While his father engrained the outdoors in Seth Feider with an iron fist, his mother fostered his dream with love, support and a lead foot. Little did Pete (who also goes by Pedro) and Anne Feider realize they’d raise a bass fishing champion.
The Feiders imparted different qualities to their son, who in July finished off the most consistent season to become the 26th pro to win Angler of the Year in 52 years of B.A.S.S.
“It’s a major career milestone,” Feider said. “Nice to have won something finally. It’s really cool. A small group, good company.”
Feider, 36 of New Market, Minn., can look at his parents for providing stability and giving him the tools to excel on the Bassmaster Elite Series, where four Top 10 finishes in nine events propelled him to the best-ever average AOY finish of 13.5.
“Pedro definitely lit that fire for the outdoors, whether it was hunting or fishing or whatever,” Feider said. “I guess if I have any smarts in my body, it came from her. She’s really smart. She really handles pressure really well. Always stays cool and calm.
“My dad’s kind of a hothead. Not that much anymore now that he’s retired, but he used to lose his s%*# on a daily basis at the house. He’d go from zero to a hundred with a lift of the little finger.”
Pete, a self-described old-school biker, said the Feider men share their temperament, as well as an economy of words. And both are unabashedly blunt.
“I say that first thing that comes into my mouth, not my brain,” Pete said. “I’ve mellowed, though. I’m 69. My fighting days are over; you can put it that way.”
Growing up under Pedro toughened Seth, for sure, but the old man kept watch as his boy literally went headfirst into the outdoors. With Anne working nights, Pete, a bass club angler, would take Seth fishing on their local lake in a 12-foot johnboat and trolling motor. On one of his first trips, a 3-year-old Seth required rescuing.
“I look back and he was hanging over the gunnel, trying to grab lily pad flowers,” Pete said. “He actually got ahold of one. He had a life jacket on. I’m going one direction — lily pads are tough — next thing I know, he had his head in the water, and I just grabbed him by his pants and pulled him back in.”
Pete said little Seth’s first catches were “sunnies down at the dock” with a Snoopy pole. Expectations on how to properly do most any outdoor opportunity in the Land of 10,000 Lake rose as he aged. Seth had the riot act read to him for things like not retying on a leader and losing his entire rig to a pike. It was intimidating, but it put Seth through his paces.
“There’s no drill sergeant in the United States Army on planet Earth that can make me flinch after growing up with Pedro,” Seth said. “He used to start screaming at me, and my buddies would hide in the closet they’d be so scared.”
Fishing was big in the Feider household, and Seth caught the bass bug, learning from dad as well as all the Saturday morning fishing shows. Pete said they were watching one when Seth, around 9 or 10, proclaimed his future.
“He said, ‘I’m going to be a professional bass fisherman.’ Of course, I just looked at him like, ‘Yeah right,’” said Pete, who was eventually overruled. “Everybody has to have their dreams. His mother made a point he is going to live his dream. She was No. 1 behind that. We made sure he had what he needed to do what he did.”
Pete worked as a silk screening printer, starting in T-shirts and taking the trade into “advanced electroluminescence” used in car and airplane dashboards. He retired after 39 years, working for several highly rated companies who’d poach him for his skill. No wonder he scoffed at pro bass angler.
“Being a professional fisherman wasn’t like a realistic thing to him,” Seth said. “He was more like, ‘Get a good job, do the whole 9-to-5 bit.’ She was more the one who kinda was more understanding of me doing something I really wanted to do instead of playing it safe.”
Saying it’d probably be called child abuse nowadays, Pete dropped Seth off for full days at a lake where he honed his skills. Anne, who’s worked in Wells Fargo technology department for 20 years, also was driving force for young Seth, making long runs so he could compete.
“She went when I couldn’t — drive hours to all his tournaments. She’s into fast cars and gets a lot of tickets. He gets the lead foot from her,” said Pete, proud to be married to Anne for 39 years. “It was good for him because he had a very stable family life.”
Pete was referencing Seth’s ticket driving home from the St. Lawrence River, where his 13th-place finish gave him a 61-point margin over second. It was a dominating year in which Feider’s worst finish was 29th. Two worrisome venues, the St. Johns and Sabine rivers, were actually strong suits with finishes of third and sixth, respectively.
“Those were definitely the two I was the most worried about for sure,” he said. “They’re kind of crapshoot tournaments.”
Feider never dipped below fifth in the AOY standings and took the lead after the Sabine, the fourth event. Feider’s previous best in an AOY race was fifth in 2019 as he progressed after a shaky first two years. He was ready to exit the Elites in 2016 before posting a second on the Mississippi River Elite to qualify for the AOY Championship event on Mille Lacs, where he won to seemingly turn around his career.
“The last couple years, the way he’s been advancing up the points and doing better and better, once he got out of those two tournaments, I personally felt he was going to do this,” Pete said. “His mother did too, and she’s the one who picks things better than I do.
“When he won, we were the happiest parents there could be.”
Pete has waded into Seth’s Elite world, attending events including this year’s Classic. Anne escorted Seth to his first Classic in 2018 when his wife, Dayton, was due with their first of two daughters. While Dayton barely made the trek in time to witness her husband’s crowning this year, Pete and Anne were stuck en route and had to watch from afar.
At least they could understand Seth’s acceptance speech as he was handed the AOY trophy. Pete, who said he’s lost some hearing, said Seth grew up a mumbler. But he said he’s stepped up that game along with his fishing.
“They’re not all Gerald Swindles,” Pete said.
“I’m getting a little better at speaking,” Seth said. “Just part of the other side of the fishing game. It’s really from doing more of it. The more you do something, the better you get at it.”
Seth, often called the Llama, was loud and clear the past few months about his desire to win AOY. Unlike most, he said he thought about it all the time, and it even invaded his slumber. While his sixth at Lake Fork extended his points lead into the 40s, Seth sweated out the final events as he knew one bad day could shatter his hopes.
“It feels like the weight of the world’s off my shoulders,” he said on stage to Elite emcee Dave Mercer. “It’s been a stressful couple months.”
Joining Seth on stage, Dayton said it was a relief to be over. Once home, the young Feider family celebrated with their daughters before a blowout AOY party last weekend. Rose, 3, was happy to have daddy home.
“She kept calling it the fishy race,” said Seth, who on the road Facetimes every night. “If we won, she wanted a rainbow cake. She got it.
“She gets mad when I’m TV, though. She tries to talk to me and then I don’t talk back (like on FaceTime) and asks her mom why her dad’s not answering her. She gets mad when I leave, but she gets happy every time I walk back in the door.”
Seth’s definitely a family guy, doting on his girls. They’re on his mind as he hopes to change doors, his next goalpost. Wanting to move out of the city, the $100,000 AOY prize and raises from sponsors are earmarked for a dream property. Minutes from town, the 40 acres and home have everything he wants.
“A buddy says he’s moving out in a year or two. Save up some more before we can afford,” Seth said. “I’m probably going to have to pay for half that place in cash. Banks don’t like our paychecks. If it works out, that’s where all my money’s going to. Perfect place outside city limits. Two duck sloughs, half-mile long gravel driveway, big barn, little house, deer, ducks, geese, pheasants, turkeys; it’s got it all.
“The guy has never hunted it. It’s basically a refuge. Fifteen minutes away. Right on the edge of town. Good place to raise some kids. Go outside not have to watch them every second. Wife would like to get some chickens, maybe a donkey. Or something.”
Maybe a llama.