2025 classic

[Texas Flood]

Congrats Easton! Midwest gang rise!

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Congrats to Easton!   By all accounts he's a fantastic young man, and obviously one of the world's greatest scopers.    If they don't limit FFS usage on the Elites, Easton is destined to become one of the all time greats.    

 

 

I doubt we see another March Classic that isn't one on the scope though, and thus I'll always pull for the Livesay and Coxs of the universe.  

Don’t be so sure, scope doesn’t work that well where they are going next year 😆 

[greentrout]

A complete changing of the Old Guard and a new way the pros fish. Congrats. He earned it. 

[bowhunter63]

Congrats to Easton. John and Lee did a great job. Was really pulling for them. Plus Randy B isnt  happy 😃 Young man got it done 

[The Baron]

Amazing to see the win go to a 22yo. and 2nd place to a 19yo.  That’s the reality of FFS, but it feels somewhat wrong to me that the Super Bowl of bass fishing is won by guys with so little experience and of (until now) relatively unknown names.  To ask a 19yo about how long he’s been dreaming of the BM Classic trophy seems weird when there’s guys who could say they’ve dreamt of it 20+ years.  I think it might even be dangerous for Bass Masters to make it so easy for newbies to dominate, in that folks might stop caring about the Classic if it looks like a battle for rookie of the year with no “fan favorites” competing.  Not taking anything away from the young guys, it’s just my personal thought on things. 
 

And completely unrelated… I noticed Cory Johnston was the only one of the super six who didn’t detour to shake Trey McKinney’s hand on his way off stage.  I thought that was a disappointing lack of sportsmanship from the only Canadian we had left in the race. 👎🏻

[AlabamaSpothunter]

18 minutes ago, The Baron said:

Amazing to see the win go to a 22yo. and 2nd place to a 19yo.  That’s the reality of FFS, but it feels somewhat wrong to me that the Super Bowl of bass fishing is won by guys with so little experience and of (until now) relatively unknown names.  To ask a 19yo about how long he’s been dreaming of the BM Classic trophy seems weird when there’s guys who could say they’ve dreamt of it 20+ years.  I think it might even be dangerous for Bass Masters to make it so easy for newbies to dominate, in that folks might stop caring about the Classic if it looks like a battle for rookie of the year with no “fan favorites” competing.  Not taking anything away from the young guys, it’s just my personal thought on things. 
 

And completely unrelated… I noticed Cory Johnston was the only one of the super six who didn’t detour to shake Trey McKinney’s hand on his way off stage.  I thought that was a disappointing lack of sportsmanship from the only Canadian we had left in the race. 👎🏻

The Johnstons are the biggest scumbags in fishing imho.  What they did last year at SJR is unforgivable especially considering they'd never acknowledge they did anything wrong.  

 

It's all good Cooper and Gussy make up for those two awful Canucks 😁

 

Attendance and viewership were way down from my understanding.   It's pretty hard to relate $150k Glitter rockets with 18-22yr olds dominating using a screen to the average Bass angler in America.     BASS desperately needed a Livesay or Cox to win, but the exact opposite happen.    My favorite line is "I've been dreaming of this since I was a kid" 🤣

 

BASS is getting dragged in the comments across social media, and I have to think they'll limit the technology next year after seeing the NPFL numbers, along with the BPT numbers.   

 

I can't wait for the Redcrest this year though, really cool format that at least somewhat limits FFS and it's on arguably the healthiest LM lake in the country.   It's gonna be a smash fest.    

 

 

[FishTank]

1 hour ago, The Baron said:

Amazing to see the win go to a 22yo. and 2nd place to a 19yo.  That’s the reality of FFS, but it feels somewhat wrong to me that the Super Bowl of bass fishing is won by guys with so little experience and of (until now) relatively unknown names.  To ask a 19yo about how long he’s been dreaming of the BM Classic trophy seems weird when there’s guys who could say they’ve dreamt of it 20+ years.  I think it might even be dangerous for Bass Masters to make it so easy for newbies to dominate, in that folks might stop caring about the Classic if it looks like a battle for rookie of the year with no “fan favorites” competing.  Not taking anything away from the young guys, it’s just my personal thought on things. 
 

And completely unrelated… I noticed Cory Johnston was the only one of the super six who didn’t detour to shake Trey McKinney’s hand on his way off stage.  I thought that was a disappointing lack of sportsmanship from the only Canadian we had left in the race. 👎🏻

 

I saw this and it put FFS in perspective. 

 

Before you judge his youth or criticize his fishing methods, educate yourself on his journey. He is an incredible young man.
I witnessed a lot of amazing things this weekend, but I’m always disgusted by the hateful comments people make on posts when it comes to questioning anglers talent due to FFS use. He found the fish, he exicuted and performed to perfection…end of story. Congratulations sir, you are a Bassmaster Classic Champion!
Easton Fothergill Fishing

 

Rick Clunn

[The Baron]

No doubt that Easton Fothergill’s story is one of overcoming adversity.  From emergency brain surgery to winning a Collegiate, then two open wins and to the Elites.  Then show up and dominate the Classic.  No one could say that young man won only because of FFS.

 

I don’t really know what happened with the Johnston bothers last year.  But sad to think they aren’t good ambassadors from Canada.  I’d like to think we have a reputation to uphold, of being good folks. 

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, The Baron said:

Amazing to see the win go to a 22yo. and 2nd place to a 19yo.  That’s the reality of FFS, but it feels somewhat wrong to me that the Super Bowl of bass fishing is won by guys with so little experience and of (until now) relatively unknown names.  To ask a 19yo about how long he’s been dreaming of the BM Classic trophy seems weird when there’s guys who could say they’ve dreamt of it 20+ years.  I think it might even be dangerous for Bass Masters to make it so easy for newbies to dominate, in that folks might stop caring about the Classic if it looks like a battle for rookie of the year with no “fan favorites” competing.  Not taking anything away from the young guys, it’s just my personal thought on things. 
 

And completely unrelated… I noticed Cory Johnston was the only one of the super six who didn’t detour to shake Trey McKinney’s hand on his way off stage.  I thought that was a disappointing lack of sportsmanship from the only Canadian we had left in the race. 👎🏻

Clunn addressed this, he said youngsters have always won the classic. He attributed it to manifestation of dreams thru positive attitude 

[Glenn]

Anyone notice how small the crowds were this year?  They couldn't even fill a small stadium on the final day.  Wow.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

4 minutes ago, The Baron said:

No doubt that Easton Fothergill’s story is one of overcoming adversity.  From emergency brain surgery to winning a Collegiate, then two open wins and to the Elites.  Then show up and dominate the Classic.  No one could say that young man won only because of FFS.

 

I don’t really know what happened with the Johnston bothers last year.  But sad to think they aren’t good ambassadors from Canada.  I’d like to think we have a reputation to uphold, of being good folks. 

Robert Gee should have won the event, and Hamner should have won AOY, but the Johnston brothers teamed up as usual to both bully and hole buzzard Gee's winning spot.

 

Chris was desperate to win AOY after all but blowing his chances after the first two days.......so he decided to fish within feet of Robert Gee to not only help his AOY chances, but also to steal fish away from Gee because his brother Corey was in 2nd place behind him.    In the end he siphoned off just enough fish to win AOY and allow his brother to edge out Robert Gee.    

 

I don't associate them with Canada at all, when I think of Canadians of think of Cooper and Gussy, two exceptional ambassadors for Canada.   

 

It is amazing how many Elite Series guys Canada produces.   Right now, there are 5 guys including rookie Evan Kung on the Elites.   Pretty dang impressive if you ask me. 

 

 

[F14A-B]

I won’t take away from him or Trey, but I love the kid (Trey) his kind of, carefree attitude.. I’ve had my rants on FFS and I’m not going to go there anymore. Last year was our opportunity to voice our opinions and BASS chose the way forward. 
 

Congratulations to Easton. He won it fair and square according to the rules..

 

300k not bad. 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

15 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

Congrats to Easton. John and Lee did a great job. Was really pulling for them. Plus Randy B isnt  happy 😃 Young man got it done 

 

If Randy isn't happy then he is doing right in my book.

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

The Johnstons are the biggest scumbags in fishing imho.  What they did last year at SJR is unforgivable especially considering they'd never acknowledge they did anything wrong.  

 

It's all good Cooper and Gussy make up for those two awful Canucks 😁

 

Attendance and viewership were way down from my understanding.   It's pretty hard to relate $150k Glitter rockets with 18-22yr olds dominating using a screen to the average Bass angler in America.     BASS desperately needed a Livesay or Cox to win, but the exact opposite happen.    My favorite line is "I've been dreaming of this since I was a kid" 🤣

 

BASS is getting dragged in the comments across social media, and I have to think they'll limit the technology next year after seeing the NPFL numbers, along with the BPT numbers.   

 

I can't wait for the Redcrest this year though, really cool format that at least somewhat limits FFS and it's on arguably the healthiest LM lake in the country.   It's gonna be a smash fest.    

 

 

 

Because according to the rules they didn't do anything wrong. The whole Logan Parks rookie clique was doing the same exact thing.

 

BASS could cure cancer and the same people would "drag them in the comments". They are called trolls.

[Pumpkin Lizard]

16 hours ago, greentrout said:

A complete changing of the Old Guard and a new way the pros fish. Congrats. He earned it. 

 

Yup.  These days nothing can happen without some sort of contingent throwing shade on it. The kid won it fair and square.  And if Trey won it, I would say the same thing even if he isn't my favorite.

[TnRiver46]

18 minutes ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

 

 

BASS could cure cancer and the same people would "drag them in the comments". They are called trolls.

You nailed it! Internet comment sections are the worst. Show a video of someone saving a drowning victim and they will all say how they did it wrong 

[F14A-B]

15 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

Congrats to Easton. John and Lee did a great job. Was really pulling for them. Plus Randy B isnt  happy 😃 Young man got it done 

🤣 Candy Randy is never, NEVER happy.. I guess it’s just his personality. My favorite juice he ever gave up was joining two 12” worms together via a lighter and claiming how effective it was.. truthfully I’m not sure I ever laughed harder! 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

13 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

🤣 Candy Randy is never, NEVER happy.. I guess it’s just his personality. My favorite juice he ever gave up was joining two 12” worms together via a lighter and claiming how effective it was.. truthfully I’m not sure I ever laughed harder! 

He also invented the Vision 110!

[WRB]

Rick Clunn 👍👍

4 years ago I predicted FFS would change tournament bass fishing and it has. Your take advantage of technology or get left behind. Younger generation grew up with computer technology and know inherently how to use state of the art sonar units. Still must put the bass in boat and that takes skill regardless of your age.

Should happy with skilled youth winning tournaments, life blood of our sport.

Tom

[FishTank]

2 hours ago, Glenn said:

Anyone notice how small the crowds were this year?  They couldn't even fill a small stadium on the final day.  Wow.

 

Yap. Noticed on day 1 and 2 that there was no one in the seats behind the weigh in platform. Made for bad photo ops.

 

I had a buddy that went and said the distance from the expo to the arena was a long painful drive. Plus parking was around $30. He said it was about 5-6 hours round trip from his hotel to the weigh in and back. Also, he said the expo was packed and that whoever set everything up didn't think things through. 

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, FishTank said:

 

Yap. Noticed on day 1 and 2 that there was no one in the seats behind the weigh in platform. Made for bad photo ops.

 

I had a buddy that went and said the distance from the expo to the arena was a long painful drive. Plus parking was around $30. He said it was about 5-6 hours round trip from his hotel to the weigh in and back. Also, he said the expo was packed and that whoever set everything up didn't think things through. 

It’s not a good view from behind the stage, but yeah the weigh in is not as cool As expo, take off, or just driving a boat around watching them whizz by . They do sell beer tho……

[FishTank]

24 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

🤣 Candy Randy is never, NEVER happy.. I guess it’s just his personality. My favorite juice he ever gave up was joining two 12” worms together via a lighter and claiming how effective it was.. truthfully I’m not sure I ever laughed harder! 

 

If you look at the old tournaments on YouTube that he was in, he hasn't changed.  He was crying back then. I think i saw one where he was complaining about ph monitors and paper graphs.  Stuff was hilarious.  

 

Also, I have no problem with him having a stance on FFS. It's just how he goes about his argument.  He comes off like a whiner and a sore looser. He could go about it in a more professional way.

[The Baron]

Randy B. did a YouTube video on the Classic having very low attendance.  It did, likely for several contributing reasons but of course he blamed it on claims that watching people fish with FFS is boring.  Like watching other people fish was ever not boring? 🤷🏼‍♂️

[FishTank]

28 minutes ago, The Baron said:

Randy B. did a YouTube video on the Classic having very low attendance.  It did, likely for several contributing reasons but of course he blamed it on claims that watching people fish with FFS is boring.  Like watching other people fish was ever not boring? 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

I have to admit, it kind of made me sleepy. I like how they covered it years ago around 2000-2005. It seemed more exciting.  But your right,  catching fish is never boring. 

[F14A-B]

49 minutes ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

He also invented the Vision 110!

He had a hand in it but make no mistake, he didn’t invent it. I’d say there were a few others field testing that bait other than him. He has made many claims, another one was he was responsible for a floating worm rig which was pioneered by Doug Hannon. He was called out on that heavily, I’d give him credit for his spin on the bait though. Lowering his Ranger rig to get into a honey hole (under a bridge) was pretty radical and smart.. 

 

 

[FishTank]

5 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

He had a hand in it but make no mistake, he didn’t invent it. I’d say there were a few others field testing that bait other than him. He has made many claims, another one was he was responsible for a floating worm rig which was pioneered by Doug Hannon. He was called out on that heavily, I’d give him credit for his spin on the bait though. Lowering his Ranger rig to get into a honey hole (under a bridge) was pretty radical and smart.. 

 

 

 

Thinking way back..... Was Randy the angler that got his boat stuck during a tournament in area he wasn't supposed to be in or something? I think they lifted the boat out with a crane?