This year’s Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour was the best I’ve ever experienced. That includes all the ones I’ve watched and attended, as well as my 2025 Classic debut.
No slight to last year’s event, but this one was just amazing. Finishing 10th was great, but it wasn’t only that. It was the atmosphere, the attendance and the overall busyness that created an incredible week for me.
The vibe, the exposure — it checked every box. I was very pleased with this experience.
Of course, I’m not downplaying a Top 10 finish. After placing 33rd last year, that was a much better outcome.
I attribute my performance to flexibility — I didn’t commit to one technique. That definitely helped me, but it wasn’t only a Classic strategy. This is how I’m approaching my tournament fishing going forward.
The past two years, I’ve always tried to put myself in a position to win. The way I’d practice, I’d try to force whatever I think will be the winning deal.
In this year’s Classic, I changed it up, and I tried to find as many ways to get bit as I could. I took advantage of every bite window that was available. Basically, I was not trying to force something. Instead, I kept an open mind and that served me well.
This became my mindset after the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Martin. During our first Elite event of the year at Guntersville, I went all-in on one deal, and I didn’t adjust. I caught them good the first day, but then they all left me.
At Martin, I’m not a local by any means, but I have some experience and I’ve done really well there in the past. I tried to force what I thought would be the winning deal, and I didn’t adjust to what was going on each day.
I tried to make myself catch them where they were not. I tried to force a section of Lake Martin when I knew the conditions were not appropriate for that area of the lake.
The first two days, we had high pressure and clear skies, but the third and fourth days, it got overcast and the clean water played a lot more in that Kowaliga area. The fish were not nearly as cooperative in the clear, sunny conditions of the first two days.
I tried to force that area, and I didn’t adjust until it was too late every day. When I did, I would catch a big one. I knew I needed to be in slightly more stained water so it would keep those fish up shallow. During the first two days, those fish in that clear water wanted to back out because of the higher visibility.
During the Classic, I did a better job of managing the conditions and remaining versatile. Every morning, I would run to Tellico Lake and, for the first hour and a half, catch floating fish that were on bait schools. I’d catch a limit, or a couple of keepers, just to settle myself down.
Midmorning, I would come back into Fort Loudoun and do the shallow scoping deal, which is how it ended up being won. I’d do that from 9:30 to noon and then, the last few hours of the day, I would catch my biggest fish by flipping and throwing a spinnerbait in the first 10 miles from the locks.
During the Classic, I didn’t commit to one thing. I had multiple things going, and I knew one of them was going to work during the day.
I will say that the highlight of the Classic was the Day 3 weigh-in, especially driving through the arena with a packed crowd. It was literally like 20 years of my life flashed back in front of me.
I saw all the work it took to get there and you know what — it was 100% worth every second.
