Daindridge, Tennessee and Douglas Lake set to field 115 top NPFL anglers, May 22-24
DAINDRIDGE, TN (May 21, 2025) – The National Professional Fishing League’s 2025 season is noteworthy for several reasons, chief of which is the series’ talent-stacked field of bass anglers. The League’s roster speaks volumes about the current state of competitive bass angling – angler attitudes concerning rules, technologies, entry fees and the payouts, media coverage and corporate sponsorship dollars, plus the popular and unpopular public sentiments surrounding it all.
The fact that the NPFL exists at all is evidence of its organizers doing a lot of things right. The fact that it has attracted so many top-tier anglers? Well, it could suggest they’re actually doing many things best.
Practice for Stop Three of the League’s 2025 season started on Tennessee’s Douglas Lake on Sunday, and the tournament’s three days of competition begin on Thursday. The 30,000-acre Tennessee River impoundment is familiar to several of this week’s competitors, including 27-year-old Carson-Newman University head fishing coach and NPFL pro, Hunter Sales.
Sales finished 12th in last season’s Progressive AOY points race and currently sits in 18th this season. He posted a 52nd-place finish at Santee Cooper and a 16th-place performance at Lake Norman in Stops One and Two so far in the 2025 NPFL season.
“The college (Carson-Newman University) is right between Douglas and Cherokee… about 15 minutes either way,” says Sales, who was also raised in the area. “I grew up here and still live about 40 minutes from Douglas Lake. It’s always been my favorite place for night tournaments.”
Sales is optimistic about his chances of finishing well at this week’s tournament, something he’ll need to do in order to stay in the AOY hunt at the midpoint of the 2025 NPFL season.
“Water levels fluctuate on Douglas more than the rest of the Tennessee River system,” Sales says. “It’s been up in the bushes but that could change quickly depending on the weather.” Over three inches of rainfall in the area throughout the past week makes a generous water scenario likely but not guaranteed.
The St. Croix Rod and SEVIIN Reels ambassador says if things remain consistent, there should be a shad spawn bite in the mornings. “I’ll probably throw a spook in the mornings when those fish come through on their way to the shallow brush, then likely work deep schools offshore in the afternoons. There’s going to be tons of twos and two-and-a-halfs getting caught. On Douglas, those four-pound bites are usually the separator in most tournaments.”
But Sales says that, too, could change. “The lake has been off limits for a month due to NPFL’s rules, but when I fished here earlier this spring it seemed like bass populations may have been up a bit,” he says. “Hurricane Helene definitely impacted the fishery here with all the debris that washed into the upper end and all of the resulting debris-removal projects. But it’s also possible that a lot of bass got washed down in the storms, too. I have a sense there’s more fish in this part of the system that there have been in recent years.”
At 30,000 acres, Douglas lake is notorious for fishing small. “There’s definitely going to be some boat pressure this week,” Sales predicts. “Anglers who figure out how to target bites in those recycled areas will have a leg up, but having fished the lake my whole life, I’ve got some off-the-grid spots that I should be able to lean into, mostly offshore.”
It’s worth reminding fans that one of the many things that make the NPFL unique is its total ban on forward-facing sonar. “The rule has the effect of exposing some competitors who can’t adapt and rewarding those who can,” Sales says. As a coach, I spend a lot of time around younger anglers, so I like to use as much technology as I can. Forward-facing sonar allowed a lot of anglers to make their living fishing offshore, but because of the NPFL’s rule, many fishing the series tend to stay near the bank. You will likely see guys fishing high-percentage shallow targets this week on Douglas, and those who excel at bait placement will likely do well. But I still love fishing offshore using legal electronics. It’s a strength of mine.”
Sales says he expects to lean into four specific St. Croix Victory rods throughout competition. “Victory is a special series for a lot of reasons. It’s priced great for an American-made rod, but I really like it because of what St. Croix does with that SCIII+ material in terms of dialing in specific actions from model-to-model,” he says. “You’ll probably see me deep-cranking a 10XD with the Victory 710XHM Max-Cranker. It’s a rod that casts long and loads up great on a hookset with a big, moving bait… everything you want in a deep-cranking rod. I also use the 710HM Mid-Cranker Victory for the same reasons, but with 6XDs and similar lures.
“If the Carolina rig plays this week, I’ll be using a Victory 75MHF Max Marshal, and I’ll probably also throw a football jig on the 73XHF Full Contact Finesse. It’s got the perfect tip and tons of power for hooksets in deep water.”
Sales says he’ll fish his crankbaits on 15 and 12-pound fluorocarbon spooled on SEVIIN 6.6:1 GS Series casting reels. He’ll move to faster 8.1:1 GS models for his bottom-contact presentations. “Small details make the difference in every tournament, but even more so in the more competitive power-fishing derbies that unfold where there aren’t a lot of kicker fish around. Since I started using them this year, I’ve really come to appreciate the adjustability of these SEVIIN GS reels. The quality is fantastic and it’s eye-opening how much you can fine-tune them for your specific setups and fishing conditions.”
Follow this week’s action at the NPFL on Douglas Lake at thenationalprofessionalfishingleague.com. Follow Coach Hunter Sales on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
About St. Croix
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