going to push the needle even more.

He did it. The Classic champion is a Minnesotan! And what a story too!

He also broke KVD’s record for largest total weight in a Classic.
To hear about the brain surgery before the college win is a heart felt moment.
Good for the young angler and hopefully he can turn his rookie season around on the Elites.

Didn’t even need his 8 pounder but I bet it made that drive to Fort Worth much easier on him

gim wrote:

He should definitely win with that 8 pounder unless the guy in second has his weight significantly off.

A guy from Minnesota winning the Bassmaster classic in Texas? The southerners aren’t gonna like this.

As a Montevallo student, southerners have every right to claim him as one of their own, same as if a MN kid were to go play a ball sport down South for college..

19 and 22 year olds at the top of Bassmaster. I believe this says a lot for high school fishing teams. Wow.

I watched this kid on Saturday for a while. Impressive. What did he win $$-wise?

Jimmy Jones wrote:

I watched this kid on Saturday for a while. Impressive. What did he win $$-wise?

First place in the classic is $300,000.

I’m assuming the financial windfall will be more than just the prize money when sponsor bonus dollars and endorsement money is factored in. I’m a fan of Easton’s. He’s clearly an amazing young fisherman but also seems humble and kind.

As for the two youngest in the field finishing number one and number two – no surprise. They say a fish doesn’t care how old a person is presenting the lure, but excelling in the sport requires strength and endurance… and young people have that over old people in a big way. At age 63, I’ve noticed my own fishing capabilities significantly lagging behind what they were 40 years ago and it seems the older guys on the tour don’t seem to do quite as well as they did when they were younger – even KVD. Youth is definitely an advantage.

Yep. Every Classic winner basically gets locked up with sponsorships for everything on their boat and in their rod and tackle boxes. At a higher level. You also go on tour touting all those sponsors in between tournaments. Its probably a grind but they say the sponsorship money and having the lifelong title of “Classic Winner” earns you checks for the rest of your career.

It used to be a slower progression to the top. In the last 5 years things have really excellerated, as far as a shortening of the learning curve. Modern technology is what has given the young guys a real boost. Both at home learning on a computer and sonar technology on the water.

KVD was at the top of the sport until his mid to late 40s. It’s more about knowledge giving the younger anglers a boost vs. Physical energy.

Rather you are for it or against it, Electronics is a big factor in tourney fishing these days. The younger fishermen are simply growing up with it and are simply just often better with it. Can a tourney still be won these days without being up to date on them, Maybe. But I doubt it will be often. If the older fishermen want to stay near the top they are going to just have to take the time to learn to use them, If they do not its going to be harder and harder for them to continue to cash checks and support themselves by fishing.

I can tell you that this kid can out fish a lot of those guys even if he didn’t have FFS. He is a true stick and he was won just about everything on his way up. He wasn’t fishing FFS until a few years ago like the rest of these guys.

crawdaddy wrote:

It used to be a slower progression to the top. In the last 5 years things have really excellerated, as far as a shortening of the learning curve. Modern technology is what has given the young guys a real boost. Both at home learning on a computer and sonar technology on the water.

KVD, Ike, and Hack were instant superstars. As were J Lee, Palaniuk, and Wheeler. Top-level talent shows itself early, as often as not. Fujita, Fothergill, Przekurat, and Mckinney look like they are going to be wrecking balls as well, but the overall talent is better, so it’s yet to be seen if the young phenoms can hold it together to maintain excellence. Xers are aging out, and Millenials like Cox and Walters are entering their prime.

crawdaddy wrote:

It used to be a slower progression to the top. In the last 5 years things have really excellerated, as far as a shortening of the learning curve. Modern technology is what has given the young guys a real boost. Both at home learning on a computer and sonar technology on the water.

Yes, agreed.

It’s a technology race now and the results show it. You can’t compete consistently unless you’re a scope wizard, and that’s a generational trend. Everyone else is getting left in the dust.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>crawdaddy wrote:</div>
It used to be a slower progression to the top. In the last 5 years things have really excellerated, as far as a shortening of the learning curve. Modern technology is what has given the young guys a real boost. Both at home learning on a computer and sonar technology on the water.

Yes, agreed.

It’s a technology race now and the results show it. You can’t compete consistently unless you’re a scope wizard, and that’s a generational trend. Everyone else is getting left in the dust.

Think I would give a lot of credit to the High School and College fishing teams. The amount of shared knowledge these guys are exposed to is huge. That scope is only a very small part of it. These guys are taught how to be professional tournament fishermen and its showing.

It’s a combination of all the things you guys mention, and probably then some.
Access to knowledge compared to 30 years ago is wild. I had to get up early Saturday morning to catch an hour or so of fishing content on tv, sometimes it was local sometimes it was salt water fishing. I had to buy or check out books and pay magazine subscription fees.
Now, with a couple clicks on you tube and the net in general, you can learn anything about any species, presentation, region, etc. that you want. The world of fishing is at your fingertips.
Technology in the boat is obviously very important to be competitive now days. Younger guys are better with tech.
He’s young, but with school leagues he’s been fishing competitively for 6-8 years already. So he’s no rookie to competition. It’s you vs the fish, it doesn’t matter who else is competing.

He’s young, like Brian said. Young guys have the endurance and strength advantage for that all day push.
Like it or not he won it, and I bet you see him win a lot more in the next couple years. Congrats to him.

The old guys won’t be able to catch up with the new technology. It’s a faster turnover now than it used to be. Denny Brauer, Larry Nixon, Clunn, they had longer years of being in their “prime.” Wheeler is still ranked 1 in the world at 35 I think, be interesting to see how long he holds on to the top spot. Guys like Dudley and Thrift who were hammers for years have kinda dropped off. Although part of that might be they fish MLF, and nobody really cares about/follows that.