How the 2025 bass fishing season stacks up

The 2025 bass fishing season has been one of the best in the sport’s five-year history. This year has featured some of the largest bags in state history, far better than most of last year’s tournaments.

The season’s first tournament, held at Lake Oconee, produced some massive bags. The winning bag of 17 pounds, 10 ounces was nearly four pounds more than last year’s winning total. Overall, this year’s tournament had a much more competitive outcome than last year’s. This year 36 bags weighed more than 10 pounds, compared to just five the previous year. In fact, only two bags from last year’s tournament would have cracked the top 30 this year. Among the standout anglers, the Jefferson pair of Jacob Jennings and Ben Wilson once again finished in the top three. Last year, they placed second with a weight of 12-8; this year, they finished third with a bag weighing 15-9.

The second tournament of the season marked a return to Clarks Hill Lake, the former championship venue. This tournament saw results similar to last year’s. The winning bag weighed 19-3, which would have been good enough for second place a year ago. This year, however, saw more large bags overall, with six teams hauling in over 17 pounds, compared to just two last season. The earlier tournament date may have contributed to the bigger bags and more consistent fishing results.

The final qualifying tournament took place at West Point Lake and yielded results nearly identical to last year’s. The winning bag this year weighed 19-2, while last year’s winner posted 19-5. However, this year’s event was much more competitive. Last year, the winning bag claimed victory by nearly seven pounds; this year, the margin was just two pounds, three ounces. Interestingly, last year’s second-place bag would have only been enough for seventh place this time around.

The championship tournament will return to Lake Lanier for the first time since the 2022 season. That year, a bag of 17-7 secured the win. With this year’s championship scheduled less than a month apart from the 2022 tournament, a similar result can likely be expected.