Story by Ken Duke | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Some people just know how to make an entrance. I’m betting Marilyn Monroe was good at it.
You notice when these people walk into a room, open their mouth to speak, or enter a fishing tournament.
Jason Christie was like that earlier this year when he won the very first NPFL tournament he ever fished—the 2025 Lew’s Stop 1 at Santee Cooper. Not only did he win, but he set a new League record for total weight with 82 pounds, 12 ounces.
That’s a big-time debut! I promise that all the anglers in the League sat up and took notice of it. Of course, no one was surprised because Christie is a known commodity on the tournament trail. He was and is expected to do very well. The man is a talent.
John Soukup debuted with a bang in 2021 at the very first NPFL tournament on Alabama’s Lake Eufaula. He won that event and followed it up with a second win at Stop 3 on the Harris Chain. Soukup was a rookie in the truest sense of the word. He had no prior experience on the major bass tournament trails. Two NPFL wins in three tries got peoples’ attention and made them realize that Soukup was a force to be reckoned with in big-time bass competition.
To date, Soukup and Christie are the only two anglers to win the first NPFL event they ever fished. Surely, there will be others, but we’ll have to wait until at least the season opener of 2026 to add to the list … and it might take a lot longer.
Harmon Davis started his NPFL career off with a bang on Day 1 at Santee Cooper earlier this year. Davis came to the scales with “just” 13 pounds, but he did it with only two fish, and one of them weighed 10-09, tying the record for heaviest bass in league history.
Jordan Osborne did much the same thing. On the same day of the same tournament, Osborne came to the scales with a 5-bass limit that weighed 33-01. It eclipsed the NPFL record for heaviest daily catch and may hold that top spot for years to come. A lot has to go right to bag a catch like that, and the right fishery under the right conditions are just two critical elements.
Keith Carson (2021), Gary Adkins (2022), and Kyle Welcher (2024) all won Progressive Angler of the Year honors in their first seasons in the league. It could happen again this year. Five of the top nine anglers in the AOY standings after two events are new to the NPFL, including AOY leader Greg Hackney, who has already won AOY honors with FLW (2005) and B.A.S.S. (2014).
Do you think he wants a third AOY title with a third major league?
I guarantee it!
