Written by
Mike Suchan
Florida fishes like Texas, says Brad Whatley, who wishes his Sunshine State success would translate to his home state and beyond.
Last year, Whatley posted two Top 10 finishes in Florida, but he made just one other cut and suffered bombs in Texas to miss qualifying for his third Classic. The 44-year-old from Bivins, Texas, likes the 2025 schedule and hopes a strong start gets him back on track.
“My No. 1 goal, I got to get my butt back in the Classic,” he said. “And I want to win bad. I’m due, and this is a good schedule for me. I think I have more opportunities to win this year than I’ve ever had.”
The power fisherman called the schedule, which includes two stops in both Florida and Texas and four river systems, an almost 180-degree turn from last year.
“That was a scoping schedule,” Whatley said. “I can scope, but it’s not something I prefer to do. I’m a power fisherman. This is the best schedule I’ve ever seen in my seven years, what I’d call a fishing schedule.
“Guys are going to scope no matter what, but you can still fish and compete. We had a lot of events last year where like 18 of the top 20 were just scoping.”
Starting close to home last year, Whatley dug a hole with an 89th at Toledo Bend Reservoir on the Texas-Louisiana border, and an 84th at Lake Fork. He headed to April’s Florida swing in the bottom 10 in Angler of the Year points and made a big move.
“I love Florida,” said Whatley, who’s now made six cuts in seven events there. “Florida is power fishing. It’s the state of braid. Braid was invented for Florida. If I can look down on my front deck and the majority of my rods have braid on them, I feel like I got a puncher’s chance.”
Whatley punched up a good number of lunkers at the Harris Chain. On Day 1, he tied for Phoenix Boats Big Bass with a 7-pound, 14-ounce kicker and matched it with a 7-12 to start third with 22-0. After moving up to second, his weights dropped, and on Day 4 he only brought in four fish to finish 10th.
Moving 21 spots to 73rd in AOY gave him hope, which dimmed on Day 1 at the St. Johns River.
“I had a horrible first day at St. Johns,” he said with his 95th-place start. “I had two fish. I just could not get them to commit.”
A 6-9 early catch showed Whatley was on quality, but none of his other 20 bites fully committed. They committed on Day 2, and he climbed inside the cut with 20 pounds. Things got even better on Semifinal Saturday. Two hours in, Whatley posted a 5-12 on BassTrakk.
“I dropped the Raptors and like two casts later, I catch an 8-and-half,” he said. “The very next cast I have one between 8 and 9 jump over my bait. I never moved, but that’s just Florida.”
Whatley’s 8-7 held on as Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the event. A 7-6 later helped him weigh 31-4 for the Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag and moved him to second, where he finished.
“I like Florida simply because it does fish a lot like where I’m from,” Whatley said. “You basically just cover water. You rarely get random bites in Florida. If you get bit, there’s more fish around.”
After his dismal start in Texas, Florida breathed life into Whatley’s Classic hopes as he vaulted 61 spots to 33rd in AOY. It was down again at Lake Murray, where he took 92nd in the scoping event before a 29th at Wheeler Lake. He was still within Classic range but didn’t make a cut the rest of the way, finishing 63rd in the standings and about 80 points shy of his third championship.
“Bass fishing is no different than any other sport,” he said. “You put that behind you. I’m pissed off about it, but you just literally move on from it and go fishing.”
That’s the plan for 2025. Go fishing. It doesn’t hurt Whatley’s feelings that the season blasts off at the St. Johns before moving a bit south to Lake Okeechobee. After the Classic, the Elites visit the Pasquotank River in April, another place he thinks he has a fighting chance because it’s somewhat like home.
“There’s cypress trees, it’s a river system and I always do well in a river system,” he said. “I like places I’ve never been to. I’m looking forward to it.”
After a late April event on Hartwell, where a shallow bite could be in play, Whatley and the Elites visit Texas’ famed Lake Fork then the Sabine River in May.
“There will be some fish offshore, but they’ll still be a lot of fish shallow,” he said. “I like Fork, even though I’ve had a lot of crying stories there, bad calls, a lot of lost fish. Fork will be a great event. It will be 100-pound mark again.
“And I love the Sabine River. It’s grass roots of fishing in my opinion. I think the fans love it. You get a 4-pounder and that’s a game changer. I enjoy grinders. You can pull my record all the way to the Opens; if it’s a grinder, you can normally look for me to be up there.”
Whatley sees Lake Tenkiller in June as more of a scoping event, but he plans to make a scouting trip. The season concludes in August on Lake St. Clair before the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, Wis., both places Whatley thinks he has a chance to win.
“Saint Clair, anybody can win there. I believe that,” he said. “That is anybody’s derby. I mean a guy from South Louisiana all the way to New York City could win that tournament.
“And I like La Crosse, obviously. I’m a swim jig, frogging kind of guy. I love it. It’s just a fertile, healthy place, looks like you can get a bite anywhere. You can drop your poles and get 30 bites in one spot. They wad up.”
Whatley’s business processing deer recently wound down, and he’s been working boat shows while prepping for tournament season to start. It’s an exciting time, for sure, and he’s just looking for a great start in Florida to seed the season.
“Fishing is streaky. When you get on a run, there’s something about that that’s unexplainable,” he said. “When you’re on fire, you know it. I haven’t forgotten what that’s like. You just have to take advantage of it because it won’t last forever.
“To start out with a couple of good events, that always takes a lot of pressure off. You never know. You have to holler at me five events in and see where I’m at, but I’m as excited as I could ever be for a schedule.”
