Scott Hamrick had his hands full of Lake Hartwell bass during the National Professional Fishing League championship, then got his hands on the trophy. (Photo: NPFL)
October 05, 2025
By Staff Report
Scott Hamrick got stronger and his stringers got heavier with each passing day of the 2025 NPFL Championship at Lake Hartwell.
His three-day total of 45-12 was anchored by a 15-15 limit on the final day, including a 6-1 kicker largemouth, to help the North Carolina angler claim the victory and $100,000 payday.
Hamrick’s total was two ounces better than Michael Stout, who finished with 45-10. Will Harkins finished third, also with 45-10. South Carolina native and recently-crowned Angler of the Year Patrick Walters took fourth with 45-1. Kyle Welcher, the NPFL’s 2024 AOY, caught a tournament-best 19-14 on the final day, including a 6-11 brute, and took 5th with 43-7.
This tournament served as the championship event for the 2024 season so forward-facing sonar was permitted since it was allowed during the 2024 NPFL season. The league later banned the use of live sonar for the 2025 season.
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Hamrick Flips the Switch Living in North Carolina, Hamrick was familiar with Hartwell. When he arrived for practice earlier in the week, he had a hunch he would be fishing shallow and picking apart cover, but he did not know it would unfold the way it did.
“I knew what the plan was going to be before I got here,” he said. “I knew the weather was coming and that it would help the bite in the creeks, where I focused my time. I had a decent practice, but you’re not really fishing anything, so I was not sure what the potential was going to be.”
Hamrick fished two creeks over the first two days and started the event in Seneca. Early on day one, when he was firing a plopper bait around, he decided to pick up a jig, and that decision changed his tournament.
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“I wanted to catch them on a topwater,” he said. “I started getting a bunch on a jig, including some bigger fish, and I knew what was going to be the deal. On day two, I went to 6/10 Creek, having burned down Seneca, and caught a bigger bag, so I had to fish there today.”
The morning of day three saw him get off to a slow start. With a small limit in the well, he fished a mix of new water and productive water from day two.
“This morning was terrible,” he said. “I was a bit nervous with the (live) camera and making some bad casts – I’m pretty good at skipping – and I told the camera guy I was on the fast track to a 6-pound limit. But that’s when things started clicking.”
While fishing down a stretch, Hamrick noticed one of his favorite docks. At the time, he had a limit for 5 pounds. He missed a bite on his first flip. On the next dock, he maneuvered around back and quickly caught a 2 1/2-pounder. And around the front, he caught the 6-pounder that gave him a glimmer of hope.
“I knew at that point that I had a shot. That fish gave me a nice limit, but I still had a couple small fish to cull,” he said. “With 45 minutes left until check-in, the clouds opened and the rain started pouring. I dropped the jig, grabbed the plopper, and caught a 2 1/2-pounder, making a cull and sealing the tournament by 2 ounces.”
Before the event, Hamrick told a couple of anglers that he was excited for the small championship field and had a feeling it could be a perfect storm for him. With a lot of talented “scopers” in the field he knew he would have plenty of water to himself in the creeks, and the lack of pressure allowed him to come out on top.
“I know a lot of those guys who know the lake well were going to fish for spotted bass, and rightfully so,” he said. “I spread myself out over two creeks and caught just enough. I am super blessed and cannot believe that I won. I was simply flipping docks with a jig, that simple. I cannot believe it.”
Stout Stays Offshore With the majority of the field focusing on the main lake section of Hartwell, fishing for spotted bass on shoals and humps, Stout won the battle, but fell two ounces short in the long run.
Coming into the event, the Tennessee pro knew what he wanted to do, and throughout practice, he had no problem finding fish, but they would not bite. On the final day of practice, the sun came out, and he dialed in a bite.
“That last day of practice I learned how to catch them, and I tried a minnow and stuff, but they would not touch it,” he said. “I learned how to get them to bite the shaky head, and that is what carried me through the event.”
His biggest bag of the event came on day two, and it was an afternoon flurry that moved him into second position in the tournament. Today, despite getting off to an early start with a small limit, it was again an afternoon sequence of upgrades that nearly earned him the victory.
“I went through a bad lull with the clouds after the morning and the fish did not want to bite,” he said. “Then, when the rain started, I ran back through some areas and caught three fish that culled me up to my weight: a 2 1/2-pound spot, a 3 1/4-pound spot, and a 3-pound spot I caught back near the weigh-in.”
If you had asked him on Friday morning, he may have undersold his pattern, guessing about 13 pounds per day based on practice. However, with the training wheels off on day one, Stout learned that his program was much more lucrative than he expected.
“It worked out better than I expected, and I really knew what my areas were capable of producing,” he added. “I focused on suspended and bottom fish, on points, shoals, humps, and some islands. They were not set up, aside from the few I caught out of brush, and they just roamed along the edges.”
Once found, Stout would fire over a shaky head and watch the bass follow his bait to the bottom, and move the bait based on how the fish would react.
“Sometimes it would take over a minute,” he added. “I’d see them go down, and they just watched it. I’d shake it and dead stick it—they were very finicky. I tried fishing a minnow in practice and finally learned how to get some of these fish to commit. It was a great week.”
Here’s how the top 10 looked at the end:
1. Scott Hamrick: 45‑12
