Story by Ken Duke | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Every tournament has its own stories to tell and Stop 4 of the NPFL’s 2025 season will be no different. But quite often, If you look ahead just a little, you can see the stories forming or anticipate where a story might pop up.
As someone who has covered hundreds of high-level tournaments over the past four decades, I’ve had to anticipate the stories so I could put myself in the right place at the right time or be thinking of the best storylines before they develop.
That’s what I’m doing here.
These are seven of the storylines that I see coming as we prepare for Day 1 of Stop 4 on Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma. It’s some of the stuff I’ll be watching.
1. Consecutive limit streaks will take tumble.
The water’s high and muddy. I think lots of fish will be caught and that most anglers will bring a limit to the scales each day, but I doubt that most individual anglers will limit every day. Make sense? In other words, I think a lot of anglers will have 12 or 13 bass over the three competition days.
Right now, there are 25 anglers who have limited every day of the 2025 season. By the end of this tournament, I think that number will be between 12 and 16. No angler has ever limited every day of an entire season, but I think it will happen this year.
2. Can Drew Cook continue his streak?
Drew Cook holds the NPFL record for consecutive limits with 25, and his streak is ongoing. I’m betting on him to keep it alive through the tough conditions he’ll face at Eufaula. In fact, I’m betting on him to be the first NPFL pro to limit every day for an entire season this year!
3. They’re in the money!
Ten anglers have finished in the money at every tournament so far this season: Jason Burroughs, Hank Cherry, Brandon Cobb, Drew Cook, Greg Hackney, Caleb Kuphall, Bill Lowen, Gerald Swindle, Patrick Walters, and Kyle Welcher. I think most of them will keep that streak alive, but one or two will likely struggle and slip off the list.
4. Always in the money!!
Drew Cook and Kyle Welcher have fished nine NPFL events and have never finished out of the money. I think both will make it 10 in a row. The NPFL record is 11 consecutive in-the-money finishes by Todd Goade.
5. Welcher in the top 20?
Kyle Welcher not only leads the Progressive Angler of the Year race after winning the title in 2024, but he has posted nine consecutive top 20 finishes. That’s already the League record, and if he can keep it going, he’s a lock to repeat as AOY.
Welcher always seems to catch ’em, especially if there’s a shallow water bite … and the only bite on Eufaula this week is shallow.
6. It’s going to be warm.
Air temperatures are expected to peak in the low 90s this week. That’s not crazy hot, of course, but those temps will be among the warmest in NPFL history.
7. Eufaula gets a bigger test this time around.
In 2023—the last time The League was here—there were only 70 anglers in the field. It was the smallest field in NPFL history, not including the Championship.
The fishing was—how should I say this?—not great. The average angler weighed in just 6-12 each day for a total of 20-04 for three days. The average bass weighed just 2-04. Those numbers aren’t record lows, but they’re close.
Hopefully, Lake Eufaula will be more productive this time around. Conditions may not be ideal, but they seem conducive to solid catch rates, and there are at least two statements that we can make with confidence.
First, someone is going to figure these fish out.
Second, someone is going to win and get a big trophy and check for $100,000.
8. The AOY race is a battle of attrition.
Right now, 14 points separates the top four anglers in the Progressive Angler of the Year race, and 50 points separates first from 10th. I don’t believe anyone outside that group can win AOY this year. Even if they could close the points gap, there are too many talented pros there to leapfrog them all.
After Stop 4, I expect the group of anglers with a shot at AOY to get even smaller—maybe just three or four names. After four events, no one ranking outside the top four has ever gone on to win AOY. That happened in 2021 when Keith Carson was fourth after four and went on to win AOY. The League is much stronger now.
