Category: Major League Fishing – Bass Pro Tour/Cup Events

TULSA, Oklahoma (Feb. 27, 2019) – Major League Fishing® (MLF) announced today that Missouri’s majestic Table Rock Lake, located in the heart of the Ozarks at the city of Branson, will be hosting the 2019 MLF Bass Pro Tour’s Stage Six event, May 17-22, 2019. The popular tourist destination community and the big 67-square-miles reservoir are both well known for their angler hospitality and serving up a quality bass tournament experience for participants and spectators alike. Most of the 80 pros in the event have fished on Table Rock before, but this will be their first time as competitors in the newly formed Bass Pro Tour and as the first bass anglers to achieve professional status in the sport’s league that requires no tournament entry fee for competitions. “Major League Fishing is showing professional competitive fishing in the same manner that Americans see other sport organizations, such as the NFL, MLB, PGA, NASCAR, etc.,” said Jeff Seifried, President/CEO, Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB. “Branson is excited to host these great anglers on our pristine lake.” “Table Rock Lake has it all – largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass – and some of the most beautiful scenery in America,” said Michael Mulone, Senior Director of Events & Partnerships for Major League Fishing. “Branson is a fantastic destination known for reeling in tourists and we are looking forward to highlighting “The Rock” to a national audience.”

The region’s extreme geography also calls for league officials to manage where anglers can fish due to MLF’s stringent connectivity requirements because MLF NOW! live stream and SCORETRACKER™ are critical components of the event’s execution and coverage. Anglers’ catches are immediately weighed, recorded and released back into the water, with the information being shared real-time via SCORETRACKER™ devices on every boat so that all competitors know where they stand and for the league to be able to keep the viewing public informed. Bass Pro Tour events feature seven hours of live-stream coverage on MLF NOW! during each competition day, with free access available at www.majorleaguefishing.com. Table Rock Lake in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains is also the birthplace of the event’s title sponsor, Bass Pro Shops, with its flagship National Headquarters store located in nearby Springfield, Missouri. Bass Pro Shops also operates Big Cedar Lodge, located on the banks of Table Rock Lake. Additional activities are planned for both locations as part of the event, with more details to follow in the coming weeks. “Competing in the backyard of a major sponsor will allow interaction with employees, anglers, and the fans,” Mulone added. The Table Rock tour event will result in a two-hour television show that will air on Discovery Channel in the fourth quarter of 2019. It will repeat on Sportsman Channel in first and second quarters 2020. MLF also has programming on Outdoor Channel, World Fishing Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network and Discovery Channel, and all episodes are available on-demand on My Outdoor TV (MOTV).  For more information about MLF and its anglers, rules and sponsors, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Alabama – Cullman and Smith Lake – The Destination for MLF  Bass Pro Tour Stage FiveTULSA, Okla. (Feb. 20, 2019) – Major League Fishing® (MLF) announced today that Cullman, Alabama, and nearby popular bass fishery Lewis Smith Lake will serve as the setting for Stage Five of the 2019 MLF Bass Pro Tour, April 30 – May 5.  “We are extremely excited to announce this new partnership and adventure with Major League Fishing,” said Woody Jacobs, Mayor of the City of Cullman. “By bringing the 2019 MLF Bass Pro Tour to our community this spring, we will be opening new avenues to sports tourism that were not always an option.  “I want to thank those involved with our Cullman Parks, Recreation, & Sports Tourism, along with Cullman Economic Development Agency for recruiting and securing the event; and also the Cullman County Commission and County Parks and Recreation for providing resources for this all to work. MLF consists of the top bass anglers in the world, and Smith Lake offers one of the best spotted bass fisheries in the entire United States. All of these factors, along with the tourism benefits and the prime coverage will help to make this a successful and fun event.” Neither the state nor Cullman are strangers to the bass fishing scene. Sixteen of the Bass Pro Tour’s 80-angler field call Alabama home, and Jesse Wiggins, Matt Lee and Jordan Lee are from Cullman. Jordan Lee won the inaugural Bass Pro Tour opener in Kissimmee, Florida, and he’s the reigning Bassmaster Classic champion with back-to-back Classic titles – winning in 2017 and 2018.

The north Alabama reservoir is located on the Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior River. It is about 21,000 acres in size and reaches depths of more than 250 feet near its dam. The lake’s diversity in depth and structure caters to literally every bass fishing technique imaginable, from topwater to drop shotting, meaning every angler should be able to fish to his liking.   The Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) recently reopened the public boat landing that will serve as the Stage Five launch site. The renovated facility includes a 90-foot-wide, six-lane launching slab and a paved parking lot with room for 113 tow vehicles with boat trailers, and 10 cars.   Other improvements include security lighting, a paved overflow parking lot for another 70 truck and trailer rigs, a 45-foot stationary aluminum pier, two large floating aluminum piers and a fixed aluminum pedestrian bridge that connects the overflow and main parking areas. The launch site is located on the northeast side of Ryan Creek and accessed free of charge through Smith Lake Park at 403 County Rd. 386 in Cullman.     The project was funded by the Sport Fish Restoration Program, which is supported through excise taxes on the sale of outboard motor fuel, fishing equipment, and the sale of state fishing licenses. For more information about this and other WFF public boating access areas, visit http://boatramps.dcnr.alabama.gov/.  As for Smith’s quality fishing, anglers often find themselves challenged in deciding whether to focus on the lake’s generous population of spotted bass, target the bigger largemouth bass or rely on both. Making it even more interesting is the fact that the MLF Bass Pro Tour uses a unique catch-weigh-and-immediate-release format in which all “scorable” bass caught do count in an angler’s score. That means Smith Lake’s big schools of healthy spotted bass could be game changers throughout the competition. “It’s going to be highly exciting to watch our MLF hammers compete in the heart of the Yellowhammer State,” said Michael Mulone, MLF’s Senior Director of Events & Partnerships. “MLF’s format will really show off how good this fishery is because bass within Smith Lake’s 13-to-15-inch slot limit will count in our competition once they satisfy the one-pound minimum rule and since MLF fish are released immediately back into the water after being caught and weighed … they don’t go into livewells.  “The Cullman folks are already working hard to make Stage Five something special and I can assure all MLF fans that this will definitely be a must-attend festival.” As in all Bass Pro Tour events, the Cullman visit will feature seven hours of live coverage on each competition day with access to the MLF NOW! free live stream found on the league’s website, www.majorleaguefishing.com. The Smith Lake event will also result in a two-hour television show that will air on Discovery Channel in the fourth quarter of 2019, and repeat on Sportsman Channel in first and second quarters of 2020. MLF programming also airs on Outdoor Channel, World Fishing Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network and Discovery Channel, and all episodes are available on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV).

Cover Photo –
Alabama’s Lewis Smith Lake has it all – beauty, docks, bridges, bass … and now MLF’s Bass Pro Tour. The popular bass fishing destination will serve as host to the league’s Stage Five destination in the 2019 season, April 30-May 5. (Photo courtesy Cullman Economic Development Agency) 

Edwin Evers flipped his way to victory on Lake Conroe.(Photo by Garrick Dixon) CONROE, Texas (Feb. 17, 2019) – In the immediate aftermath of the first Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour event in Kissimmee, Florida two weeks ago, Edwin Evers’ dissatisfaction with finishing second was palpable. Ever the professional, Evers complimented his fellow competitors and smiled for photos at the Berkley Postgame Show, but no talk of Cup points could bring the Oklahoma pro comfort.
Sunday afternoon on Lake Conroe, Evers made sure that the only postgame talk would be of how he earned his first-ever MLF Bass Pro Tour trophy.
Evers racked up 51 pounds, 12 ounces to outdistance Jeff Sprague, (40-8), Boyd Duckett (35-15), Brent Ehrler (34-13) and David Walker (34-7) and claim the win at the Bass Pro Tour Huk Stage Two presented by Favorite Fishing. The Oklahoma pro caught 24 scorable fish on the day, including an exclamation point with 9 minutes left in the competition: an 8-1 that hit a drop-shot Berkley Havoc Bottom Hopper.
“You can’t imagine how good it feels to catch a fish like that,” Evers admitted. “I knew there were big fish in there because I shook some big ones off the second day of the event. The big females just hadn’t gotten there yet, but they’re coming.”

Evers’ winning area

Evers’ pattern was to flip his way down the bank with a Black Blue Berkley Havoc Pit Boss, 
picking out small indentations and grassy, undercut banks and flipping his bait as close to the bank as he could. He also caught some fish on a vibrating jig.
The area that Evers fished – a canal that he found during the Elimination Round – was shallow at the entrance, but fell off into slightly deeper water the further back he went.
“I feel like I know this lake as well as any lake I fish, but I’d never been in that canal before,” Evers admitted. “It looked right when I looked at it on the map, and I had it all to myself – I assume because it was probably pretty muddy in practice. The water was just a little warmer and a little bit cleaner on a couple of those key stretches.”

Holding off a midday charge
Evers looked like he might run away with the day almost from the opening gun, racking up over 26 pounds in the first period flipping a Berkley Havoc Pit Boss and winding a vibrating jig. Evers accounted for 13 of the 47 fish recorded during the period. 

He eventually hit a lull midway through the second period, going nearly 90 minutes without a scorable fish. Sprague, meanwhile, went on a run, putting 8-9 on the scales to pull within 4 pounds of Evers just before the period break.
The Texas pro was haunted by a couple of near-misses on fish that he estimated to be in the 7-pound range.
“I had the chances, but I couldn’t execute on a couple of pretty key bites,” Sprague said. “I can’t complain too much, I had a great week, but I’d like to have a couple of those bites back.”
Evers stomped on the gas in the final period, adding seven fish for 21-5 in the final two-and-a-half hours after deciding to stay in his key area instead of moving.

Finishing out the Top 10
Jordan Lee finished sixth with 27-8, followed by Randall Tharp (17-3), Wesley Strader (9-11), Gary Klein (7-0) and Stephen Browning (6-2).

Next up for the MLF Bass Pro Tour
The 80-man Bass Pro Tour field will get a three-week break before heading to Raleigh, North Carolina March 26-31 for Stage Three on Jordan Lake, Falls Lake, and Shearon Harris Reservoir.
For more information on the Major League Fishing schedule, anglers and rules, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The Alabama pro would eventually finish the day with 38-5 on 21 fish, followed by Gary Klein (30-1), Edwin Evers (29-2), Brent Ehrler (28-12) and Jordan Lee (28-12).

MLF pro Edwin Evers piled 28 pounds, 12 ounces on SCORETRACKER in Elimination Round 2 to advance to the Knockout Round (Photo by Josh Gassmann.)

MLF pro Edwin Evers piled 28 pounds, 12 ounces on SCORETRACKER in Elimination Round 2 to advance to the Knockout Round (Photo by Josh Gassmann.)

Photo courtesy of Garret Dixon

CONROE, Texas (Feb. 14, 2019) – With the first Elimination Round of the Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Huk Stage Two presented by Favorite Fishing officially in the books, Wesley Strader can take a quick breath of relief and rest up for Saturday’s Knockout Round.

CONROE, Texas (Feb. 13, 2019) – We’re starting to run out of superlatives to describe the competitive success of Jordan Lee. (Photo by Phoenix Moore

Official live scoring updates are available via SCORETRACKER from the start of competition at 7:30 a.m. CT. The MLF NOW! live stream begins at 10 a.m. CT, with on-the-water coverage following the action until the end of competition at 3:30 p.m. The MLF Berkley Postgame Show begins at 5 p.m.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Feb. 3, 2019) – Is there any level of fishing competition that MLF pro Jordan Lee doesn’t excel at? So far in the Alabama pro’s career, it sure doesn’t seem like he has any limitations. Lee won a national collegiate championship in 2013 at the age of 21, and put back-to-back Bassmaster Classic trophies on his mantle in Grant, Ala., in 2017 and 2018. At the age of 27, Lee owns the most prolific Top 10 success rate in the sport (he’s made the Top 10 in just over 35 percent of his tour-level tournaments). And now a 43-pound piece of hardware that nobody else will ever be able to claim: the inaugural MLF Bass Pro Tour championship trophy. After finding an area of clean water on the north end of Lake Garcia, Lee put together a flurry of 2- and 3-pounders in the third period by winding a vibrating jig through the grass, adding over 32 pounds to SCORETRACKER in the period to distance himself from Edwin Evers and Jared Lintner. 

  Lee finished the day with 55-1 on 26 to Evers’ 44-3 and Lintner’s 33-9 to win B & W Trailer Hitches Stage One presented By Power-Pole. “(The third period) was an unbelievable period,” Lee said. “I fished my way into that last area and got bite after bite after bite – and caught good ones, too – and just found myself in a spot with clear water and a lot of fish. Fish were moving in to spawn, so there were bigger fish in there. Edwin was coming on strong right there at the end, it feels pretty darn good.” Evers did his best to overtake Lee. The Oklahoma pro matched Lee fish-for-fish in the final 2 ½ hours of competition – Evers and Lee both caught 16 fish – but couldn’t match Lee’s quality. Only three of Evers’ fish in the period were over 2 pounds, while 11 of Lee’s were between 2-4 and 4-11. “I had the bites today, I just wasn’t on the right fish,” Evers said. “It was that simple. I thought I’d find a few bigger ones, but I never could get on bigger ones consistently.” Lintner looked like he might be the man to beat until Lee and Evers put the hammer down in the final period. The Southern California pro put back-to-back fish of 4-1 and 3-15 on SCORETRACKER late in Period 1 flipping a 3-inch hand-poured black/blue/silver-flake craw, and then took the lead just before the end of Period 2 with the Berkley Big Bass of the day, a 5-5. His flipping bite faltered in the final period, though. Lintner landed six scorable fish in the final 2 ½ hours, all but one of them between 1-3 and 1-7. The battle for fourth through seventh was the tightest grouping of the day. Anthony Gagliardi finished fourth with 24-5, trailed by Alton Jones, Jr., (23-3), Randy Howell (22-2) and Michael Neal (21-8). Jess Sprague (18-9), Dustin Connell (14-12) and Takahiro Omori (12-11) finished out the Championship Rounds standings.Up Next: Conroe here we come Stage Two of the MLF Bass Pro Tour kicks off Feb. 12-17 in Conroe, Texas, where the 80-angler field will compete on Lake Conroe. This 21,000-acre impoundment of the San Jacinto River north of Houston hosted the 2017 Bassmaster Classic (won by Jordan Lee) and the Toyota Texas Bass Classic (MLF angler Dave Lefebre won the 2009 TTBC there), and is one of Texas’ most prolific producers of trophy-sized largemouth.

Photos courtesy of Major League Fishing

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Jan. 29, 2019) – The ceremonial first cast to start the new Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour was made today when Bass Pro Shops founder, Johnny Morris, tossed a lure into Florida’s Lake Toho.

It was a symbolic opening by the event’s Grand Marshal as he stood alongside longtime friend and MLF angler Kevin VanDam in the pro’s Nitro Z21 boat, on a day that promised sunshine ahead for the fishing, the anglers and the Bass Pro Tour.

VanDam and the 79 other competitors beamed proudly because the moment was a dream come true for the group that longed for a competition series in which they had control of the rule-setting and their own destiny.

Morris was instrumental in MLF’s fast-moving evolution that resulted in the formation of the Bass Pro Tour. Announcement of the new tour was made just last September, so a lot of things had to happen fast in order to make the season a reality in the short period of time between then and this point in January.

But Morris has been breathing new life and light into fishing ever since he started Bass Pro Shops in the 70s.

“Johnny’s appearance and participation today says so much about his commitment to the sport of fishing and our industry,” said MLF President and CEO Jim Wilburn. “This is a giant day for anglers everywhere and it’s exciting to think it’s just the start of so many good things to come, including introducing fishing to a broader audience that likely will inspire people who have never fished before to give it a try and the knowledge for how to do it.”

The Bass Pro Tour event on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Jan. 29 – Feb. 3, brings many activities that can be enjoyed through live stream programming, as well as on location at the Lake Toho Marina.

The day’s fishing concludes with the all-new MLF Post-Game Show that is open to the public and features a drive-through interview with anglers using their boats and rigs as the stage. It begins 5 p.m. ET at the Lake Toho Marina, 69 Lakeview Drive, Kissimmee, and lasts for about two hours.   

The public is also invited to attend the Bass Pro Tour Midway at the same location, a setting that will include a variety of activities ranging from boat demo rides to interactive displays at sponsors’ booths. Midway hours are 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily, with the majority of activations taking place over the weekend.

All fans will have free access to follow the Bass Pro Tour action throughout the event on the league’s live stream program, MFL NOW!, which provides real-time coverage during the competition days beginning about 10 a.m. ET. daily. 

For more information on the MLF Bass Pro Tour and its schedule, anglers and rules, visitwww.majorleaguefishing.com.