When I first heard the news that the Bassmaster Elite Series events will not require entry fees in 2025, my first thought was, “Heck yeah! I might be able to make some money this year off tournament winnings.”
Money is tight and the $45,000 in entry fees (nine events x $5,000) was not easy to come up with. So, from a business perspective, this was a helpful move.
Some guys have sponsorship dollars — and I’m fortunate to have the ones I have from some good companies — but it’s still tough.
As much as the Elites play a big role in my life, I enjoy taking a step back and reminding myself why I fell in love with fishing in the first place. For me, it all goes back to fishing with my dad.
I recently enjoyed partnering with him for the annual Lawter Law Last Bass tournament on Lake Eufaula. This event draws a lot of people in Eastern Oklahoma, and we’ve had a lot of fun fishing this event for the past 12 years.
The entry fee’s only $150, and they have prizes for big bass and the biggest three-fish stringer. Dad and I won the event a few years back, and we took home about $15,000. This time we didn’t do so well.
I’m hard-headed about Eufaula because I’ve fished it so much, and instead of fishing how they were biting, I ran old history. All you need is three big ones, so I ran around, did some stupid stuff and had some lost fish.
The water came up a bunch after we had some big rains, so the fish were really scattered. Whenever that happens, I’m going to pick up my reaction baits like a Norman Fat Boy, a Bandit 200 or a buzzbait just to cover a lot of water. I always have a War Eagle finesse jig tied on in Oklahoma.
Since the water had come up as fast as it did, I targeted more channel swing banks and secondary points so those fish didn’t have to move that far. I had some opportunities to do well, I just didn’t execute. So I was glad it was over with.
Even though it was only a one-day tournament, I think this event is probably more stressful than the Elites. Mainly because I wanted to do well for my dad. We don’t get to fish together much anymore, and that’s tough, so I really want to do better for him than for me.
Every day we get to fish now is a little sweeter than it used to be. We’ll have summer sausage and pecan swirls for our boat snacks, and the whole experience is very special.
We don’t see each other as much these days. I’ve started my family, and he retired from the family hardware store, so we’re not around each other as much as we used to be.
But when we go fishing on Eufaula, it’s an hour from home, so we’ll spend the whole day together. That’s well worth any entry fee.
