Big Bass and Big Stakes: 2025 Bassmaster Classic Returns to Texas

FORT WORTH, TX – The 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour heads to Lake Ray Roberts March 21-23 in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The Super Bowl of bass fishing is back in Texas for the fourth time overall.

Lake Ray Roberts also hosted the 2021 Bassmaster Classic, while previous competitions were held on Lake Texoma in 1979 and Lake Conroe in 2017. There are 56 anglers scheduled to compete in this year’s event, and they’ll be launching their boats from public boat ramps at Ray Roberts Lake State Park-Isle du Bois Unit. 

“It’s an honor that Texas was chosen to host the Classic,” said Tom Lang, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) Inland Fisheries Division Outreach Director. “B.A.S.S. [the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society] choosing to hold the Bassmaster Classic in Texas says a lot about what TPWD staff is doing on a day-to-day basis to make Texas fisheries outstanding and our state a great place to recreate in the outdoors.”

The agency will also be involved throughout the event by partnering with B.A.S.S. to provide care for fish and ultimately releasing them back into Lake Ray Roberts after each day of the event. The weigh-ins each day of the tournament will occur at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, a little over an hour’s drive from Lake Ray Roberts. TPWD staff will also conduct outreach and education activities at the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo at the Fort Worth Convention Center.

TPWD will have angler education, boater education, State Parks, employee recruitment, the fish habitat barge and Operation Game Thief trailer with Game Wardens during the Bassmaster Tailgate at General Worth Square outside of the Convention Center. Inside the Bassmaster Classic Expo, visitors can check out a Toyota ShareLunker display and TPWD’s electrofishing boat and interact with local fish biologists. 

TPWD’s brand new “Bass: A Texas Parks & Wildlife Fishing Journal” will be handed out for free at the expo during weigh-ins while supplies last. The book covers everything you need to know about bass fishing in Texas, including history, tips for catching big bass, places to fish, species of black bass, bass science, the Toyota ShareLunker program and more.

Because the 2025 Classic is a pre-spawn event — occurring before the water warms and fish begin to spawn and fertilize eggs — female bass will be heavier than at any other time of year because they’re full of unfertilized eggs. Lake Ray Roberts is known for producing 30-pound, five-fish bag limits in March and April. 

Ray Roberts has produced six Legacy Class ShareLunker entries (over 13 pounds), including the current lake record largemouth bass of 15.18 pounds, caught in March 2015. Three Strike King Elite Class bass (over 10 pounds) were accepted into the Toyota ShareLunker program in 2024. According to TPWD data, around 15,000 fingerlings were stocked from 2012 Legacy Class ShareLunker 530, and enough time has passed for those offspring to potentially be well over 13 pounds.

In total, 4.6 million fingerling Florida bass have been stocked in Ray Roberts. The fisheries management plan calls for stocking Lone Star largemouth bass at Ray Roberts every two to three years to maintain a high-quality bass fishery.  In 2024, TPWD hatcheries stocked 347,000 Lone Star Bass, which are Texas’ selectively bred Florida bass descended from ShareLunker bass (over 13 pounds).

The 29,000-acre Lake Ray Roberts is relatively small compared to East Texas bass hot spots such as Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn reservoirs. Nevertheless, it has an abundance of bass-holding areas and, as a Corps of Engineers Lake, there has been minimal development around the 259 miles of shoreline, so most of the shoreline is natural and consists of rocky banks and seasonally flooded shrubs like button bush (aka buckbrush).  

During the construction of the lake, TPWD and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers teamed up to help preserve and develop good fish habitat. Approximately 3,000 acres of standing timber was left in the reservoir, according to a timber management plan coordinated by TPWD and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide beneficial habitat for sport fish, and it is located mostly in the upper reaches of the reservoir’s major arms. The Corps also built nearly 50 massive brush piles prior to impoundment. Rip-rap can be found along the dam and near bridge crossings, and aquatic vegetation is present along some shorelines. Additional structure is provided by stream channels, flooded main-lake points, inundated pond dams and flooded rocks/boulders/stumps.

The Bassmaster Classic will be broadcast on FOX, FS1 and FOX Sports digital platforms. The 2025 Bassmaster Classic will have six hours of coverage on FOX and 54 hours on FS1.