Kyle Norsetter became the biggest fan of anyone who would help secure his berth to the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic, while he rooted against anyone who could deny him.
“It wasn’t like evil voodoo-type thoughts, but I thought this guy needs to suck,” the 39-year-old from Cottage Grove, Wis., said. “Can anything go wrong for anybody else, please? They would think the same of me.”
Wrong followed right in Norsetter’s third Elite season. While sitting pretty for a while, two bombs dropped him to 45th in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings. He was left just outside an automatic Classic berth and having to hope for help.
Norsetter needed two double qualifiers in the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers. After one came to fruition, he intently watched the event on Wheeler Lake, where Laker Howell’s victory sent him to his second Classic.
The odds weren’t great. Of the 95 competitors at Wheeler, there were only seven whose victory would punch Norsetter’s ticket.
“I’ve been sweating bullets,” Norsetter said. “Watching it all, it came together perfectly.”
Howell and Matt Adams were 4 ounces apart heading into the final day at Wheeler, with Yui Aoki about 8 pounds back. Norsetter’s allegiance sat with Howell, but Aoki, like Howell an Opens winner, also would have moved the Classic berth to Norsetter.
If Adams won, he would have taken the spot himself. That would have scrambled Norsetter’s brain until the EQ finale on Lake Okeechobee, Nov. 13-15.
On his drive from scouting next year’s Tombigbee Elite to fish an event on Lake Guntersville, Norsetter stressed while monitoring the battle on Bassmaster LIVE.
“Going through my mind the whole time, who in the heck is the biggest sandbagger today?” he said. “Laker is usually a pound off, and Matt Adams was on.”
As the day transgressed, Howell appeared to have the edge, but the show ended two hours before the anglers checked in. Norsetter soon received a disheartening call from his wife.
“‘Matt caught a good one.’ Dangit. Nothing against him, but it’s cutthroat. You want to be the one in the Classic,” Norsetter said. “I was almost in the dumps, because I just didn’t know. It was so tight on BassTrakk, so tight from when they took off. It was literally a race to the end.”
Stopping for gas, Norsetter couldn’t leave his truck and the solid cell signal, foregoing the call of nature for some 40 minutes before getting relief in Howell’s 2-ounce win.
“I wasn’t about to miss that weigh-in,” he said. “It was jaw-dropping. You could tell by their facial expressions.”
While Adams suffered another hard hit, Norsetter celebrated.
“Mentally, I just pretty much jumped for joy,” he said. “I regrouped and went back to the tournament with excitement. I had good vibes going into it” and finished 10th.
Early in the Elite season, Norsetter looked like he’d qualify without any help. He made cuts in four of the first five Elite events and stood in the 20s in points. However, a Sabine River slipup struck.
“I might has well have stayed home,” he said. “I had confidence. I caught the biggest bass in practice. I was in the same areas as (several in the Top 10).
“The luck of the draw was just not with me. It felt everywhere I was going, I was fishing behind people. Something was just not right. That was really hurtful.”
Finishing 97th knocked Norsetter outside the Classic bubble. After holding par at Lake Tenkiller, he made up for his worst Elite finish at Sabine with his best, a 15th at Lake St. Clair. That moved him up to 32nd in points and had him looking good for the finale in his home state on the Mississippi River out of La Crosse.
“Everybody says that — that’s the first time I ever fished that place,” he said.
Despite conversations with winner Pat Schlapper, Norsetter missed the boat, finishing 86th and falling to second man out in points.
“If I would have finished 70th, I would have been good,” he said. “With what was on the line, all I cared about was getting the points. I tried my hardest. I tried everything. I literally threw the kitchen sink; it just didn’t click. When you see the standings, it’s devastating.”
Andrew Loberg and John Crews climbed from 51st and 54th in points, respectively, knocking Norsetter back outside the bubble. Nothing personal, Norsetter said, but he needed them to crash on Day 3.
“I was already doing math on who needed to fall,” Norsetter said. “I needed Crews to fall, but he crushed them. He ended as the first guy out. When you’re the second, it’s kind of gut-wrenching.”
For the first EQ on Lake Champlain, Norsetter found himself now rooting for Crews, well, the dozen anglers who could double qualify. When Elite rookie Emil Wagner won, that sent Crews to his 14th championship and moved Norsetter a rung closer.
After getting in, Crews vowed to treat Wagner’s crew to a steak dinner at the Classic, along with a secret surprise. Norsetter sought out his benefactor at the Guntersville event.
“I ran into him, shook his hand, gave him a hug and had good conversation with him and his dad,” Randy, the 2014 Classic champ, Norsetter said. “I pulled Laker aside. ‘Meet my friend Benjamin.’ I gave him $300 to take his wife to a phenomenal steak dinner.
“Laker being a standup dude, he didn’t want to take that. I’m not paying him off. It’s a congratulatory thing. Now I have a shot at $300,000 because of him.”
Ending the year 46th in points, Cole Sands is now the first-man out. He realizes the chances of double qualifiers in all three EQs is remote.
“It’s a distant shot,” said Sands, who’d love to fish a Classic in his home state, “but there’s still a chance.
“I’ll definitely be rooting for Open guys who have already won one, and any Elites who are already qualified. I’m their biggest fan right now.”
Norsetter said he hopes to improve on his disappointing 54th in this year’s Lake Ray Roberts Classic.
“The win is only what matters, but I at least want to have a good showing,” he said. “If I can get in the top 10 or the Super Six, that would be phenomenal.”
As for the 2026 Elites, Norsetter said he wants to eliminate the stress of having to rely on someone else.
“Hopefully, we cannot be bubble boy,” he said. “That’s what I have running through my head, to make sure next year we stay more consistent in the tougher events so we don’t end up in the place we were this year.”
