Easton Fothergill, a 22-year-old native of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, used a stellar second day and a strong finish to win the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic March 23.
Feathergill used a 3/32-ounce Neko rig, in red bug, to catch most of his fish after spotting them on his forward-facing sonar, along with catching a few on an off-white jerkbait. He ended up winning the Ray Scott Trophy and $300,000. “I had confidence in the Neko in the (slightly stained) water,” he said.
Fothergill finished the three-day event on Lake Ray Roberts with a total of 15 bass for 76 pounds, 15 ounces. It was the biggest winning weight in the 55-year history of the championship and was 8 1/2 pounds more than the nearest competitor.
Anglers said the bass were scattered and starting to spawn on Lake Ray Roberts, making getting bites difficult. When the pros, many of them in their early 20s, saw bass on their sonar and were able to get them to bite, the size of the North Texas lake’s fish was impressive.
Fothergill’s most important catch of the week came mid-afternoon Sunday. With only four bass in his livewell, he spotted and later hooked a fat bass suspended near a tree in the back of a slough. The bass ended up weighing 8 pounds.
“That was the fish that got it for me,” he said. Fothergill caught 24 pounds, 15 ounces on Day 1, a tournament-high 29 pounds, 6 ounces on Day 2 and 22 pounds, 10 ounces on the final day.
Local favorite Lee Livesay, of Longview, finished third with 66 pounds, 10 ounces. Livesay spent much of the final day fishing in an old-school way, fan-casting coves for spawning or pre-spawn bass moving in.
Trey McKinney, a 20-year-old from Carbondale, Illinois, joined the young gun movement of using his forward-facing sonar to spot individual bass and quickly moved up the leaderboard on the final day. Just off the lead until Fothergill landed his final big fish, McKinney finished second with 68 pounds, 7 ounces.
