EQs

Previewing the Bassmaster EQ fisheries

Lake Champlain, Wheeler Lake and Lake Okeechobee are in the fall lineup.

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Photography by
Craig Lamb
Bassmaster’s first fall tournament series will pack unprecedented goals and drama into a three-month schedule with threefold outcomes. Those are qualifying (and requalifying) anglers for the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series and sending three tournament winners to the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic. 
The 2025 Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier Series presented by Bass Pro Shops begins in September at Lake Champlain, the massive fishery straddling the borders of New York and Vermont. 
The lineup of three fisheries is uniquely diverse. The second stop in October will be at Wheeler Lake, the northern Alabama impoundment on the Tennessee River. 
In November, the chips fall into place at the final event at Lake Okeechobee, the renowned trophy bass fishery in south Florida. 
The Top 100 anglers advance to Bassmaster EQs from eight events and two divisions of the 2025 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN. That series began in January and concluded in September. The main goal is advancing to the Elite Series, as Paul Marks did in the 2024 class of EQ qualifiers. 
Marks made the most of his Elite rookie season, winning the 2025 Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell. 
Another EQ qualifier from the 2024 class was Easton Fothergill, who won two 2024 Opens en route to winning the points title, and a berth in the 2025 Elite Series. 
Fothergill completed the ultimate trifecta by winning the 2025 Classic in his rookie season. 
The 2025 EQ season kicks off at Champlain. The Sept. 18-20 timeframe comes during the beginning of the fall transition to shorter days and cooler temperatures with bass and bait on the move. 
Champlain is known for its healthy populations of smallmouth and largemouth, and in the latter case those fish could be a factor. Aquatic vegetation will be at peak seasonal growth, providing largemouth denser ambush cover for feeding on baitfish.
Will it take a mixed bag to win? Or more importantly begin the short season with a high finish? History says yes. Elite pro Ed Loughran’s late August 2024 win of 80 pounds, 12 ounces came from an area inhabited by smallmouth and largemouth. The shallow-water area featured mixed weeds, rocks and other favorable near-shore cover. 
By contrast, Kyoya Fujita won a 2023 event with 86 pounds, 12 ounces, doing so using forward-facing sonar in the popular Inland Sea. 
Which will it be? Shallow, deep or both? The likelihood of both depth zones being in play is highly likely, along with catching mixed bags necessary to stay in the game. 
Next stop is Oct. 2-4 on Wheeler Lake, which could also be a coin toss of strategy decision making. No matter which side the coin lands, the competition will evolve as a grinder of a tournament, maybe even a junk fishing fest. 
Will the action still be hot on the famous Decatur Flats and other notorious ledge strike zones along the Tennessee River channel? 
On the flip side, shorter days mean cooler mornings. Hints of fall could stimulate shad movement, triggering the bass to pursue them as the seasonal transition begins from the main river. 
Baitfish and bass gathering on main points and transition areas leading into the creeks is a possibility, especially for an early morning bite. 
This will be the scene on Nov. 13 when Day 1 begins of the final EQ event of the season. The three-day tournament will be held out of Clewiston, Fla. 
For anglers on the qualifying bubble, the final event might give them a shot at climbing the final standings into Elite qualification. That fate depends on the weather, and specifically any hint of fall in the air from northerly cold fronts. 
Cooler water temperatures stimulate bass activity, and at Okeechobee that begins the fall feeding period also leading to prespawn. In south Florida, that can begin as early as November, again driven by cooler weather. 
A search of recent November local tournament results revealed one-day average winning weights in the 20-pound range, topped by a Bay Area Bassmasters tournament in November with a winning weight of 38 pounds. 
Given the timing, the season finale will be make or break for some, or a coast to the finish for others. Will Okeechobee produce 20-pound catches or even a Dirty 30? In mid-November there is nowhere else it could happen.  

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