Just like that, the first two Bassmaster Elite Series events of the 2025 season are over. Those two weeks just flew by, as our tournament weeks usually do, and I’m leaving the Sunshine State with my tail between my legs.
After finishing 83rd at the St. John’s River, I backed it up with an 81st at Lake Okeechobee. Not how I envisioned starting the season a few weeks back, so now I have a hole to dig myself out of the rest of the year.
This isn’t an “Oh poor me!” column because I had a couple of bad tournaments. I’m disappointed for sure. My expectations are much higher at every event, and I hate letting down my family, friends and sponsors. I want to do well for them. This is just the reality of our sport — it’s not always easy.
When the site of the 2026 Bassmaster Classic was announced, in Knoxville, on the Tennessee River, a place that gave me my two Bassmaster wins including the 2023 Classic, I was excited. With that excitement comes added pressure, because obviously I don’t want to miss that event. Heck, none of us ever want to miss the Classic, but I especially don’t want to miss that one. That river has changed my life so I want to be in that tournament more than anything.
I made a few mistakes in Florida at both events. I don’t think I covered enough water, and I think I was kind of relying on getting a “lucky” bite or two. Sometimes that works out, but usually it doesn’t for me. At the St. Johns River, the fishing was tough. I caught a couple of big fish in practice that I knew were random, but they kind of led me astray. Instead of continuing to hunt for a good area, I just kind of grinded it out thinking, “I’ll do good enough.” I knew deep down the areas I was fishing were not good enough. I ended up with a small limit each day.
At Lake Okeechobee, we found the lake was much different than in past trips. The water was mostly dirty throughout and the water was lower than I had ever seen. I spent the first day out on the lake and didn’t have a great day — checking out areas that had been good to me in the past. On the second day of practice, I found myself in one of the canals that we could lock into off the main lake and found the fishing to be pretty good. I was excited for a fun tournament.
I feel like the mistake I made was committing to this canal too soon. I spent my third practice day in there, trying off-the-wall stuff that didn’t really get me anywhere. I knew what I would do in there after fishing it for a short time and was trying to force other techniques that last day of practice. I should have been searching for off-the-wall areas on the big lake, where more big fish could be found. I ended up with small limits again and that gets us to where we are now.
High-level bass fishing is a ruthless sport, where the highs are so high and the lows are so low. We all put a lot of pressure on ourselves — that’s just the way it is. It is a collection of the best anglers in the world, and if you just have a mediocre or regular day, you’ll find yourself in the 80s or worse. I never get to high or low, regardless of how my day goes. When I leave the stage, the focus turns to the next day or the next tournament and that’s how I roll.
I love fishing in Florida and can’t wait to go back again next year. I’ll learn from my mistakes and hopefully find a better result. In the meantime, we have the Bassmaster Classic coming up in a couple of weeks. My roommate Jason Christie told me after the tournament at Okeechobee, “There is no better way to forget about a couple of bad tournaments than to win the next one!” Great advice! See y’all in Fort Worth.
