Young Minnesota angler wins one of the world's biggest bass fishing tournaments

A 23-year-old Minnesotan won the world’s most prestigious bass fishing tournament over the weekend, raking in more than $300,000 and making a name for himself as the latest champion of the Bassmaster Classic.

Easton Fothergill of Grand Rapids claimed the Ray Scott Trophy with the biggest winning weight in the tournament’s 55-year-history. Over three days, he caught 15 bass weighing 76 pounds, 15 ounces.

A graduate of Grand Rapids High School, Fothergill won a college fishing scholarship to Alabama’s University of Montevallo. He won a collegiate championship there with Nick Dumke, also from Grand Rapids, as his fishing partner.

According to a Bassmaster Classic news release, Fothergill survived a life-threatening brain infection just 19 months ago. He kept fishing and earned his way onto the elite professional Bassmaster circuit and then traveled the country to compete in tournament after tournament.

“He’s one of the most amazing young men you’ll ever find in fishing,” said Tom Neustrom, a professional fishing guide from Grand Rapids. “He’s an inspiration.”

Chris Stanley is a former coach of the Grand Rapids fishing team. He said Easton, Dumke and several of their friends started the team and competed on it for four years. They were coached by Gordy Fothergill, Easton’s father.

“He’s just a wonderful kid and he’s still involved in our program as much as he can be,” Stanley said. “As good of a fisherman as he is, he’s a better human being.”

The winning weight was exactly 8½ pounds more than the nearest competitor in the field of 56 anglers. The tournament, an annual spectacle with a national television audience, took place this year on Lake Ray Roberts north of Fort Worth, Texas.

At a news conference following his win on Sunday, Fothergill took questions from reporters who attended the tournament from as far away as China.

“Winning the classic is a dream come true for me,” he said. “It has me speechless.”

He said the key to his victory was following his gut and not second-guessing himself on where to fish on a reservoir that is 36 square miles. He was leading the tournament on Sunday and felt he had a good chance to win it all when he caught an 8-pounder, the biggest bass of the day. He was quoted by Bassmaster as saying he caught 80% of his fish during the tournament on a 3/32-ounce “red bug” Neko rig.

Fothergill’s victory is the biggest professional fishing tournament news in Minnesota since Bloomington native Seth Feider won Bassmaster Angler of the Year in 2021. He clinched his title during a major tournament on Mille Lacs Lake.

Fothergill said during the news conference in Texas that he owes his early success to lessons he learned from his peers during his college career. He belonged to a group of 50 collegiate anglers aligned with Bassmaster.

“It’s indescribable how much I learned,” he said. “I was a sponge those four years.”

Fothergill could not be reached Monday for comment. Stanley, the former Grand Rapids High School fishing coach, said the victory should bring a windfall of corporate endorsements.