How Easton Fothergill won the Ray Bob Classic

Everyone knows Easton has that “something special.” I mean, it’s kinda logical when you look at what he’s done and how fast it’s happened. But you could also say the same thing about a bunch of guys in the Classic field, or maybe all of ’em.

On the other hand, Easton was coming off 2 bombs in his first Elite Series events: a 101st at the St Johns and a 93rd at Okeechobee. He posted about that on IG and said: “My next tournament is the Classic, and I can’t think of a better event to get this ship headed in the right direction.”

Well…looks like that ship ended up being a rocket ship. (He got a lot of encouragement from his fellow pros on that post, but now they all feel like they’ve been sandbagged…🤣 Just messin’.) Here’s how Easton got a few more big bites than the rest of the guys and became our newest Classic champ.

Going in and practice

> “Going into the tournament, I really had no clue what to expect. I went there in pre-practice in early December and I found a couple zones I felt like had good populations of fish. …my plan in practice was to start in those zones. I would try to find where those populations are set up and hopefully be able to duplicate that on the rest of the lake.

> “That’s exactly what I did. I was able to relocate 2 of the populations of fish I found…they ended up staging perfectly in front of spawning pockets. Just your classic pre-spawn stuff – channel swings, rockpiles, anything you would think would set up good…there would be some fish on.

> “That very quickly ended up being my pattern, and I was able to find a few more areas throughout the lake.

> “I was watching the weather like a hawk all week…. I knew there was gonna be a hard south wind…. I spent a lot of practice fishing those north-facing pockets that were protected from the south wind.

> “I saw that the wind was switching to the north on the last day, so I was trying to prepare for that too.”

> “My key depth range was 5-10′. The biggest thing above all it had to be a hard bottom. There’s miles and and miles of timber out there, but anything I caught a bass on had to be on hard bottom, not soft bottom. [Rock or] it can be just…hard stand too. As long as it’s not a mud bottom.

> “It seemed like the front half of the pockets…from the mouth to halfway back was the key zone.”

Tournament

> “I had 5 key areas that I was hoping to hit. And we all know day 1 was extremely windy. It was hard out of the south, and I had one place that was very well-protected…that’s where I started.

> “I had a pretty slow morning – it ended up being slow and steady all day. Honestly I think the wind was a blessing because it made me stay in there and really grind it out. I had 8 bites and landed 6 of them.

> “I knew going into the tournament – I saw in practice, the fish changed every single day. They move just a little bit. They didn’t move far, but a little bit. And wind speed determines where they sit in the water column. Day 1 was super windy and they were all pasted to the bottom.

> “Day 2 got flat calm…the fish were just under the surface. I started in the day 1 area and left with 2 keepers…about 9:30. It did not feel right, and I made a key adjustment to go to a different area.

> “Once I switched areas, then it was game on. I landed some big ones very quickly….

> “…same baits but my key bait was a Neko rig – 3/32-oz on day 1 with the wind, and on day 2 I downsized to 1/32 because the fish were so high. I had to land the bait super quietly and [the lighter weight] so it would fall slower in front of their face so they had time to grab it.

> “Day 2…I was basically done fishing at 12:30 so I was able to practice for a couple hours. I ended up finding another new area – where I started on day 3.

> [Day 3 that new area] did not work out. The fish were not set up right and it did not feel active. I didn’t spend very long in there.

> “…went to where I caught them on day 2. I caught one 4-lber, shortly after that I lost a 7-lber – right at the boat. That was very mentally trying for me. I thought I lost the Classic right there. It was pretty tough on me for probably about a half hour. I thought I blew it.

[Reminder that most guys were getting like 3-8 bites fish per day.]

> “From there I went to where I caught ’em day 1. I ended up catching 3 keepers, so now I had 4. All of a sudden it’s 1:30… I knew I had to make an adjustment.

> “I was contemplating whether to go to where I caught them on day 2 or go to the new area I found. Even though I didn’t like what I saw in the morning…just a gut feeling. Just some feeling I had. I ended up going there, and that’s where I caught the 8-lber right at the last minute.

> “…Neko rig for the most part on day 3, and that’s what I caught the 8-lber with.”

I asked him if he could have caught more keepers, meaning was he just throwing at big fish?

> “I guess the majority of the fish in the areas I was fishing were just big ones. I didn’t have to skip over little ones. When I would find one, it would be a big one.”

If “when I would find one” sounds weird, from the number of bites the guys were getting, that lake isn’t loaded with bass. But it was loaded with trash fish. Some guys had trouble with that, but Easton said he didn’t:

> “That’s just a big advantage I had. To me it felt just like Eufaula, OK [his first of 2 Open wins last year]. It was the same exact scenario…just junk fish everywhere. But I was able to differentiate the bass out of all the junk fish.

> “I’d say half the time I could look at it and know it’s a bass, and the other half I’d have to throw at the fish and see how they react and then I could know for sure.”

Baits

> Neko rig: 6″ Strike King Finesse Worm (red bug), 1/0 Ryugi Talisman Heavy Guard Hook, 8-lb braid to 17-lb fluoro, Lew’s Custom Lite Spin Reel (300), 7′ M Lew’s Elite Series Spin Rod.

> “The key to it all was the hook. …the Heavy Guard model has 2 metal prongs that are pretty dang stiff. With that hook I could throw in the middle of the trees and would not get hung. That [particular model of Talisman] was something that I just now tried this week and I’ve been incredibly impressed with it.

> “The Talisman is a hook that I’ve just got incredible confidence in. Both Opens I won last year I was using that hook. …I don’t know if it’s the hook angle – it’s a circle-style hook. I use it for all my Neko-rig applications and when I’m nose-hooking dropshot baits….”

He says no special hookset:

> “I just hammer it home.”

> Line: “I did the 17 just for the abrasion resistance, but I feel like with 8-lb braid I could still cast accurately and very smoothly.”

> 1/2-oz jig (brown) with a Strike King Rage Menace (gp), 20-lb fluoro, Lew’s HyperMag Reel (8.1), 7′ 3″ MH Lew’s Signature Series Rod.

> Jerkbait (off white), 17-lb fluoro, Lew’s Custom Pro Reel (8.1), 6′ 10″ M Lew’s Custom Lite Rod.

> “I caught 1 fish each day on a jig, I think 3 fish on the jerkbait and everything else was Neko rig.”

What bait he used depended on how each fish set up on the trees and rocks – where they were in the water column and how they were positioned on the structure:

> “Sometimes they were so deep in the trees I had to go into ’em with a jig. There were multiple times where I would pull the fish out of structure with the jerkbait, then throw the jerkbait down and snipe ’em with the Neko rig.”

Electronics

> Humminbird MEGA Live 2: “I was using it to cover a bunch of water every day, and I had to relearn how the fish were positioned for the day due to weather conditions. That was key to my success – how they were positioned on all the structure and adjusting the baits I threw accordingly.”

He said he used only Forward mode (regular FFS) and only the blue color palette.

> “Mapping was key. One of the major keys in my bite was the last deepwater access before you go into these pockets, so mapping was key with that – being able to dial that in quickly.”