Alabama-based Bassmaster is bringing its marquee event back to Texas on March 2023 as the City of Fort Worth and its historic downtown Stockyards play host to the 2025 Bassmaster Classic.
Often dubbed as pro bass fishing’s “Super Bowl,” the’Classic will bring together 56 of the nation’s top bass anglers who will square off for three days on 25,600-acre Lake Ray Roberts near Denton. Three of them are from Texas: Chris Zaldain of Fort Worth, Lee Livesay of Longview and Ben Milliken of New Caney.
Anglers can weigh five bass per day. The one who tallies the heaviest accumulative weight over three days will take home the tournament’s top prize and instant fame that comes with it.
If it sounds like the ‘Classic is a big deal, that’s because it is.
The full field will fish for a share of a $1 million purse. The winner will bank $300,000, plus a grand opportunity to cash in on lucrative sponsorship deals that typically follow a victory on what many consider to be the sport’s biggest stage. A ‘Classic trophy your corner is akin to having a Pulitzer Prize on your resume.
Contestants aren’t only ones with a shot to reel in some big bucks in the wake of a Bassmaster Classic win. The electric atmosphere around the event always generates a wealth of media hype for the host city and showcases all the goodies it has to offer. In addition to live coverage that will stream daily on bassmaster.com, FOX Sports will air the final two days of competition beginning at noon each day.
Fort Worth isn’t exactly an old hat when it comes to rolling out the red carpet for big time fishing events, but it is getting there.
Cowtown also hosted the in 2021 ‘Classic on Ray Roberts. The event was held in the wake of the pandemic scare, yet it still rang the bell in attendance numbers.
Bassmaster says nearly 150,000 fans attended the assorted venues. Among them were daily weigh-ins at Dickies Arena, the Outdoor Expo at the Will Rogers Memorial Center, daily takeoffs and other festivities including a pre-tournament kick-off party at The Stockyards and Mule Alley.
At the time, it was the second-largest crowd ever for a Bassmaster Classic and the largest attendance of two previous Texas ‘Classics held in 2017 at Lake Conroe near Houston and in 1979 at Lake Texoma north of Dallas.
Officials say it won’t come as a surprise if this one lures in even more fans.
“There was a lot of uncertainty in the world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic the last time we visited Fort Worth — so much so that we had to move it to June instead of holding it in March,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Chase Anderson. “But the city of Fort Worth was so great to work with and the people in Texas came out and still made it one of the most exciting Classics we’ve ever had. They treated the Classic like what it is — a true celebration of the sport — even though circumstances forced that move to the summertime. Now, we’re really looking forward to going back to this fantastic venue during the time when the Classic is traditionally held.”
Fishing Ray Roberts
Located about 10 miles from Denton, Ray Roberts is a Corp of Engineers impoundment built in 1987 on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. It has two major arms fed by numerous creeks and tributaries that offer a wide variety of structure like channels, old pond dams, rocks and stumps.
There are about 2,000 acres of flooded timber, most at the upper reaches of the major arms. The lake also has plenty of terrestrial button bushes and scattered willows that flood when water levels are high, along with scattered grass beds (mostly milfoil) that are currently growing out to about six feet.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department fisheries biologist Dan Bennett rates ‘Roberts a top-notch bass fishery with good numbers of largemouths in the 4-6 pound range and a lake record topping 15 pounds. The lake also has a limited population of smallmouth bass and a spattering of smallmouth/spotted bass hybrids.
As fishy as it looks in some areas, the biologist says ‘Roberts can be fickle at times and tough to figure out.
“It’s not a lake where you can just drop the trolling on any random bank and expect to catch ‘em,” he said. “You’ve got to put your time in to find the best areas.”
Winner’s Corner: What’s It Gonna Take?
It’s anybody’s guess as to how much weight it could take to claim the ‘Classic trophy, or how the winning fish might be caught.
Fishing guide Danny Golden of Justin knows the lake way better than most. Golden believes there will be a number of patterns in play. He believes the winner will be the one who mixes it up between skinny water and deep.
“The lake is beginning to warm up and they should be full into the spawn by the time the tournament gets started, unless we have some kind of crazy cold front come through between now and then,” Golden said. “The spawn will definitely be on at the upper end of the lake, but there will also be a ton of pre-spawn fish. Some that haven’t moved up yet will still be on their deep, winter spots.
Golden says forward- facing sonar is sure to be a big player for sniffing out suspended fish offshore around standing timber, as is random casting with moving baits and plastics around stumps, brush and grass at shallower depths.
“Whoever wins this deal is going to be doing both — fishing offshore and shallow,” he said. “If the weather cooperates, I think we could easily see a threeday total in the upper 50s, possibly the low 60s.”
Zaldain thinks it could take significantly more than that. In fact, he believes someone could flirt with Kevin VanDam’s three-day, 15 fish ‘Classic weight record of a 69-11 this year. Possibly even crush it.
“I think it’ll take 73-75 pounds,” Zaldain said. “The guy who wins will have over 30 pounds one day, 18 pounds on another and then another solid day in the mid-20s.”
Zaldain has some history at ‘Roberts. He competed in the 2021 Bassmaster Classic there. He also finished in the Top 10 in the 2016 Toyota Texas Bass Classic and won a Toyota pick-up for catching event’s biggest bass, a 7.12 pounder.
“I’ve won a couple of local tournaments there, too, and funfished the lake a number times,” he said. “To say I’m excited about this one would be an understatement. The last time we had the ‘Classic here it got pushed up to June because of Covid. The lake was six feet high with water was way up in the bushes. It was an even playing field with zero local advantage. It’s March this time around — my favorite time of year to fish there. In the past I’ve had multiple 30-pound days on that lake in February and March. And what’s really nice is they like to eat big swimbaits. That’s my specialty.”
Zaldain added that there is an “X-factor” to look out for this year. It hinges on LiveScope and casting jighead minnows to hefty prespawn bass hanging out over deep water.
“Shaking a minnow in places where you normally wouldn’t look could definitely be a factor,” he said. “Based on my history here I know what my game plan is going to be, but I’m also going to spend some time during practice looking for that minnow bite out there in the abyss.”
