Seth Feider and his Lucky Hat

The Hat

Seth Feider has been a household name and a mainstay near the top of the leaderboard all season for the 2021 Bassmaster Elite Series. Alongside the most recognizable ‘stache and hairdo in the game, you might also recognize a common theme in his outfit while on stage… his lucky Daiwa hat. All fisherman have some level of superstition to them and Seth is no different. While he admits to having a long list of tournament day superstitions he follows, many of them he keeps under wraps. But it’s tough to hide the giant, old school Daiwa logo that has become synonymous with Seth on a weigh-in stage or on Bassmaster Live. We took a peek behind the curtain with Seth and got some insight into what makes it such a special hat and one he won't fish without. 

The “Why”

We have all heard Seth talk about his long list of superstitions, but that is generally where the conversation stops. He plays them close to the chest and won’t reveal most. “The hat is absolutely one of them.” Seth states. “Shoes, underwear and one jersey being the ‘hot one’ are all on the list, but we wont talk about those.” At the mention of a lucky pair of underwear, we figured we should probably keep the conversation about just the hat from that point on. Seth states “I started wearing it about 3 years ago when a friend made it for me. He buys old fishing logo patches on eBay for a couple bucks and sews them on to hats. He gave me this one and it became my favorite in a hurry.” But we knew a hat doesn’t become “the lucky one” without a reason, so we kept digging. “I’ve been wearing it during tournaments for about 3 years now. The first time was the 2019 Classic, which ended up being a good showing for me.” The effect a superstition can have on our fishing, and a good showing puts some of those superstitions in the fast lane to becoming a mainstay. Seth’s hat was on that path. 

“I’ve been with Daiwa ‘unofficially’ since around 2012 and officially a part of the team since 2015. This logo has always reminded me of the Denny Brauer days of Daiwa, which was when I first really started fishing it exclusively. Makes me think of a TD-S and a green handled flipping stick. That was my favorite setup when I was getting into bass fishing.” The old Daiwa logo reminds Seth of the support he has had from Daiwa since the beginning. The memories, the tournament success, the quality products- all by his side from the start. The old logo is a memento to remind him of where we came from as a partnership, but more importantly- where we still plan to go together. A hat can be just a hat- or it can be much more than that. For Seth it has become a part of his tournament persona, a piece of the ritual in his fishing and a reminder of where it all started. 

The rigors of tournament fishing day in and day out all across the country clearly do a number on gear, but that hasn’t stopped the appeal. One of the things that comes to mind is whether or not it ever gets washed. After years of blood, sweat and tears all across the country, there is surely a time and place to freshen it up and keep it looking it’s best. The smell alone must be reason enough to clean it. “Nope” Seth responded, “it’s all in there. Rain is the closest thing to getting washed. Seasoned like a cast iron pan.” Who knew washing machines washed off good luck? Sure glad we know now. To most, a hat is just a hat. But when it means so much more to someone, it becomes a part of who they are and what they do. Seth plans to ride out the luck and drain this thing for all it’s worth. “I’m just going to run her. It would probably take like 3 astronomically bad tournaments in a row to try another hat. Im talking like 90th place.” We don’t see that happening anytime soon, so you can expect to keep seeing Seth and the lucky hat on weigh in stages for years to come. 

The lore of bass fishing is tough to match and with so much history and spectacle this season around his lucky hat, we had to know what he thought about it being such a big deal. How does a $3, pieced together hat from eBay turn into one of the most sought-after, one-of-a-kind items in the bass fishing world? “It’s pretty cool. When the luck runs out, I’ll hang it up next to the trophies and retire it.” Just like Tiger’s red Sunday shirt, with a couple more big blue trophies, Seth Feider’s Daiwa logo hat might just cement its place in bass fishing history right up there with the best of them.