Division 2 competition of the 2025 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Presented by SEVIIN
starts Thursday at Sam Rayburn
PARK FALLS, WIS. (February 12, 2025) – Over 200 anglers are set to compete in the 2025 St. Croix Bassmaster Open Division 2 opener at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by SEVIIN this week. The 115,000-acre east-Texas impoundment is a storied piece of water for bass anglers and known for producing giant largemouths. The question of precisely where concentrations of those big fish will be is the puzzle that Opens anglers will try to answer when competition begins on Thursday.
One of those anglers is 58-year-old Hot Springs, Arkansas angler, Stephen Browning. An ironman and legend of the sport, Browning has fished competitively for over 30 years on multiple tours, including the FLW, MLF Bass Pro Tour, the Bassmaster Opens, and the Bassmaster Elites. “The Puma,” as he’s known, has committed to fishing all eight events in both Divisions of the 2025 Bassmaster Opens season. After three days of practice on Sam Rayburn, Browning says he expects the Division 2 opener to be an absolute slugfest, with fat, pre-spawn giants pushing towards the shallows.
“It’s good. It’s really good,” he says. “Fish are doing their thing from 2-feet to 40-feet with more coming, so it’s a pick-your-poison deal. I’ve got four areas that should remain good if the weather stays consistent. It’s going to be a full-on-forward-facing-sonar-pinging-a-minnow-and-jerk-baiting deal. A lot is going to depend on who finds fish that others didn’t. It’s a big lake, but I expect it’s going to fish small.”
Browning says he’s “caught a ton” in three days, and points to the winning weight at a Texas Team Trail collegiate event that wrapped up on Rayburn a couple of days ago as an indication of what Opens anglers and fans might expect this week. “Collegiate anglers Riley Harris and Luke Potter weighed a 40-pound bag here to win a Texas Team Trail event just a couple days ago,” Browning says. “That should give everyone an idea of what’s happening here at Rayburn right now.”
The fact that Browning is fishing the Opens in 2025 is not, in itself, surprising. Today’s Opens Series is stacked with talented anglers who have very specific career goals. Browning’s son, Beau, was one of those anglers last year. After finishing 8th in the 2024 Opens EQ points race, he earned a spot in this season’s Bassmaster Elites Series. Father, Stephen, isn’t taking any opportunities to continue to support his son for granted.
“I’ve had good success fishing the MLB Pro bass Tour the past six years,” the Puma says. “But the Bassmaster Opens is the place where I can accomplish all of my goals, and that includes having the ability to be there to watch and support Beau during his rookie season in the Elites. I may miss a day or so of practice here and there, but there’s no overlap in Opens and Elite schedules, so I can fish all eight Opens and still get to the Elite events so we can be there for Beau.”
An angler who has fished the Opens Series in the past, Browning can offer unique perspective on how the series has evolved. “I always did well in the Opens, but I was a power fisherman back then. Things have definitely changed,” Browning says. “I watch these young anglers and the weights that they catch and how well they do. I didn’t realize until Clarks Hill (2025 Opens Series opener) how good they really are. They are impressive. And watching Beau last season… to not falter in nine events last year at this level of competition is incredible to me. The biggest thing for me is there’s not a lot of tough, grind-it-out tournaments anymore with forward-facing sonar. Past winning weights of 13-to-16 pounds a day are bumped up to 17 or 25 a day because of the technology. You have to be good at it to compete. Period. I don’t fuss about FFS. I have embraced it and I’m getting better at it.”
Lucky for the Puma, he has a great teacher. “I told Beau after the Clarks Hill Open, ‘I made great decisions about locations, but I need to get better about the decisions that result in getting bit.’ I was on the right fish, I just need to get better at the game,” he says.
After finishing in the middle of the pack at Clarks Hill, Browning says he’s figured some things out. “In addition to Beau’s coaching, I’ve got four St. Croix minnow-shaking rods with SEVIIN spinning reels on the deck… a couple PHYSYX MLXFs and a pair of Legend Elite MLXF’s. That’s about three more spinning rods that I’ve ever had on my deck at one time,” he chuckles. “I’ve had some 20+ pound days in practice and am super excited to get this tournament underway.”
Browning says he and his wife, Tammy, are grateful for the opportunity fishing the 2025 Opens Series will afford. “In a perfect world, I’ll finish in the top 50 in one of the divisions to quality for the EQ, win an event to qualify for the 2026 Bassmaster Classic, and finish in the top ten in the EQs to qualify for next year’s Elites… those are the goals,” Browning says. “But just knowing we’ll be able to be there to watch and support Beau at his Elite events this season is worth it in itself.”
The St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by SEVIIN will begin Feb. 13 with a 7 a.m. CT takeoff from Umphrey Family Pavilion in Brookeland, Texas, followed by weigh-in back at the pavilion beginning at 3 p.m. The full field will fish again on Feb. 14, with the top anglers advancing to fish for the tournament title on Feb. 15.
Follow the tournament online at Bassmaster.com. Get to know Stephen Browning and link to his social media pages at stephenbrowningoutdoors.com.
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