At age 22, Minnesota’s Easton Fothergill breaks records, makes history with Bassmaster Classic win – Outdoor News
FORT WORTH, Texas — Nineteen months ago, Easton Fothergill was lying on a gurney in an Alabama hospital, awaiting surgery to remove an infected abscess from his brain.
Sunday afternoon, in front of thousands of fans at Dickies Arena, Fothergill stood tall as champion of the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.
Fothergill, a 22-year-old native of Grand Rapids, Minn., finished the three-day event on Lake Ray Roberts in Texas with a total of 15 bass for 76 pounds, 15 ounces. It was the biggest winning weight in the 55-year history of the most prestigious fishing tournament in the world and was exactly 8.5 pounds more than the nearest competitor in the field of 56 anglers. Fothergill is also the second-youngest champion in Bassmaster Classic history (only Stanley Mitchell who won the 1981 Classic at 21 was younger.)
For most anglers, the Ray Scott Trophy and a $300,000 check are the biggest prizes to accompany a Classic victory. But for Fothergill, just being able to compete in the Classic was the ultimate prize. He said every feeling was heightened given his very real brush with mortality less than two years ago.
“It’s indescribable, the trajectory of my life since that first bad moment,” Fothergill said. “Everything has come true that I’ve ever wanted. It’s pretty crazy.”
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Fothergill fished with confidence on Lake Ray Roberts, having to switch spots and techniques every day of the tournament. The versatility was necessary as Day 1 was extremely windy, Day 2 was calm, and Championship Sunday was somewhere in between. Rising temperatures started the spawn on Ray Roberts, too, and bass were scattered across the 23,950-acre reservoir as they began moving to shallow water.
As Fothergill would find out, that made getting bites difficult. The difference for him was he was able to get big bites every day, something most of his peers couldn’t do.
“Eighty percent of my catches this week came on a 3/32-ounce Neko rig (red bug),” he said. “I caught a couple on an off-white jerkbait, too, but I had confidence in the Neko in the (slightly stained) water.”
Fothergill’s most important catch of the week came mid-afternoon on Championship Sunday and with only four bass in his livewell. He spotted a fat bass suspended near a tree in the back of a slough. He went back to the Neko rig, casting delicately to not spook the bass. He said he “lost four baits to that tree within 10 minutes. I just broke them off rather than spook that fish … The funny thing was she swam out and wasn’t even interested in the bait. But then she turned back and just ignited on it.
“I was scared (of losing) at 1 o’clock and with only four fish,” he said. “But that was the fish that got it for me.”
It was another moment in a stretch of unexpected twists in Fothergill’s young life.
Only weeks after his brain surgery in August 2023, he won the 2023 Bassmaster College Bracket presented by Lew’s on Kansas’ Milford Lake. That earned him a spot in last year’s Classic on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, where he finished 16th. His hot streak continued with wins in two Bassmaster Opens last year, and that performance got him an invitation to fish the 2025 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series, as well as a berth in this year’s Classic on Ray Roberts.
He stumbled out the gate of the 2025 Elites, finishing 93rd and 101st in the pair of Florida derbies to start the season.
But those less-than-stellar finishes didn’t deter Fothergill. He found his groove on the Coosa River in Alabama, where he retreated and gathered himself between the Florida swing and the Classic. He’s familiar with the Coosa from his time competing for the University of Montevallo and catching fish there settled his nerves.
He started with a bang at the Classic, catching 24-15 on Day 1 (good for third place) and followed with a tournament-high 29-6 on Day 2. That gave him a commanding lead of 8.5 pounds, which is exactly the cushion he finished with on Championship Sunday. He caught 22-10 on Day 3, including the 8-pounder, which was the Mercury Big Bass of the Day.
Local favorite Lee Livesay, who hails from Longview, Texas, some 170 miles from Ray Roberts, closed the gap early Sunday and tied Fothergill atop the leaderboard with 58-5 each. The pair traded blows throughout the late morning until Livesay’s bite went slack. That’s when Day 1 leader Trey McKinney ratcheted up pressure on Fothergill.
McKinney, a 20-year-old from Carbondale, Ill., and the 2024 Dakota Lithium Elite Series Rookie of the Year, was in sixth place coming into Championship Sunday. He shot into third place mid-morning courtesy of a fat 7-11 largemouth that put him only 1 pound behind Fothergill and Livesay.
By 1 p.m., McKinney was alone in second place, though he still trailed Fothergill by 6-5. He narrowed the gap in a hurry, however, with his fifth keeper — a 6-pounder that put him 2-5 behind the leader.
But Fothergill slammed the door with his 8-pounder, only his fifth keeper of the day.
It was a fitting way to win the sport’s biggest tournament, as it changed the narrative for the young ace from the North Star State. He’s said before he felt others saw him as a hyper-talented angler who had the terrible misfortune of having to undergo brain surgery.
But now, “Classic champion” will precede any other description of him.
“I appreciate everything in life much more now,” he said. “I’m definitely a stronger person.”
McKinney wound up closest to Fothergill with 68-7 over three days. Livesay placed third with 66-10. Rounding out the Super Six are, fourth, Tennessee’s Hunter Shryock 64-14; fifth, Canada’s Cory Johnston, 58-7; and sixth, Florida’s John Cox, 56-13.
John Garrett was the first person outside the cut to 25 for the final day of 55th Bassmaster Classic, but the 8-12 he caught on Day 1 remained the Mercury Big Bass until the end, earning the Tennessee pro $2,500. Fellow Tennessean Brandon Lester hooked the heavy (8-6) on Day 2 and Fothergill’s 8-1 was biggest Day 3, earning both anglers $1,000 prizes.
Fothergill also took home an additional $10,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, while Cox earned $5,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.
As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, Fothergill earned an additional $20,000 while Lester claimed an additional $3,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.
The Fort Worth Sports Commission hosted the event.
