Story by Hunter Baughman | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
The new year is upon us and as short as the break seemed, it’s time to get back to work!
It’s good to begin every year with goals and aspirations. I’ve done just that. My main two goals for the NPFL in 2025 are simple.
1. Win an event
2. Qualify for the championship
This will be year five for me at the national level. While I’ve haven’t had a “close call” yet, I’ve had a handful of good finishes including a couple of top 10s. Plus I’ve won at every level below the NPFL. I know I have what it takes. But I can’t just sit around and wait for it to come to me. My goal is to work harder for a win this year than I ever have in the past.
I believe one thing that has always held me back is my mindset. With the amount of expenses we accrue at each event, sometimes it’s scary to throw all caution aside and fish for the winning bites. After all, the winning pattern usually doesn’t include a high number of bites. It’s quality over quantity most of the time. As someone who is providing for his family on sponsorships and tournament earnings, mentally it seems much safer to fish for a check than the “all in” mentality of winning.
It’s like target shooting though. If you aim for the target, you might hit the bullseye or you might miss the whole target. But if you aim for the bullseye and make a good shot, it’s a bullseye. If you miss the bullseye, it’s still a good shot overall. What I’m referencing is if someone is fishing for a check and misses, they don’t get paid. But if they fish to win and miss, most of the time they still get a check.
After a dismissal 2024 season, I went to Stop 6 at Lake Murray with the mindset of “I don’t really care if I get paid or not. I’m going to do what I think is best to win the tournament.” It worked out with an 11th place finish proving my point that when you aim for a win and miss, it’s still a good finish. That is how I plan to fish every event in 2025.
Another step I’m going to take to become a better angler is pre-practice. I’ve only put the time in once out of four years fishing the League. That changes now. I’ve got a trip planned in late January to look at a couple of the lakes ahead of time, and I intend to look at a couple more throughout the year. I probably won’t make it to New York ahead of time, and I’m not sure I will make Norman before the cutoff. The other four events I plan to see before their respective cutoff dates.
The second on my list is to qualify for the championship. In theory, if I fish each event to win, I will be well within the championship cutoff of the top 40 when the year is over. And if I manage to pull off a win, I’ll qualify regardless with the win-and-your-in qualification rule.
Outside of the NPFL, I’ll still be fishing a ton of tournaments while I’m at home. I’m hoping to fish a team series with my dad again, and maybe Andrea and I can jump in the Sunday afternoon Arkansas River series again. One thing I’ve learned is when I’m at home I might not fish the biggest tournaments, but I fish what makes me happy and where I think I can do well. I believe this helps with my overall confidence and not burning myself out.
I’ve also committed to giving myself at least once chance a year to make the Bassmaster Classic. My heart is with the NPFL, and I have no intentions of that changing. But the Classic is currently the biggest tournament in bass fishing. I would like to say I fished it one time before my career is over. This year it looks like I’ll be fishing one of the B.A.S.S. Nation regionals in an attempt to qualify. It will fall with the other 40-50 tournaments outside of the NPFL that I will fish in 2025.
I’ve enjoyed sharing my goals and aspirations with you for the new year. Like I said last week, I am living a life I used to only dream of. Hopefully at the beginning of 2026 I can say I’m living my dreams of 2025.
Hunter Baughman – Angler Profile
