PORT ARANSAS, Texas — It was the worst of times, it was the best of times. That’s not a Dickens misquote; that’s the tale of two of two anglers — Clark Jordan Jr. and Easton Fothergill — who overcame inclement weather to win the Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter at Port Aransas, Texas with a three-day total of 42 pounds.
On a day drenched by a large, slow-moving storm, Jordan, a seasoned Texas redfish pro, and Fothergill, a Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series angler, crafted a deceptively simple plan and executed with the kind of consistency requisite to major accomplishments. A win is a win, but for the team that finished second after leading the first two days of last year’s event (also at Port Aransas), this victory was understandably sweeter.
“Last year stung a little bit for a couple of weeks,” Jordan said. “I fish a bunch of tournaments a year and I’ve never been that nervous about them, but I was nervous for this tournament.
“I don’t know if it was having great success last year and falling short, but this win means a lot and the added pressure probably helped me.”
Fothergill, the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour champion, agreed and lauded the tournament’s unique format. The 10-boat field comprised six two-angler teams of redfish pros, plus four teams pairing a redfish pro with a Bassmaster Elite angler.
“This is awesome; this event is so cool,” Fothergill said. “It’s cool to be around a different group of people and to be able to hang out with my fellow Elites (also Brandon Palaniuk, Justin Hamner and Justin Atkins) in a more relaxed setting. It was an awesome event and I hope we come back.”
Jordan and Fothergill placed second on Day 1 with 15-6 and then took over the lead with a second-round limit of 13-13. Sealing the deal with a Championship Sunday limit of 12-13, they finished with a 4-pound, 1-ounce margin over Florida redfish pros Mike Lauer and Jesse Craddock.
For their efforts, Jordan and Fothergill split the $75,000 top prize.
Running south of Port Aransas, the winners committed to the same general area of Laguna Madre they fished last year. From the first two days’ dry conditions, to Championship Sunday’s windy soaker, their straightforward strategy of making long, controlled drifts across 2- to 4-foot grass flats delivered all of their fish.
“It would be considered pretty boring and long, but it’s an effective way when fishing’s tough here,” Jordan said. “Most people want to have action right away, but sometimes down here, we just have to grind and keep a lure in the water.
“Anytime you’re on your trolling motor around these fish, it’s hard to approach them. It’s one thing if you’re just steering to another spot, but these fish are pretty trolling motor-sensitive, so if you have to fish on the trolling motor, you’re probably going to struggle.”
The winners caught their fish on Berkley Ripple Mullets rigged on 1/4-ounce jigheads. Fothergill said that, while most of their bites came over the grass, he would target every sandy pothole he could reach, because redfish often feed in these slightly deeper spots.
Fothergill said he and Jordan mainly focused on making the long casts that could reach redfish before the boat spooked them. Also, he said persevering through a grueling day of challenging conditions was the key to their performance.
“Our cameraman only had the camera on his shoulder about an hour today, it was just straight downpour and super high winds,” Fothergill said. “It was tough conditions, but we just fished our best through it and we actually caught quite a few fish today.
“We caught a bunch of little ones, but we got three pretty decent bites. It was a fun day.
Lauer and Craddock started strong and kept themselves near the top. They placed third with a Day 1 limit of 15-5, improved to second on Day 2 with 12-1 and finished with a final-round limit of 10-9, for a 37-15 total.
Running the farthest south of any team, Lauer and Craddock fished near the southern boundary at Bird Island, where they did much of their work on the west side of spoil islands adjacent to the Intracoastal waterway. They attempted to fish that scenario again, but strong winds impeded their boat control.
“We got down there before the rain started, but it was blowing like 35 mph out of the east, so we couldn’t stay off the trolling motor long enough to be able to do what we needed to do,” he said. “We probably stayed there too long, but we made a shift and went to a grass flat. It was a struggle until about 11 o’clock when we got our first fish.”
Craddock said he tried throwing a swimbait for about 10 minutes, but spoons ended up producing their catches. He threw an Aqua Dream spoon, while Lauer threw a Johnson Silver Minnow spoon.
Craddock said he and Lauer fished their main area most of their day, but they ended up completing their limit and upgrading on a spot close to Port Aransas.
Finishing third, Atkins and redfish pro Ryan Rickard turned in daily weights of 12-1, 11-14 and 13-10 — the final round’s heaviest weight — for a tournament total of 37-9.
“I knew every day had that potential to work out good,” Atkins said. “We were seeing some good ones. They were just few and far between. You had to get lucky and make the right cast.
“They were biting right off the bat this morning, so I thought our odds were good, if we could make the right casts, we were gonna catch some big ones.”
Atkins spent most of his time throwing a 3/8 bladed jig with a paddle tail trailer, while Rickard relied on a 3/8-ounce Aqua Dream spoon in watermelon/red and copper colors.
“It was super tough and grindy in our practice, but I think he and I made the best of what we had,” Rickard said. “We didn’t really mess up any fish, we didn’t really lose any fish that we should have had. Today, I didn’t think we would have (13-10), but that’s about as good as it’s gonna get for what we had.”
This event was hosted by Port Aransas Fisherman’s Wharf.