Kentucky angler Matt Robertson won US$1.25 million at The Champions on Old Hickory Lake in Tennessee on October 31, the largest first-place payout in the history of professional bass fishing.
Robertson, from Kuttawa, Kentucky, weighed five bass totaling 20 pounds and 2 ounces on the final day. Over the three days, his catch added up to 56 pounds and 1 ounce, Outdoor Life reported.
“It’s freaking insane, I don’t think it’s really hit me yet. I just won the biggest tournament ever in bass fishing,” Robertson said after the win, according to WPSD Local 6.
“$1.25 million will drastically change my life,” he added. “This is the Super Bowl of bass fishing, I don’t care what anybody says, I know because I stood on the Super Bowl stage.”
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A US$3.25 million purse built from scratch
The Champions is a new event. World Bass Enterprises (WBE) announced it in February with a total purse of US$3.25 million, in a sport where, as Outdoor Life notes, many professionals struggle to make a living.
“We set out to host the biggest and baddest tournament the bass fishing community has ever seen, and we did just that,” said Brian Bird, WBE’s CEO and founder.
Outdoor Life wrote that the combined payouts of the Bassmaster Classic and MLF REDCREST, two of the sport’s best-known championships, do not come close to the purse paid in these three days.
Settling who is the best in the world
For about eight years, the top pros have been split between two organizations, the Bassmaster Elite Series and Major League Fishing’s Bass Pro Tour. They rarely fish against each other.
The Champions was created to end that argument. The field was made of the top 25 anglers in each tour’s 2026 Angler of the Year standings, plus winners of major events who missed the points cut.
Two more spots went to anglers chosen in a random draw among fans who pre-ordered the pay-per-view broadcast. They were Eric Giessing and Kyle Carr, Outdoor Life reported.
In total, Robertson competed against 60 other top anglers from the two circuits, according to WPSD Local 6, and then beat 14 of them on the final day.
Stars against Stripes
Because of naming rights, the anglers were split into teams. Elite Series pros fished for Team Stars, while Bass Pro Tour pros fished for Team Stripes.
A team trophy went to the best performing side. In 2026, Team Stars took the bragging rights, which means the Elite Series anglers won the first head-to-head.
“The opportunity to crown a true world champion across the entire sport is something our anglers have wanted for a very long time,” said Jacob Wheeler, the 2025 Bass Pro Tour Angler of the Year.
Live sonar on a timer
One of the most debated tools in modern fishing was limited. Forward-facing sonar, which shows fish on a screen in real time, was allowed only part of the time.
In the first two days, each angler chose one day with live sonar and one day without it. On the final day, the top 15 could use it for three hours of competition.
Outdoor Life wrote that the sonar rules seemingly played into a 50/50 outcome, with every pro forced to fish part of the event with the screens and part without them.
All weights back to zero for the final day
The format added one more twist. The weights of the 15 finalists were reset to zero before Saturday, so the title depended on a single day of fishing.
Robertson’s 20 pounds and 2 ounces on Saturday was enough to beat the other 14 finalists, among them Jason Christie, Takahiro Omori, Bryan Thrift, Cody Meyer and Trey McKinney.
The rest of the final-day field included Ron Nelson, Bob Downey, Fisher Anaya, Kyle Welcher, Cole Sands, Chris Johnston and three more top-five finishers, Pake South, Wesley Strader and Michael Neal.
The lake helped. Largemouth, spotted bass and smallmouth all reached the scales, with smallmouth bags weighing the most, Outdoor Life wrote.
An 18-inch rule for smallmouth
Size limits shaped the strategy. A smallmouth had to measure at least 18 inches to count, while largemouth and spotted bass needed only 14 inches.
The higher bar meant only bigger smallmouth counted, which helps explain why smallmouth-heavy bags carried the biggest totals on Old Hickory.
The tournament launched every morning from Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake, with fans watching on site and on the pay-per-view stream.
Half a million dollars for second place
The money went deep into the field. Pake South, of Winnsboro, Texas, finished second and won US$500,000. Wesley Strader, of Spring City, Tennessee, took US$300,000 for third.
Trey McKinney, of Carbondale, Illinois, won US$200,000 for fourth, and Michael Neal, of Dayton, Tennessee, took US$100,000 for fifth, WPSD Local 6 reported.
Even 15th place paid US$20,000. Payouts rose in steps of US$5,000 from there up to seventh place, according to Outdoor Life.
“An awesome payday, it’s really life-changing money, and it’s wild that I can win second place and still win that much money,” South said after the weigh-in.
A show built around the fishing
WBE turned the week into an event. Country singer Riley Green headlined a concert in Nashville on Friday night, with Randy Houser opening the show.
The opening ceremony on Wednesday featured NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss, veteran angler Bill Dance and two-time Bassmaster Angler of the Year Gerald Swindle.
Dance fired a cannon to start the shotgun launch on the first day, while a fan festival offered boat demos, a kids’ fishing area and a cornhole tournament.
What the record means for the sport
Records of all kinds keep drawing crowds, like the 3,156-pound pumpkin carved into the world’s heaviest jack-o’-lantern in Oregon this week. In bass fishing, the record is the check.
Outdoor Life argued that the two main circuits should study how WBE raised the money, including the pay-per-view model, to help pros make a living.
Outdoor Life is already looking ahead to a 2027 lineup. Will the next field fish for an even bigger check than the one Matt Robertson took home?
