LA CROSSE, Wis. — Turns out that a nearly four-hour fog delay might be the only thing that can keep Nick Trim from catching fish at the 2025 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at the Upper Mississippi River presented by Lowrance.
But once he’s on the river, the 42-year-old resident of nearby Galesville, Wis., has been a force no competitor here has matched.
Trim added a five-bass limit of 16 pounds, 9 ounces to his total weight on Friday, giving him 56-9 through three days of competition on his home water.
Now, only one more good day of fishing separates him for the Bryan V. Kerchal Memorial Trophy, which is awarded annually to the victorious boater at the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship. The winner also will collect a $50,000 cash prize, as well as an invitation to join the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series. The Top 3 anglers here also will earn berths in the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour when it’s held in Knoxville on the Tennessee River March 13-15.
After notching bags of 21 and 19 pounds in the first half of this championship, Trim’s confidence was at an all-time high. Friday’s fog, which delayed take-off by nearly four hours, was unnerving, to say the least.
“This was the most stressful day I’ve had in my whole life,” Trim said. “Missing half the day to fog, running downriver, locking through taking half hour there and a half hour locking back, the run back upriver — all that adds up. I only fished for about two hours today, but to catch what I did was exciting. I’m ready to get out there one more day and see if we can win this thing.”
Eighty anglers were ready for take-off at 7:10 a.m. CT, but a dense fog blanketed the Mississippi. The remaining field, 40 boaters and 40 nonboaters, did whatever they could to pass the time, and finally were able to hit the water about 11 a.m.
Trim said he had to find his focus after an anxious wait.
“When you miss half the day, you think you need to do everything twice as fast,” he said. “I’m trying to take it all one step at a time, one fish at a time. I told myself I’m here for a reason and to just slow down and catch some fish.”
A local angler was on Trim’s starting hole Friday morning, but he didn’t panic. He pulled a 3 1/2-pounder from there, but when continued casts were fruitless, he decided to run the river he knows so well. He wound up catching three sizable smallmouth bass to steady himself and finished his bag with another Mississippi River largemouth.
Trim said earlier this week that he’s anticipating where bass are heading as autumn conditions take hold in his home state.
“I’m fishing a wintering hole and I’m fishing irregularities around the edges of the basin,” he said. “There’s bait in there and there are fish in there. The water is stable. But around it all, there are spots where it goes from 4 to 16 feet, little points, knobs and hard spots. I’m dragging a Cast Again Tackle 1/2-ounce hammer jig down the banks and they’re eating it. I’ve caught them so deep this week, too. They just don’t seem very aggressive. I think it might be that the water temperature dropped like nine degrees after these three cold nights we’ve had. The bass are still getting acclimated to it.”
Temperatures this week have stayed in the 40s during fishing time, though light freezes have been the norm overnight. Temps overnight Friday aren’t expected to get below 40 degrees, though, and should rise into the lower 50s by noon. Trim said he’s optimistic those conditions will keep fog from being a factor on Championship Saturday.
“If we get a full day of fishing in, I know I can get another good bag,” he said. “The fishing here is that good. It should be a bucket-list destination for everyone who loves bass fishing.”
The Top 10 anglers in the boater division advanced to the fourth and final day of competition. They include Tennessee’s Dylan Nutt, second, 53-12; Connecticut’s Noah Winslow, third, 53-8; Iowa’s Chris Miller, fourth, 53-3; California’s Kyle Grover, fifth, 49-14; Wisconsin’s Grant Neubauer, sixth, 49-4; Alabama’s Zeke Gossett, seventh, 48-9; Virginia’s Ryan Lachniet, eighth, 48-7; Kentucky’s Nathan Sheehan, ninth, 48-4; and Alabama’s Brody Robison, 10th, 48-2.
Miller had the most impressive catch of the tournament to date on Friday — a 7-15 smallmouth that’s nearly 2 pounds heavier than any other bass weighed this week. Trim caught a 6-pounder on Day 1.
“I’m already qualified for the Classic, so it’s pretty much all-or-nothing for me here,” Miller said. “I’m shooting for a win and that Elite Series berth.”
The Top 10 boaters will be joined Saturday by Wade Denney, of Nampa, Idaho, who won the nonboater division on Friday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 33-11. Denney was in sixth place (21-5) heading into the final day of non-boater action, and he vaulted into the pole position with a final limit of 12-6. That secured him a $10,000 cash prize, as well as the Louis “Pee Wee” Powers Trophy that is presented annually to the nonboater winner.
“I knew fishing from the back of the boat wouldn’t be easy, so I just wanted to catch a limit every day,” Denney said. “I came up one fish shy of that goal, but I’m fishing tomorrow. And I’m just gonna’ go and have fun.”
The final field of 11 is scheduled to take off at 7:10 a.m. CT Saturday from Riverside Park in La Crosse. Weigh-in will begin at 3:30 p.m. CT at the La Crosse Municipal Landing.
Daily coverage of the 2025 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at Upper Mississippi River presented by Lowrance can be found on Bassmaster.com.
Explore La Crosse is hosting the week’s events.
