FORT WORTH, Texas — Eagle Mountain Lake doesn’t resemble any of the lakes Landon Gabby and Kolby Baker fish back home in Illinois, but the Marion County High School duo found two stretches they liked enough to win the 2025 Strike King Bassmaster High School Classic with a 14-pound, 1-ounce limit.
They, along with the nine other teams who qualified for the event, brought their catches to Dickies Arena in Fort Worth and weighed in on the Bassmaster Classic stage ahead of the Day 2 weigh-in.
“Thank the Lord for getting us here safe and for us to be able to hold this trophy on stage,” Gabby said. “It means the world to me.”
Their five-bass limit, anchored by a 4-pound largemouth, was almost 4 pounds better than James Sumrell from Hixson Bass Team, who caught four bass weighing 10-13. 2024 National Champion Rex Reagon from Pickett County finished third with 10-3.
“This event was awesome,” Baker said. “We thought everyone was going to come catch big bags, but it was a tough lake. We had a great time.”
Gabby and Baker earned their spot in the 10-boat tournament by finishing second at last season’s Saginaw Bay event. Their home bodies of water, Lake of Egypt and Kincaid Lake, are shallow, grassy lakes.
When they arrived for practice at Eagle Mountain Lake, located west of Fort Worth, they found a lake that featured rocks and docks. They caught only five keepers the entire practice period, but their fortunes flipped on tournament day.
“The wind let off today and it got warm again,” Gabby said. “It seemed like in the afternoon the bigger bass wanted to bite.”
They milked two 500-yard stretches of the lake all day, with rock being the key cover for the Marion County duo. Pea gravel points and secondary rock points, as well as a brushpile, held their best bites.
“We went up and down all day,” Baker said.
A 6th Sense Provoke jerkbait, a jighead minnow and an underspin were key baits as well as a glidebait.
A 12-incher was their first bass of the day, but it was enough to build some confidence in the areas they chose. From there they had several quality bass, including a 4-pounder that fell for a glidebait.
“We only had five keepers all day,” Baker said. “The last big one we caught came with about an hour to go. We were really trying to cull that smallest bass out and couldn’t. We were really surprised by the weight we had today.”
Gabby, a junior, and Baker, a senior, are both already planning to fish for college programs. Baker will be attending Wabash Valley University in the fall while Gabby will be heading to the University of North Alabama when he graduates.