NASHVILLE — Matt Robertson just became $1.25 million richer. But don’t expect the Kentucky bass fishing pro to pack up and move into a mansion anytime soon.
“We ain’t moving out the trailer, baby. Trailer trash for life!” Robertson declared during a Saturday evening news conference after winning World Bass Enterprises’ inaugural The Champions tournament on Old Hickory Lake in Tennessee.
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The Bassmaster Elite pro backed up a week’s worth of trash talk by bringing 20 pounds, 2 ounces of bass to the scales on Championship Saturday, claiming the largest first-place prize in professional bass fishing history.
And despite all that confidence, even Robertson seemed a little overwhelmed by the moment.
“Dude, it’s freaking insane. I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” he said.
Robertson, of Kuttawa, Kentucky, dominated the first two days of competition, then delivered another monster bag Saturday after the weights reset to zero. Pake South finished second with 13 pounds, 7 ounces, taking home $500,000, while Wesley Strader earned $300,000 for third place.
The historic tournament brought together top anglers from the Bassmaster Elite Series and Major League Fishing’s Bass Pro Tour, along with two amateur qualifiers, to compete for a record $3.25 million purse.
But for Robertson, the payday is about much more than the money.
Robertson might not be upgrading his own home, but he already knows where some of that $1.25 million is going.
His wife is getting a new vehicle. And he’s planning to buy a couple more trailers.
Before the final weigh-in, Robertson told OutKick OutDoors that he’d been eyeing two trailers for sale near his home, one priced around $60,000 and the other around $80,000.
“I’m for sure buying a couple more trailers,” he said. “They’re bought, and my wife, she gets her new ride.”
MATT ROBERTSON HAULS IN 20-POUND BAG TO LEAD THE CHAMPIONS AFTER DAY 1 ON OLD HICKORY LAKE
And after securing the championship, he doubled down on those plans.
“I hate to tell anybody, but them things are sold,” he joked.
Behind Robertson’s larger-than-life personality, however, is a man who hasn’t forgotten where he came from.
“I didn’t grow up with much,” he explained during his post-victory press conference. “I worked so much paycheck to paycheck … I went through real struggles in life.”
Those experiences, he said, helped prepare him for the pressure of competing for life-changing money.
Robertson admitted that the money will drastically change his life, but he insisted he wasn’t particularly nervous about the stakes.
In fact, when OutKick OutDoors asked him what winning would mean before the results were officially announced, he had something else on his mind.
“I want that damn trophy. It’s what I want,” he said. “Everybody talking about the 1.25. Like, I want the money too, but I want to get my hands on that trophy.”
While Robertson’s victory might have looked easy from the leaderboard, it took some unconventional strategy to get there.
Rather than fishing the main lake, he traveled through the navigation lock at Old Hickory Dam to target smallmouth bass in the tailwater below the dam.
Robertson discovered his productive fishing area during practice and made the gamble that the bigger fish would be there when it mattered.
“If I hadn’t found that spot, I wouldn’t have won this thing,” Robertson said.
The strategy certainly paid off. Robertson caught the tournament’s only 20-pound bag on Thursday, then added another strong day Friday to secure the top qualifying position for Saturday’s championship.
But his honey hole wasn’t exactly a secret.
MLF pro Ron Nelson had also discovered productive water below the dam, and the two anglers spent much of the tournament fishing in close proximity.
The two were among just a handful of competitors who ventured below the dam. In fact, Nelson deliberately avoided casting into the area where Robertson had been catching his fish, despite the enormous money at stake.
And Robertson noticed.
“Never knew Ron before this week. Got to know him real well, and dude, there is not another person in the world with as much integrity as him,” Robertson told OutKick OutDoors during Saturday’s weigh-in.
“Anybody else fishing for this kind of money, he saw where I was catching a lot of fish, and he never came in on me.”
As water levels and currents shifted, the two eventually ended up sharing the productive area.
But tournament rules prohibited them from discussing how many fish they had caught, creating an unusual dilemma.
Robertson said he had no idea Nelson was struggling to fill his limit and felt terrible afterward.
“If I’d knew Ron only had two … I wouldn’t even have pulled up down there,” he said. “I feel awful about it.”
Robertson had been hoping they could both walk away with enormous paydays.
“I was wanting us to win $1.75 million from down there,” he said.
Nelson, who ultimately finished sixth and earned $75,000, had equally kind words for his new friend.
“Matt’s a heck of a dude,” Nelson told OutKick OutDoors. “I don’t know him, but I got a new friend now, I guess.”
Nelson explained that changing currents had made it difficult to relocate the school of smallmouth he’d found the previous day. And he believed Robertson would have given him more room had he known how badly Nelson needed a few additional bites.
“If he knows I’d needed a couple bites, he’d have probably slid over,” Nelson said.
The mutual respect was especially fitting for a tournament that brought together competitors from rival professional fishing circuits.
Robertson and Nelson had never met before The Champions. Three days later, they’d walked away with substantial paychecks and a new friendship.
Robertson was also quick to credit his faith and a little help from the lock operators for his historic victory.
He recalled learning that the navigation lock was undergoing maintenance early in the tournament, threatening to keep him from reaching the area where he’d found his fish.
Knowing how much his strategy depended on getting through, he said he prayed for the lock to reopen.
When he checked his phone, he discovered the lockmaster had already tried calling him twice. The lock was open, and the operators were waiting for him.
“From that moment, I was stressing before that,” Robertson recalled. “And after that, I just … gave it all to Him and let it go.”
Once on the water, Robertson relied on his familiarity with the Tennessee River and its navigation locks to adjust to changing conditions. He caught his winning fish using a small swimbait on a jighead.
The victory capped a tournament that also saw Bassmaster’s Team Stars defeat MLF’s Team Stripes for the team championship, giving the inaugural event both individual and team bragging rights.
Robertson had nothing but praise for WBE and CEO Brian Bird, saying the organizers had paid attention to both the big details and the small ones.
“This is the Super Bowl of bass fishing. I don’t care what anybody says,” Robertson declared.
And while he can now claim the sport’s richest championship prize, Robertson says he doesn’t plan to change who he is.
A new vehicle for his wife? Absolutely. A couple more trailers? Already on the shopping list.
But moving out of his own? Not a chance.
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OutKick OutDoors was on the ground at Old Hickory Lake throughout The Champions, bringing readers exclusive interviews, tournament updates and behind-the-scenes coverage.
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