FORT WORTH – Two of three Louisiana’s Bassmaster Elite Series pros fished on the third and final day of the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour on Lake Ray Roberts.

Tyler Rivet of Raceland and veteran Greg Hackney of Gonzales both made the Top 25 cut in the 61-angler field after the first two days of the Classic hosted by Fort Worth. Rivet finished 16th with a three-day total of 46 pounds, 12 ounces, while Hackney was 25th with 24 pounds, 10 ounces, after catching one bass for 1 pound, 7 ounces, on Championship Sunday.

The last two days of the Classic deep in the heart of Texas turned into the Easton Fothergill Show. The 22-year-old bass angler from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, plopped a 29-pound, 6-ounce, limit on the digital scale on Day 2, then kept his 8 ½-pound lead intact with a hard-earned 22-10 sack on Championship Sunday.

His three-day total of 15 bass for 76 pounds, 15-ounce, was the biggest winning weight in the 55-year history of the Classic and earned $308,000. His was a feel-good story start to the pomp and circumstance finish as confetti rained down because just 19 months ago he was lying on a gurney in an Alabama hospital before surgery to remove an infected abscess from his brain.

“It’s indescribable, the trajectory of my life since that first bad moment. Everything has come true that I’ve ever wanted. It’s pretty crazy.”

Trey McKinney, a 20-year-old fast-rising star from Carbondale, Illinois, nailed down the runner-up spot with a three-day total of 68 pounds, 7 ounces, for a $50,000 paycheck.

Texan Lee Livesay, a local favorite who lives in Longview, finished third with 66 pounds, 10 ounces, worth $41,000.

New Iberia’s Caleb Sumrall, one of three Louisianans in the Classic, staged a comeback on Day 2 that almost extended his stay on the water. Sumrall dug himself a hole on the first day of competition at Lake Ray Roberts when he came back with two bass weighing 5-6.

Sumrall’s family, friends and fans’ hopes started rising as they followed each of his BassTrakk updates mid-morning on Saturday, Day 2. Before 9:20 a.m., he had a lonely 1-pound, 7-ounce, bass in the livewell but kept going back to what he eventually labeled a “magical tree.”

Then he caught a 4-8, the weight he entered in BassTrakk. Eight minutes later he put a fat and sassy 4-3 in the Xpress and at 9:52 a.m. slammed the hook home and boated a 5 ½-pounder.

The flurry petered out after catching a 1-3.

Several hours later, Sumrall rode in his Xpress around Dickies Arena for what would be his final appearance in the 2025 Classic. He stepped out with his weigh-in bag for his final hour of reckoning.

His 18-pound, 1-ounce, limit of five bass gave him a three-day total of 23 pounds, 7 ounces. He finished 35th, 5 pounds away from the cutline.

As Sumrall walked across the big stage inside Dickies Arena, he was greeted by Dave Mercer. The Bassmaster Elite Series weigh-in emcee pointed out after announcing the weight of Sumrall’s limit the New Iberia outdoorsman would miss the cut and wouldn’t be fishing on Championship Sunday, then said, “But Caleb Sumrall gets a little redemption on Ray Roberts and leaves the Classic with a good feeling. Let’s hear it for him.”

The Dickie’s Arena crowd voiced its approval.
Mercer started the one-on-one conversation and said, “So, Caleb, better day today? What changed? It’s the weather?”

“Man, uh, no, I turned left yesterday, turned right today,” Sumrall said, smiling and moving his hands in opposite directions for emphasis. “Funny story … Practice was pretty tough. I thought I had a little deal going on where I really could crack a big bag and I ran to those spots the first day of the tournament and it didn’t work out and it turned into, like, uh oh, that type of thing. So I started to adjust and really didn’t make it happen yesterday.

“Today I pulled up on a ‘magical tree’ and caught all those fish on that one tree. So I spent the rest of the day looking for another tree and I didn’t find one.”

Mercer gave Sumrall the floor, so to speak, to reflect on the events of the previous few days under the limelight in Fort Worth.

“Man, I can’t say enough about being here and standing here. The last few years before were pretty tough, missing out on the Classic,” Sumrall said about missing the Classics in 2023 and 2024. “If there’s one thing about the Classic, I’m sure a hundred guys have already said it this week, if you ever fished one the last thing you ever want to do is work one so I’m just thankful to be here after a good year last year.

“And thanks to all my friends and family for coming support me. I can’t ever thank you enough. Xpress Boats, man, I can’t say enough about that company. Rory Herndon (Xpress Boats president) and the Xpress family have taken care of me. They took a chance on me six years ago. And it says a lot. We fish together. We hunt together. We talk. I’ve never seen a company really ask you what they can do to make the boat better. And that’s what Xpress does. And that’s why this XR21 I’m running is just amazing.

“Ricky Pike (COO) at Creole Steel … I can never thank him enough to keep me on the road.”

His post-Classic excitement and burning desire to return to the biggest stage in professional bass fishing stayed with him when he posted on Facebook: “That’s a wrap on the @bass_nation Bassmaster Classic for this ol’ boy! Stumbled pretty hard on day one and couldn’t adjust. Still super blessed to have made it and damn fired up to try to make it back next year! Congratulations to @eastonfothergillfish on a super impressive win!”

Sumrall has some work to do to get back in the AOY hunt for a berth in the 2026 Classic in Knoxville. After two tournaments, he rests in 73rd place with 82 points, the same amount as Ben Milliken of New Caney, Texas.

There are seven Elite tournaments remaining on the schedule for 2025. Next up is the Bassmaster Elite at Pasquotank River on April 10-13 in North Carolina, followed the next week by the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina.

The one he’s aiming for is May 8-11 on the Sabine River out of Orange, Texas. It’s close to home and site of a seventh-place finish in 2022.