Story by Justin Brouillard | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
The most consistent angler over three days at the 2025 NPFL Championship on Lake Hartwell, hosted by Visit Anderson, was Scott Hamrick. He opened with a 14‑10 bag on day one, followed by 15‑3 on day two, and closed strong with his biggest bag of the week on Showdown Sunday, weighing 15‑15, anchored by a 6‑1 largemouth.
His three-day total weight of 45‑12 secured the Championship victory, earning him a $100,000 payday, a berth into next year’s Championship event, and the coveted NPFL shield.
Rallying to second after day two with 16‑12, to go with his day one weight of 14‑4, Tennessee angler Michael Stout did enough on the final day, catching 14‑10 to finish the Championship in second place with a three-day total of 45‑10. In third, Georgia pro Will Harkins, a pre-tournament favorite, also finished with 45‑10.
Moving into fifth place, 2024 Progressive Angler of the Year winner Kyle Welcher caught the biggest bag, and biggest bass of the event, making up for a tough day two. His 6-11 lunker anchored his 19-14 rally bag, moving him several spots on the final day.
Hamrick Flips the Switch
Living in North Carolina, Scott Hamrick is a bit familiar with Lake Hartwell. When he arrived for practice this week, he had a hunch he would be fishing shallow and picking apart cover, but he did not know it would unfold the way it did.
“I knew what the plan was going to be before I got here,” he said. “I knew the weather was coming and that it would help the bite in the creeks, where I focused my time. I had a decent practice, but you’re not really fishing anything, so I was not sure what the potential was going to be.”
Hamrick fished two creeks over the first two days and started the event in Seneca. Early on day one, when he was firing a plopper bait around, he decided to pick up a jig, and that decision changed his tournament.
“I wanted to catch them on a topwater,” he said. “I started getting a bunch on a jig, including some bigger fish, and I knew what was going to be the deal. On day two, I went to 6/10 Creek, having burned down Seneca, and caught a bigger bag, so I had to fish there today.”
The morning of day three, Hamrick had a live camera, and things were not getting off to a fast start. With a small limit in the well, he fished a mix of new water and productive water from day two.
“This morning was terrible,” he said. “I was a bit nervous with the camera and making some bad casts—I’m pretty good at skipping—and I told the camera guy I was on the fast track to a 6-pound limit. But that’s when things started clicking.”
Going down a stretch, Hamrick noticed one of his favorite docks. At the time, he had a limit for 5 pounds, and it was now or never to make a move. He flipped in on the front of the dock and missed a bite – no luck. On the next dock, he maneuvered around back and quickly caught a 2.5-pound fish. And around on the front, a 6-pound bite gave him a glimmer of hope for the tournament.
“I knew at that point that I had a shot. That fish gave me a nice limit, but I still had a couple small fish to cull,” he said. “With 45 minutes left until check-in, the clouds opened and the rain started pouring. I dropped the jig, grabbed the plopper, and caught a 2.5-pounder, making a cull and sealing the tournament by 2 ounces.”
Before the event, Hamrick told a couple of anglers that he was excited for the small championship field and had a feeling it could be a perfect storm for him. With a lot of talented “scopers,” he knew he would have plenty of water to himself in the creeks, and the lack of pressure allowed him to come out on top.
“I know a lot of those guys who know the lake well were going to fish for spotted bass, and rightfully so,” he said. “I spread myself out over two creeks and caught just enough. I am super blessed and cannot believe that I won. I was simply flipping docks with a jig, that simple. I cannot believe it.”
Stout Stays Offshore
In a battle between offshore anglers, Scott Hamrick prevailed. With the majority of the field focusing on the main lake section of Hartwell, fishing for spotted bass on shoals and humps, Michael Stout won the battle, finishing second in the event, just 2 ounces behind Hamrick.
Coming into the event, the Tennessee pro knew what he wanted to do, and throughout practice, he had no problem finding fish, but they would not bite. Finally, on the final day of practice, the sun came out, and he dialed in a bite.
“That last day of practice I learned how to catch them, and I tried a minnow and stuff, but they would not touch it,” he said. “I learned how to get them to bite the shaky head, and that is what carried me through the event.”
His biggest bag of the event came on day two, and it was an afternoon flurry that moved him into second position in the tournament. Today, despite getting off to an early start with a small limit, it was again an afternoon sequence of upgrades that nearly earned him the victory.
“I went through a bad lull with the clouds after the morning and the fish did not want to bite,” he said. “Then, when the rain started, I ran back through some areas and caught three fish that culled me up to my weight: a 2.5-pound spot, a 3.25-pound spot, and a 3-pound spot I caught back near the weigh-in.”
If you had asked him on Friday morning, he may have undersold his pattern, guessing about 13 pounds per day based on practice. However, with the training wheels off on day one, Stout learned that his program was much more lucrative than he expected.
“It worked out better than I expected, and I really knew what my areas were capable of producing,” he added. “I focused on suspended and bottom fish, on points, shoals, humps, and some islands. They were not set up, aside from the few I caught out of brush, and they just roamed along the edges.”
Once found, Stout would fire over a shaky head and watch the bass follow his bait to the bottom, and move the bait based on how the fish would react.
“Sometimes it would take over a minute,” he added. “I’d see them go down, and they just watched it. I’d shake it and dead stick it—they were very finicky. I tried fishing a minnow in practice and finally learned how to get some of these fish to commit. It was a great week.”
Top Ten Anglers:
Scott Hamrick 45‑12
Michael Stout 45‑10
Will Harkins 45‑1
Patrick Walters 44‑11
Kyle Welcher 43‑7
Zack Birge 43‑2
Drew Cook 42‑13
Jason Burroughs 42‑0
Timothy Reams 41‑1
Mike Quinlin 40‑11
