What do you get when you mix innate talent with an unwavering appetite to compete? In the current bass fishing community, this combo has yielded what many consider to be the next phenom within the tournament circuit — 22 year old, Easton Fothergill. Son of the legendary Northern Minnesota angler, Gordon Fothergill, Easton has quickly gained a reputation for speaking softly and letting his rod do all of his talking.

Easton has been obsessed with fishing for as long as he can remember. At just four years of age, he earned his first noteworthy angling accolade in the Fish-A-Rama, an event held on Trout Lake. It was a first-place finish in the walleye division. At this point in time, Easton’s name was merely a whisper amongst the Minnesota tournament scene, but over time, due to Easton’s consistency, this whisper has gradually continued to amplify. Fishing nearly every day, regardless of the conditions and/or time of year, Easton’s passion for competitive angling has only intensified.

He and his father aimed to fish between three to five tournaments per summer — and it was rare for the father/son duo to not be on, or at the very least, near the top of the leaderboard at the end of each one.

By the time Easton was in the 8^th grade, he was settled into his fishing groove and fully in the swing of competitive bass fishing.

Local tournament veterans knew if Easton was fishing an event, they were going to have their work cut out for them. Despite the fact that even though the majority of his time was committed to school sanctioned tournaments, Easton and his father, Gordon rarely missed the opportunity to fish together in local tournaments or other events close to their home in, Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

It didn’t seem to matter where they were fishing or what they were fishing for, they always seemed to figure out a competitive advantage that put them in contention for the win. Rumors rippled throughout the Minnesota bass fishing community of these Fothergills — and what happens when they show up to fish a tournament.

For all of these years, Easton has been paving his path to achieve his dream of one day being a collegiate angler. He and his family were instrumental in starting a school fishing club in his hometown. To no surprise to anyone that knew about him, Easton began experiencing immediate success and was consistently contending for the top spots in almost every competition at the high school level. With numerous high school sanctioned tournament wins under his belt, Easton also earned the Minnesota SATT team of the year title. And all the while, he managed to keep a stranglehold on the local tournament scene as well.

If you think somewhere on this journey there would be an extended period of struggle, you would be wrong. Easton stepped right from high school fishing into collegiate fishing with even more solid finishes on very different fisheries. With so much consistent success, Easton earned a Bassmaster Collegiate Team of the Year title in 2023. With this honor, Easton and his fishing partner were rewarded with the opportunity to fish in the Bassmaster College Bracket.

Go figure — Easton would go on to win this bracket format tournament, a victory that secured him a spot to fish in what’s arguably considered the most prestigious fishing tournament in existence — the 2024 Bassmaster Classic. In addition to this hard-earned accolade, Easton will also have the opportunity to fish the 2024 Bassmaster Opens as a professional angler.

Maybe you’ve heard of him, maybe you haven’t. Either way, if his past is an indicator of his future — Easton Fothergill is a name that will become familiar amongst the entire bass fishing community at large. He’s got what it takes to win at any level and he’s already proven to everyone back home that he is in fact a bass fishing phenom — and as a Minnesota angler myself, I’m glad to know that he’s no longer my problem.