FORT WORTH, Texas – Lee Livesay’s record expectations might be gone with the wind, but big bass will wind up ruling at the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.
Livesay landed a 12-pound, 8-ounce monster in practice, a fish that during competition would be a Classic record. While big bass will surely be brought to Dickies Arena weigh-ins, his thought of an absolute slugfest on Lake Ray Roberts have been tempered.
“At first, I thought we were going to be close to 80 pounds, but the wind is going to bring that back down some,” Livesay said. “I still think feel like I can catch 25 to 30 pounds a day if everything works right.”
There’s the rub. No angler knows for sure how any day will work. Winds changing direction and tightening areas to fish makes it all trickier. Yet it takes but one flurry to be in contention. And maybe set a record.
After catching three fish on Day 1 in the 2014 Guntersville Classic, Paul Mueller caught about 25 pounds in 20 minutes as he set the single-day Classic mark of 32-3 and finished second. The five-fish Classic record came in 2011 when Kevin VanDam totaled 69-11 on the Louisiana Delta.
In Andy Crawford’s Guess the winning weight gallery this week, about half the field scribbled more than 70 pounds. However, high winds churning the lake haven’t let sunshine warm the water, holding back a much-hoped rush to the bank. It made Livesay unsure the record weight will be eclipsed.
“We would have if the wind wasn’t blowing,” he said. “The wind is going to put us all in the same three or four areas, and we’re just going to be fishing together.”
As runner-up in the 2021 Ray Roberts Classic, Matt Arey is the highest returning angler in the field of 56. He’s among those who said the winner will have to perform a strategic masterpiece.
“It’s going to be the most challenging Classic as a competitor, but one of the most entertaining from a fan perspective,” Arey said. “If I was a fan at home, I’d be super excited about this Classic to watch these guys try to tackle the conditions.
“What we’re going to have to battle and deal with, not just physically but mentally, it’s going to be challenging.”
Winds cut short practices, and there’s talk some competitors are already twisting in the wind. Most reported their few bites were usually big, so someone could compete without catching five a each day.
A monster like Livesay’s 12-8 would go a long way. The biggest bass caught in a Classic was Preston Clark’s 11-10 Toho bruiser in 2006. Clark weighed it moments after Rick Clunn’s 10-10. Those are the only two double-digit fish in Classic history.
Livesay, who said he thinks two 10-plus bass will be weighed this week, reports his lunker was an oddball, coming from a spot where his biggest in 100 previous visits was a 4-pounder.
“I was bored,” Livesay said. “I have a spot down the lake where I catch some spots, a couple smallmouth. I’m going there to get a bite. The first cast I catch the 12 1/2-pounder. It’s something I would have never run in the tournament.
“So it’s going to mess me up, make me run over there to maybe catch a 3-pound smallmouth. It’s a good thing, though. It’s all good.”
Tyler Williams also hit double-digits in practice, landing a 10-2.
“I caught it the second day of practice, and an 8,” he said. “I only caught two fish, so we’ll see what happens.”
Yet the manner in which Williams caught them wasn’t in his initial plans.
“It wasn’t really a confidence boost because it was doing stuff I don’t really want to be doing,” Williams said. “I don’t know if I can replicate this. They’re kind of random.”
Williams said he did plenty of scanning and only made 50 casts. On the first day when winds pushed him off the lake early, he had three for 18 pounds. On Sunday’s final practice, when Williams fished the most, he didn’t land one.
It left him scratching his head. His plan is simplistic, which seems to work for the second-year Maine pro.
“I’m going to do Tyler stuff,” he said. “I’m going to mess around in 30 foot for a minute, 2 foot for a minute, 10 foot for a minute. I’m just going to do stuff.”
Stuff can be good.
Greg Hackney knows stuff. As the most experienced in the field with 18 Classics under his belt, he smiled when learning of Livesay’s Ray Bob slob.
“We know he won’t catch it again,” said Hackney, further assessing practice happenings. “You can’t put that group out there and not some big ones being caught. That lake has big ones in it, every now and then you’re going to catch some of them.”
Hackney pulled out his phone and quickly flashed a photo of his 8-pounder. Sure, he would rather it have waited to bite during competition.
“When I caught that one, I had to catch it,” he said. “It was the first one I caught in the area.”
First-time Classic competitor Bobby Bakewell (above) passed along the photo of his 8-pound-plus from practice, not divulging his plans but seemingly happy to get a big bite.
Asked if sticking a big fish in practice was positive or wasteful, Hackney tilted his head and smiled, “There’s plenty of them out there.”
