Story by Todd Goade | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Stop 4 of the NPFL’s 2025 season on Oklahoma’s Lake Eufaula has come and gone, and yet again The League pulled off a seamless event, even under the most trying circumstances. If you could only see how many decisions, pre-planning, planning on the fly, and audibles they called during this event you’d be amazed. They’re the hardest working crew in bass fishing.
It had been two years since we had been to Eufaula and one thing I immediately noticed is how many new businesses have opened since we were there last time. I feel like the fishing organizations that have been there the last few years and the tourism folks working hard to bring us there are making a difference. It is nice to see the economic impact we have made on such a small community.
Now to the fishing: Practice on Sunday was spent trying to find the cleanest water on the lake since it was 7 feet over full pool and muddy. I mean red muddy. Having been there before I figured the cleanest water would be in Duchess Creek by the dam and Longtown, and I was correct. I flipped some bushes, skipped the new Side Piece from Pulsefish under boat lifts and caught a few small ones doing that. Four keepers to be exact. I didn’t fish a lot though as I ran my Skeeter/Yamaha all over the lake looking for promising areas.
Monday, I settled in Longtown in a pocket that had several points, and I noticed small bait in a bush on a point. I had a Pop R tied on and on the first cast beside that bush a 2 3/4-pound fish annihilated the bait. On the inside of the next point a 4-pounder exploded on the bait, and I started getting excited. The next point, same result, 3 pounder. I immediately rolled up my hooks and started looking in the Longtown area for other places that looked like these. I found several and the few I made a cast to, same result. I was excited because I could have caught a 20-pound bag that day. I was also nervous because I have seen a practice topwater disappear come tournament day.
The last day of practice I didn’t make any casts but spent the time marking places and thinking about rotation, timing, etc., and rigging the few rods I’d need since we didn’t have an off day for this event.
Day 1 of the event started with rain coming in about 1:00 a.m. and heavy thunderstorms continued until daylight and beyond. The event was delayed 2 hours and then they made the decision to cancel the day based on severe weather conditions and wind. The lake rose almost 2 more feet, putting water in the parking lot of the event. The lake was almost at max flood stage.
Day 2 saw the rain gone, replaced by high heat and humidity. It was typical Oklahoma! I was Boat 83 and ran to my first spot. On my seventh cast, a 3 pounder ate my Pop R. I got excited thinking this might be a repeat of Monday. Wong! I was able to get three other small fish on it the next couple of hours, but I could tell the bite was gone. With the lake being 7 feet over full pool for almost a month, the fish had acclimated to those bushes on the points and 2 more feet of water spread them out and I never really relocated any bigger fish. I was able to flip some fish up on a Zoom Z Craw Jr. and filled my limit for a little over 10 pounds. I was just a good fish out of check range.
The last day I caught my limit pretty quick flipping the Z Craw Jr. and swimming one over bushes on those same points, but didn’t catch any good ones. I moved around a lot, tried a lot of different things—like a squarebill around the bushes where the fish had been—but with no success. I fished hard and caught a lot of fish, just no size. I also threw the Pop R off an on to keep it honest as I thought if I got a bite on it, it would be a good one.
With about 10 minutes to go before my check-in, I was fishing by the takeoff area and came up on some bushes just under the water. Even thought the water was muddy it just looked like a topwater spot. I fired the Pop R over there and a 4 pounder exploded on it but never actually touched it. That fish would have moved me up almost 20 places and into the money. It just wasn’t meant to be.
I finished the event in 51st place and am currently in 34th in the AOY standings. The top 40 at the end of the year qualify for the 2026 Championship. That’s my main goal. This is the third event in a row of middle-of-the-pack finishes for me, and I’ve had a chance at one fish at each of them that would have made a huge difference. Instead, we’re fighting and clawing to stay in that Championship cut.
Fortunately, I’m not someone who “spins out.” We leave next week for the St. Lawrence River, and it’s going to be a smallmouth smash fest! Hopefully I’ll figure something out there to have a good event and move up in the standings. I can’t thank you enough for following along this year. I appreciate it!
See you in New York!
Tight Lines.
Todd Goade – Angler Profile
