Month: September 2020

Major League Fishing - Bass Pro Tour/Cup Events

BREAKING NEWS – Major League Fishing and FLW Unify as One Brand

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date September 29, 2020
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TULSA, Okla. (Sept. 29, 2020) – To further elevate the sport of tournament bass fishing and align multiple circuits as one company, Major League Fishing (MLF) announced today its unification with Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) as one brand, transitioning all FLW brand assets to MLF.

The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit, Toyota Series, Phoenix Bass Fishing League, Abu Garcia College Fishing and High School Fishing will all carry the MLF logo and continue the five-biggest-fish format. A new website that builds on the existing sites, streamlines tournament entry, provides cutting-edge gear and tactics advice, and better highlights participating anglers is set to be unveiled in early 2021.

“Merging the FLW brand under the Major League Fishing umbrella is the next logical step in our company’s evolution, which now includes a broader reach than any of us thought possible in our formative years,” MLF BIG5 Executive Vice President and General Manager Kathy Fennel said. “The key to our success lies not in a name, but in our unwavering focus on providing the best possible tournaments for anglers, fans, hosts and sponsors – our family. Uniting with MLF under a single brand makes the whole greater than the sum of the pieces. The letters may be different, but the people and the values will remain the same.”

The FLW organization now known as “Major League Fishing BIG5” began life as Operation Bass. Founded on the shores of Kentucky Lake in 1979 by Mike Whitaker, a teacher and football coach turned electronics salesman, Operation Bass grew from humble beginnings to become the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization with five circuits and more than 300 events in 11 countries offering $21 million in awards.

Operation Bass was purchased by Minneapolis businessman Irwin L. Jacobs in 1996 and renamed FLW Outdoors in 2001 to honor Forrest L. Wood and the principles he embodied. While those principles still guide the company, FLW became Fishing League Worldwide in 2014 to set the stage for international growth, which now includes bass tournaments in Canada, China, Italy, Mexico, Namibia, Korea, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Zimbabwe.

Fishing League Worldwide was acquired by Major League Fishing in November 2019. The acquisition was the most significant brand merger in competitive bass fishing history, linking an innovative tour and original, award-winning programming featuring the top professional anglers in the world to the extensive grassroots organization that serves tens of thousands of competitive anglers from high school and college students to weekenders and tour pros.

“The unrivaled television audience paired with unmatched tournament activation, MLF Bass Fishing magazine, a combined social media following in excess of one million fans, the sport’s most comprehensive live on-the-water coverage, and two of the sport’s top websites united under a single brand was a natural progression as the two organizations combine,” said Don Rucks, MLF Executive Vice President and General Manager.

To delineate between the Major League Fishing format of catch-weigh-immediate release competition, the five-biggest-fish tournament circuits will operate as the Major League Fishing BIG5 and will capitalize on MLF’s incredible reach on Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, Discovery, CBS and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV).

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New logo art will be provided to business partners, sponsors and anglers. The company expects that the changeover to the new name, logo and website will be completed by Q1 of 2021.

About Major League Fishing
Founded in 2011, Major League Fishing (MLF) brings the high-intensity sport of competitive bass fishing into America’s living rooms on Outdoor Channel, Discovery, CBS, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, Sportsman Channel, and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). According to Nielsen ratings, Major League Fishing remains the number one series on Outdoor Channel for five years and MLF premiered as the number one outdoor show in their time slot on Discovery in 2019.

In 2019 MLF acquired FLW, which expands their portfolio to include the world’s largest grassroots-fishing organization, including the strongest five-biggest-fish format professional bass fishing tour, the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit, as well as the Toyota Series, Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine, Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI, and High School Fishing presented by Favorite Fishing.

MLF BIG-5

Arizona’s Au Wins Toyota Series Western Division Finale at Clear Lake

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date September 27, 2020
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. (Sept. 27, 2020) – Pro Tai Au of Glendale, Arizona, crossed the stage with a five-bass limit Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 26 pounds, 4 ounces, to vault to the top of the leaderboard and win the three-day Toyota Series at Clear Lake tournament in Clearlake, California. Au’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 63-3 earned him the win by a 5-pound, 4-ounce margin and earned him the top payout of $24,635 in the third and final tournament of the 2020 Toyota Series Western Division.

Au also won the Western Division season opener on Lake Havasu in his home state back in March.

“I’m shocked that I won,” Au said on stage. “It’s also a little emotional for me because this might be my last Western Division event for a while. I’m planning to go back east and fish the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit next year and make my dream a reality.”

“I just got a brand new boat and this week was the first time putting it in the water,” Au said. “I spent time breaking in the motor and getting my Lowrance units rigged up. On the third day of practice, I broke one off on a Neko Rig and then caught a 5-pounder in one area and that gave me the confidence to start there during the tournament.”

The area he found ended up being the winning area and he plied it for three straight days on the way to victory. Au described the area as a rounded point inside a pocket adjacent to a long flat. He fished in the mid-lake area and the spot had clean water and grass.

The first day, Au relied on a Neko-rigged 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in the watermelon red color on a size 1 Decoy hook. He ended the day with 17 pounds, 8 ounces and found himself in 13th place.

On the second day, Au returned to the same area. He caught one immediately, but the bite went cold after that.

“I knew they were still there because I could see them on my Lowrance units,” Au said. “They were just nipping at the Neko Rig and I knew I had to change it up to get them to react. I started throwing a Lucky Craft LV 500 in ghost minnow and chartreuse shad and figured out the cadence they wanted.”

Once he figured out how to fish the bait in his area, his catches went way up as he brought in 19-7 on the second day.

“The key was to rip it as hard as I could to get them to react,” he said. “I sat in one spot and made repeated casts to the same place. If you could get the school to fire up, you could catch four or five in a row.”

Saturday, he returned to his magic area and worked it all day long on his way to the win.

“I parked in that same spot for three straight days,” Au says. “It was a highway for fish coming in and out along the grass.”

He fished the lipless baits on two different setups, depending on the thickness of the grass. A 7-foot, 4-inch heavy Fitzgerald Bryan Thrift Signature Series cranking rod on the outside edges of the grass and a 7-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy Fitzgerald Stunner HD Series rod on the inside grass line. He fished both on Daiwa Tatula 100 reels spooled with 20-pound fluorocarbon.

The top 10 pros on Clear Lake finished:

1^st: Tai Au of Glendale, Ariz., 15 bass, 63-3, $24,635

2^nd: Tom White of Costa Mesa, Calif., 15 bass, 57-15, $9,613

3^rd: Jared Linter of Arroyo Grande, Calif., 15 bass, 54-14, $7,390

4^th: Justin Kerr of Simi Valley, Calif., 15 bass, 54-9, $6,159

5^th: Todd Kline of San Clemente, Calif., 15 bass, 53-5, $5,543

6^th: John Pearl of Upper Lake, Calif., 15 bass, 51-6, $4,927

7^th: Sergio Arguello of North Hollywood, Calif., 15 bass, 50-6, $4,378

8^th: Jordan Collom of Canyon Lake, Calif., 15 bass, 49-7, $3,695

9^th: Wade Curtiss of Eagle, Idaho, 15 bass, 49-6, $4,079

10^th: Phillip Dutra of Concord, Calif., 15 bass, 47-4, $2,463

A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

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Curtiss took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX BONUS member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Blaine Christiansen of San Jose, California, won the Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 50 pounds, 1 ounce. Christiansen took home the top prize package of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers on Clear Lake finished:

1^st: Blaine Christiansen of San Jose, Calif., 15 bass, 50-1, Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat w/115-hp outboard

2^nd: Jeff Hodges of Grover Beach, Calif., 15 bass, 48-1, $3,209

3^rd: Travis Avery of Mount Vernon, Wash., 15 bass, 46-11, $2,567

4^th: Jack Farage of Discovery Bay, Calif., 15 bass, 45-10, $2,246

5^th: Bruce Harris of Oakdale, Calif., 15 bass, 44-15, $1,926

6^th: Jesse Parks of Avondale, Ariz., 15 bass, 42-2, $1,605

7^th: Larry Rogers of Riverside, Calif., 15 bass, 40-2, $1,284

8^th: Scott Bern of San Rafael, Calif., 15 bass, 39-12, $1,123

9^th: Zack Eggleston of Goleta, Calif., 15 bass, 38-14, $963

10^th: Ilya Guryanov of West Sacramento, Calif., 15 bass, 35-14, $847

The Toyota Series at Clear Lake was the third and final regular-season tournaments in 2020 for Western Division anglers. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will take place Oct. 1-3 – the Toyota Series at Lake Norman in Huntersville, North Carolina. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

The 2020 Toyota Series consists of eight divisions – Central, Eastern, Northern, Plains, Southeastern, Southern, Southwestern and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International division. Anglers who fish all three qualifiers in any of the eight divisions and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning $235,000 cash, including a $35,000 FLW PHOENIX Bonus for qualified anglers. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2020 Toyota Series Championship will be held Dec. 3-5 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky, and is hosted by the Somerset Tourist & Convention Commission and the Burnside Tourism Commission.

MLF BIG-5

Tenn’s Tramel Wins Two-Day Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event on Old Hickory Lake

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date September 22, 2020
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GALLATIN, Tenn. (Sept. 21, 2020) – Boater Josh Tramel of Smithville, Tennessee, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale this weekend weighing 34 pounds, 5 ounces to win the Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine Music City Division Super-Tournament at Old Hickory Lake. Tramel earned a total of $5,540 for his victory.

The tournament was the fifth and final event in the Music City Division presented by A.R.E. Truck Caps.

“I had two spectacular days and caught them mostly a schooling spot,” said Tramel, who earned his seventh career victory in FLW competition. “Saturday was real crazy, but Sunday was kind of a struggle. I was catching them on topwater baits, a squarebill crankbait, and I caught a couple of really good ones on a worm on a few deep holes. But the majority came on the squarebill and topwater.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament as follows:

1^st: Josh Tramel of Smithville, Tenn., 10 bass, 34-5, $5,540

2^nd: Drew Boggs of Lebanon, Tenn., 10 bass, 23-10, $2,270

3^rd: Tony Eckler of Lebanon, Tenn., 10 bass, 22-6, $1,515

4^th: Daniel Johnson of Lebanon, Tenn., nine bass, 19-12, $1,059

5^th: Adam Wagner of Cookeville, Tenn., 10 bass, 19-11, $1,408

6^th: Preston Henson of College Grove, Tenn., 10 bass, 19-10, $832

7^th: Matt Stanley of Alexandria, Tenn., seven bass, 18-6, $757

8^th: Jason Dies of Lebanon, Tenn., eight bass, 18-3, $681

9^th: Jayson Johnson of Smithville, Tenn., eight bass, 16-7, $605

10^th: Josh Womack of Gallatin, Tenn., eight bass, 15-14, $530

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Clabion Johns of Social Circle, Georgia, brought a 4-pound, 15-ounce bass to the scale to win the Boater Big Bass award of $532.

Wagner took home an extra $500 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX BONUS member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $7,000 per event in each Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Dakota Cantrell of Decherd, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $2,270 Sunday after catching a two-day total of six bass weighing 13 pounds, 3 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished as follows:

1^st: Dakota Cantrell of Decherd, Tenn., six bass, 13-3, $2,270

2^nd: Curtis Cline of LaFayette, Tenn., six bass, 12-8, $1,135

3^rd: Brian Reed of Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 11-6, $757

4^th: Jared Kutil of Beaufort, S.C., four bass, 11-5, $1,246

5^th: Ryan Mealer of Spring Hill, Tenn., six bass, 9-13, $454

6^th: Abbie Greynolds, Liberty, Ky., five bass, 9-3, $416

7^th: Teddy Baggett of Nashville, Tenn., four bass, 9-3, $378

8^th: Pauley Pitcher of Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 9-2, $341

9^th: Dustin Forrest of Knob Lick, Ky., five bass, 9-1, $303

10^th: Kenny Botts of Alvaton, Ky., five bass, 8-9, $265

Kutil caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 2 ounces. The catch earned him the Co-angler Big Bass award and added $266 to his winnings.

The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine Super-Tournament on Old Hickory Lake was hosted by Sumner County Tourism.

Now the top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the Music City Division presented by A.R.E. based on point standings, along with the five winners of each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 22-24 Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia, hosted by the Gainesville Convention and Visitors Bureau. Boaters will compete for a $60,000 prize package, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new 18-foot Phoenix bass boat with a 200-horsepower outboard.

The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American.

The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American will be held Nov. 11-13 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina and is hosted by Visit Anderson. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers plus tournament winners from each Phoenix Bass Fishing League division earn priority entry into the FLW Series, the pathway to the FLW Pro Circuit and ultimately the MLF Bass Pro Tour, where top pros compete with no entry fees.

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Tags BFL

BASSMASTER Elite Series/Opens

Matsushita Rallies For Victory At Bassmaster Central Open On Sam Rayburn

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date September 12, 2020
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JASPER, Texas — A stellar start positioned Masayuki Matsushita to overcome a Day 2 stumble and mount a final-round surge to win the Basspro.com Bassmaster Central Open on Sam Rayburn Reservoir with a three-day total of 60 pounds, 14 ounces.

Hailing from Tokoname Aichi, Japan, Matsushita took the Day 1 lead with 27-10 — the event’s largest catch — but slipped to second after adding 15-5 on Friday. On Saturday, he rallied and added 17-15 to win by a margin of 1-9.

Speaking with the assistance of fellow angler Calvin Balch of Porter, Texas, Matsushita said he was fishing midlake, just south of the 147 Bridge. He targeted a mix of brushpiles and trees in 20 to 30 feet of water.

“I was fishing fast and (making a milk run) between my spots,” Matsushita said. “My Humminbird MEGA 360 was very important for finding my spots.”

Matsushita caught several of his fish on an 8-inch golden shiner-colored Deps Sakamata Shad Texas-rigged on a 7/0 Owner wide-gap hook. He also fished a Texas-rigged redbug Zoom Ol’ Monster worm.

His key bait Saturday was a Neko-rigged Zoom Magnum Trick Worm in the redbug and green pumpkin colors. This bait produced his biggest bite — an estimated 5-pounder — shortly after takeoff around 7:30 a.m.

“I was staying far away from my spots and made long casts,” Matsushita said.

The tournament’s varying weather patterns factored into his success. Day 1 saw mostly sunny conditions, while Days 2 and 3 brought more of a partly cloudy complexion.

“On Day 1, clouds were very good,” Matsushita said. “Day 2 and Day 3, clouds were not good. Sun was better. Maybe it put fish in the brushpile shade.”

For his efforts, Matsushita won a first-place prize of $50,167 and earned a spot in the 2021 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic, which is scheduled for March 19-21 on Lake Ray Roberts. His Classic berth is contingent on his fishing the final two Central Opens of the season.

In a moving display of pure triumphant emotion, Matsushita doubled over with his hands on his knees when Tournament Director Chris Bowes announced his victory.

Moments later, the winner held his trophy aloft and let out a triple chorus of victory screams that won over the Jasper, Texas, crowd nearly as much as Matsushita’s moving statement of his lifetime goal.

“My dream has always been to fish the Bassmaster Classic,” he said. “This tournament made that happen.”

Josh Douglas of Isle, Minn., improved from third place on Day 2 by adding a final-round sack of 17-6 to finish second with 59-5. Douglas also buoyed his performance with a big Day 1 weight of 22-5. He weighed 19-10 on Day 2.

Douglas targeted brushpiles in 8 to 22 feet. Throughout the week he caught most of his bass on a Texas-rigged 10-inch Biospawn ExoRibbon Worm. On Saturday, his top baits were a drop shot with a Roboworm in redbug and morning dawn colors and a Keitech swimbait on a 3/4-ounce swim jig with the skirt removed.

“The depth range changed for me and as the tournament progressed, I started catching them better in the shallower range, like 15 and under,” Douglas said. “I don’t know if that’s because the water’s coming down a little, but those 17- to 20-foot spots got a lot of pressure and those bigger fish were just sliding out.

“I was just fishing areas like The Canyons, the Deer Stand and Jackson Hill; areas (where) I know fish want to live shallow in the grass. But with the dropping water, they were just coming out to me.”

Kris Wilson of Montgomery, Texas, saved his best for last and finished third with 57-11. After placing 11th on Day 1 with 18-5, Wilson improved to seventh on Friday by adding 19-6. On Saturday, he weighed in 20 pounds — the final round’s heaviest catch.

Noting that he has approximately 3,000 waypoints on Rayburn, Wilson came into the event with a preselected set of offshore targets. Running as many of his spots as possible in practice helped him dial in the productive ones.

“After two days of practice, I figured out that I couldn’t get bit deeper than 20 feet, so I started concentrating on everything less than that,” Wilson said. “I caught my fish on a 6th Sense C-10 crankbait in a shad color and a Texas-rigged 11-inch hand-poured purple worm.”

Bryan New of Belmont, N.C., took the lead in the Falcon Rods Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Angler of the Year standings with 547 points. Gerald Swindle of Guntersville, Ala., is in second with 543, followed by Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla., with 541, John Hunter Jr. of Simpsonville, Ky., with 505 and Randy Blaukat of Joplin, Mo., with 484.

Albert Collins of Nacogdoches, Texas, won the $750 Phoenix Boats Big Bass prize for his 9-7 largemouth. Shaine Campbell of Brookeland, Texas, who placed sixth overall with 51-12, won the $500 Garmin Tournament Rewards.

Hayden Heck of Lufkin, Texas, won the co-angler division with a three-day total of 28-5. Overcoming a slow start, which found him placing 51st with a Day 1 bag of 5-11, Heck rocketed into fourth after adding 13-11 on Friday.

Weighing 8-15 in Saturday’s championship round pushed him across the finish line by a margin of 1-12.

“Drop shotting and dragging a 10-inch worm and a trick worm out deep did it for me,” Heck said.

William Young of Livingston, Texas, won the $250 Phoenix Boats Big Bass prize in the co-angler division for his 9-0.