Adrian Avena of Vineland has again qualified for the Major League Fishing (MLF) roster of 66 pros who will compete on the Bass Pro tour in 2025, the seventh season of professional bass fishing’s premier tournament circuit. The announcement was made late last month.
Avena has been in the money many times on the tour, and last year won his first top prize, which was $100,000 in 2023.
For the first time in Bass Pro Tour history, the full field will compete simultaneously in the Qualifying Round on days one and two. From there, top anglers will advance to the Knockout Round on day three and ultimately the Championship Round on day four. Every day of catch, weigh, immediate-release competition will be broadcast live on MLFNOW! and streamed to MajorLeagueFishing.com, the Major League Fishing app, and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) and Rumble platforms.
“It’s always one of our most anticipated announcements every season—when we unveil the anglers who will be competing for the sport’s top prizes on the Bass Pro Tour,” said Executive Vice President & General Manager of MLF Kathy Fennel in a media release. “We’re looking forward to kicking off our 2025 Bass Pro Tour season in just a few short months at Lake Conroe. The 2025 roster is a fantastic mix of anglers and the race to qualify for REDCREST, Heavy Hitters and the 2026 Bass Pro Tour is going to be more exciting than ever.”
Casting for big bass and big prize money, Avena travels thousands of miles, competing on some of the country’s biggest lakes from southern Florida to upstate New York to northeast Oklahoma (yes, Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees near the town of Grove).
He travels all season on the FLW bass fishing tour (think NASCAR), where he’s called “Jersey Boy,” and competes for prize money that can run into the hundreds of thousands. He pilots an expensive, high-tech bass boat that cruises at 80 miles an hour, and his sponsors provide a new one each year. Adrian Avena fishes for a living, simply said.
He has been giving back by running the Annual Youth Fishing Tourney here at South Vineland Park. He has done it because he loves his home and wants to pass on his love of the sport.
“Growing up, we lived right on the bay, where we were blessed to own saltwater sport fishing boats. My father and uncle got me into their tournaments. I was instantly hooked, so to speak,” Avena said.
In high school, while randomly dropping a bait line out of his 14-foot rowboat in a local sand wash, Avena met Dominic Simone, who became his mentor and lifelong friend.
“He’s a big reason I am where I am today,” he said.
On contest day, as previously reported in SNJ Today, aspiring fishermen and fisherwomen, ages two through 13, show up at South Vineland Park at 8 a.m. With buckets, rods, and hopes in hand, and dads, granddads, moms, and aunts in tow. Sometimes the kids fished, and the adults watched, sometimes the adults fished, and the kids played with the bait. Mostly, though, they did it together as the older generation’s love of the outdoors and thrill of the catch flowed into the heads, perhaps the souls, of even the youngest ones.
The 2025 Bass Pro Tour roster is headlined by Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, winner of the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) title in three of the last four seasons. Wheeler will be joined by fellow AOY winners Matt Becker of Ten Mile, Tennessee (2023), and 2019 REDCREST champion Edwin Evers of Talala, Oklahoma (2019).
Four former REDCREST Champions will be competing on the Bass Pro Tour this season, including Evers, Dustin Connell (2021 and 2024), Bobby Lane (2022) and Bryan Thrift (2023).
Invitations to compete in the MLF Bass Pro Tour are earned by performance in the previous year’s Bass Pro Tour, overall lifetime average and performance in the previous year’s Tackle Warehouse Invitationals. The 2025 MLF Bass Pro Tour will air on Discovery beginning in July 2025 and Outdoor Channel beginning in the first quarter of 2026.
