Meet the 2025 Elite Rookies and newcomers

Find out how the rookies and newcomers all qualified to fish the Bassmaster Elite Series for 2025.

The rookie class is led by Easton Fothergill, who won two Bassmaster Opens events in 2024 and the points race in the 2024 Elite Qualifiers division to punch his ticket to the big show. Cody Meyer, Tucker Smith, Paul Marks, Emil Wagner, Andrew Loberg, Dakota Ebare, Beau Browning, Evan Kung and Blake Capps are also part of the stacked freshman class. Former Bassmaster Classic champions Randy Howell and Cliff Pace will also rejoin the Elite Series in 2025.
Andrew Loberg
Guntersville, Ala.
Loberg qualified via his sixth-place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Opens EQ points.
Blake Capps 
Muskogee, Okla.
Capps qualified via his 2024 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship victory.
Beau Browning
Hot Springs, Ark.
Browning qualified via his eighth-place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Opens EQ points.
Cliff Pace 
Ovett, Miss.
Pace qualified via a Legends Exemption.
Cody Meyer 
Eagle, Idaho
Meyer qualified via his second-place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Opens EQ points.
Dakota Ebare
Brookeland, Texas
Ebare qualified via his seventh-place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Opens EQ points.
Emil Wagner 
Marietta, Ga.
Wagner qualified via his fifth-place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Opens EQ points.
Evan Kung 
Pickering, Ontario, Canada
Kung qualified via his ninth-place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Opens EQ points.
Easton Fothergill 
Grand Rapids, Minn.
Fothergill qualified via his first-place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Opens EQ points.
Paul Marks
 Cumming, Ga.
Marks qualified via his fourth-place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Opens EQ points.
Randy Howell
Guntersville , Ala.
Howell qualified via a Legends Exemption.
Tucker Smith
 Birmingham, Ala.
Smith qualified via his third-place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Opens EQ points.