The Starting Spot: Greatest Moment in Bassmaster History, Trim is Nation Champ, and Fall Bass Finesse

The Starting Spot Daily Bass Fishing Headlines are the perfect way to start your day with some of the top bass fishing articles on the internet. It’s the quick, informative, how, where, and who you need to know. So, rub the sleep from your eyes, pour that first cup of the day, and head to your Starting Spot.

Today on The Starting Spot: Greatest Moment in Bassmaster History, Trim is Nation Champ, and Fall Bass Finesse | Photo by Kurt Mazurek

In this edition of The Starting Spot:

-B.A.S.S. is asking the fans to vote for their favorite moment in the history of Bassmaster competition. Contenders range from the first Bassmaster Classic on Lake Mead in 1971, to Rick Clunn winning at age 72 in the St. Johns Elite in 2019, to 22-year old Easton Fothergill winning the 2025 Classic with the heaviest Classic weight ever.

-This is a beautiful time of year to be bass fishing the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wisconsin. Local angler Nick Trim put together a 4-day total of 77 pounds to take home the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship trophy.

-As water continues to cool and feeding activity starts to slow back down, downsizing and slowing down can extend your late fall success. This article shares a bunch of fall finesse bass tips to keep you catching fish.

---

Vote for greatest moments in Bassmaster history

by Craig Lamb

From a story on Bassmaster.com: What’s the greatest moment in Bassmaster tournament history? The opinions run wide and deep in a debate that spans over five decades. The winning bass slips from the hands of a potential world champion. The greatest bass angler of all time wins not once, but twice to break his own record for agelessness. More than once, Classic winners face seemingly insurmountable odds to bounce back from potential defeat. You name it, it’s happened over the decades at Bassmaster tournaments. 
What better way to settle the score than let the fans decide?…MORE.

---

Trim goes wire-to-wire to win Nation Championship

by Andrew Canulette

From an article on Bassmaster.com: Nick Trim had high expectations coming into the 2025 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at the Upper Mississippi River presented by Lowrance.

He lives, after all, in nearby Galesville, Wis., only a 20-mile drive from the La Crosse Municipal Harbor, site of tournament weigh-ins this week. He’s fished this stretch of the river a few thousand times in his 42 years and that’s given him insight here that few other anglers at any level can rival.

And still, being favored to win on your home water is completely different than actually going out and doing it.

Trim shined under pressure, though, catching a total of 20 bass for a four-day weight of 77 pounds that earned him the win in this tournament that featured some 500 competitors from 48 states and seven foreign countries…MORE.

---

Finesse Fishing Techniques to Catch More Bass Right Now

by Glenn Walker

From a story on GameAndFishMag.com: As you look to head out on the water in fall, temperatures have dropped and the activity level of both largemouth and smallmouth bass slow down accordingly. While most of the fish are still willing to eat, getting strikes will increasingly require a departure from the baits and tactics that produced consistently just weeks ago. Scaling down the size of your bait and slowing the speed of the retrieve progressively become the keys to a successful presentation—the kind that will often yield surprising results and sometimes save your day from being a total bust. Take heed of these tactics.

By combining small finesse lures, light lines and precise boat control, I can focus my efforts on isolated structures that hold more and more bass as the water cools steadily with summer transitioning into fall…MORE.

Thanks for starting your day with Fishing On SI. Lines in!