After the first two tournaments in his Bassmaster Elite Series rookie season, Easton Fothergill was dead last in Angler of the Year points – 102nd in a field of 102. In retrospect, he was last, but far from dead. Fothergill’s remarkable recovery continued with a 14th-place finish at the Sabine River in tournament No. 6 in this nine-event season.
Suddenly, Fothergill is 19th in Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year points. The Grand Rapids, Minn., angler, who turns 23 on May 31, is still third in the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Rookie of the Year standings, but he shaved 56 points off his first-place deficit at the Sabine River and is now only 32 points back.
First place in the ROY standings is once again occupied by Paul Marks, 24, of Cumming, Ga. Marks and Tucker Smith, 23, of Birmingham, Ala., swapped spots at the top of the standings as Marks finished 59th and Smith was 85th at the Sabine River.
Emil Wagner, 27, of Marietta, Ga., had the second-best performance at the Sabine among the rookies. He finished 23rd and moved up to 27th in the AOY standings, well inside the top 40 cutline for automatic 2026 Bassmaster Classic qualification.
Beau Browning, 23, from Hot Springs, Ark., was 30th at the Sabine, the third-best performance among the rookies. He’s fifth in the ROY standings and 54th in the AOY rankings.
Here’s how Easton Fothergill went from “Leaston” to “Beaston”:
| 2/23 | St. Johns River | 101st |
| 3/2 | Lake Okeechobee | 93rd |
| 3/23 | Bassmaster Classic | 1st |
| 4/13 | Pasquotank River | 4th |
| 4/27 | Lake Hartwell | 7th |
| 5/11 | Lake Fork | 8th |
| 5/18 | Sabine River | 14th |
