If you’re a fan of tournament bass fishing, or just bass fishing in general, one of the coolest tournament opportunities I’ve seen is coming to Music City. World Bass Enterprises (WBE) is launching the ultimate bass fishing tournament dubbed “The Champions,” tournament, which will bring the 50 best bass anglers in the entire world together to compete for a record-setting $1.25 MILLION prize for the winner. If you know bass fishing, you know there’s basically two top level leagues in the United States… the Bassmaster Elite Series and the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour. Normally, they never fish against each other, but this new tournament will take the 25 best anglers from the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour, and the 25 best anglers from the Bassmaster Elite Series, all competing together for the largest purse is bass fishing history.
The five-day event, with three days of competition, will kick off on October 28th, right outside of Nashville, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake at Sanders Ferry Park. Old Hickory is a 22,000-acre reservoir on the Cumberland River, about 25 miles from Nashville. The record-setting purse of more than $3 million will offer up a $1.25 million payout to the winning angler, which is good enough for the largest ever in a bass tournament. Second and third place finishers will receive $500,000 and $300,000 payouts, respectively. Prize money steps down from there with even the last place angler taking home a check for $8,000. For perspective, the top angler at last weekend’s Elite Series stop in North Carolina, Jason Christie, took home $101,000. For more perspective, you can fish at the top level for a decade and never touch a million dollars. We’re talking life changing amounts of money for these fishermen.
The tournament will be a 5-fish limit like the Elite Series, and that there will be forward facing sonar limitations. Additionally, World Bass Enterprises will hold a pro-am derby on Sunday, November 1st at Percy Priest Lake, another popular Nashville-area lake, which will feature the top 15 anglers from “The Champions” tournament fishing alongside legendary anglers, celebrities and more.
However, there is more… announced today, country music singer, Riley Green, will be headlining WBE’s “Concert 250” on Saturday, October 30 at The Pinnacle in Nashville.
Of Riley Green, WBE Founder and CEO Brian Bird says:
“When I decided to host the inaugural The Champions Tournament this fall, I knew we had to go big. There’s no bigger name in country music right now than Riley Green. Beyond who he is as a performer, Riley is a true outdoorsman and perfectly represents what The Champions is all about. We’re looking forward to welcoming the top anglers in the world for five days of events all centered around our love of bass fishing. Riley headlining WBE Concert 250 the night before we crown the official champion is going to be a lot of fun.”
In addition to Riley Green, Randy Houser will open the WBE Concert 250. Lee Greenwood will perform hit megahit “God Bless the USA” during Opening Ceremonies on October 28th, as well as the National Anthem live before Blast Off on October 29th. Trace Adkins is slated to perform the National Anthem on Championship Day, which will be October 31st.
World Bass Enterprises Founder and CEO, Brian Bird, calls the tournament an opportunity to crown a true world champion:
“As a longtime bass fishing enthusiast, I have always marveled at the incredible skill of the world’s top anglers and believed they deserved a marquee platform to showcase their talents to the world. And there is no better way to crown a true world champion than by bringing the two biggest tours together to fish on the same lake. We’re thrilled to introduce this world class event that will unify the sport, establish an annual tradition, and increase exposure to pro fishing by welcoming in new audiences.”
MLF Bass Pro Tour defending champ, 4x Angler of the Year, and quite inarguably the best angler in the world right now, Jacob Wheeler, echoes that sentiment, saying all the friendly banter between Bassmaster and MLF anglers will get a chance to prove itself on the water:
“There has always been friendly competition and banter between the anglers on each tour, but no way to actually settle the score on the water. The opportunity to crown a true world champion across the entire sport is something our anglers have wanted for a very long time, and we’re thrilled to finally have that chance this October in Nashville. The fact that there is more than $3 million in total prize money is remarkable and a true testament to the elite nature of this competition.”
We’ll finally see who the best in the world is…
Who Gets In?
So how do we decide who gets in? To determine the 25 anglers from each pro series, it starts with the winners. The 7 anglers that win a Bass Pro Tour event this year will automatically get in, and the guys who win the 9 events in the Elite Series will also qualify automatically. As of right now, the winners from each series who have locked their place in the tournament are as follows:
MLF Bass Pro Tour
Winners
1. Zack Birge
2. Jacob Wheeler
3. Drew Gill
4. Cole Floyd
5. Takahiro Omori
6. Banks Shaw
Rest of the Top 25 according to AOY Standings
7. Spencer Shuffield
8. Justin Lucas
9. Dustin Connell
10. Jacob Walker
11. Michael Neal
12. Jesse Wiggins
13. Alton Jones Jr
14. Matt Becker
15. Adrian Avena
16. Ott DeFoe
17. Wesley Strader
18. Brent Ehrler
19. Jeff Sprague
20. Keith Carson
21. Jacob Wall
22. Brent Chapman
23. Nick LeBrun
24. Mitchell Robinson
25. Mark Daniels Jr
On The Bubble
Ron Nelson
Casey Ashley
Bryan Thrift
Bradley Roy
Chris Lane
Andy Montgomery
BASS Elite Series
Winners
1. Paul Marks
2. Chris Johnston
3. Jacob Foutz
4. Jason Christie
5. Fisher Anaya
6. Hank Cherry Jr
Rest of the Top 25 according to AOY Standings
7. Trey McKinney
8. Cory Johnston
9. Drew Cook
10. Cole Sands
11. John Garrett
12. Brandon Cobb
13. Bob Downey
14. Jay Przekurat
15. Kyle Welcher
16. Caleb Hudson
17. Stetson Blaylock
18. Justin Atkins
19. Jordan Lee
20. Dakota Ebare
21. Patrick Walters
22. Andrew Loberg
23. Hunter Shryock
24. Kyle Norsetter
25. Cody Meyer
On The Bubble
Matt Robertson
Seth Feider
Drew Benton
Easton Fothergill
Tyler Williams
Tyler Rivet
There you have it, that’s the field as of right now… but of course, we still have 3 more tournaments to go, so we’ll at the most have 3 more locked in winners, and potential for the standings to shift around quite a bit.
But as an avid fishing fan, and bass angler myself, this sounds like a dream come true. I am always watching every tournament on both the Bass Pro Series and the Elite Series, and you can’t help but wonder who would dominate if they were fishing in the same tournament. Fans and anglers talk about the Bassmaster Classic being the “Super Bowl” of bass fishing, but it doesn’t really feature all the best anglers in the world right now. This is really the first time in a long time that we’ve had a true “Super Bowl” of bass fishing… and the prize money to match it. Plus it’ll be televised, there will be tons of fan events and other ways to get involved, you’re in Nashville, there’s a Pro-Am derby which is always fun (if you’re looking for a Z-list celebrity blogger on behalf of Whiskey Riff, give me call), the entire thing is just such a great way to grow the sport, and truly what it has been needing.
I love both tours, but they’re different… they have different anglers, different rules, and there does feel like an disconnect in the industry at times. This should help bring it all together. I’m PUMPED.
