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Spring 2019
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70
Changes that we’ve heard about for sponsors have been activating more participation with store locations.
For example, the first stop at Kissimmee, there will be meet and greets the first couple of nights, depending on which fishing day each guy has. The off day is the day the guys go in. I think this will happen where the Bass Pro Shops stores are localized to the event.
Right now, that is all we know about until we get to the event. They are doing a lot of really cool stuff for the new Tour and style; but we won’t know until we actually see it in action.
SIX COMPETITION DAYS
The new style for the 80-angler field has 40 guys fishing the first day. This is Group A and the remaining 40, which is Group B, fishing the second day, while the guys that fished the first day have a off day.
Then on the third, the first 40 (Group A) that fished on the first day will fish their Day Two and 2nd set of 40 (Group B) will have a day off.
Day 4 that reverses, with the first group of 40 (Group A) having their 2nd day off and the 2nd group of 40 (Group B) having their Day Two competition.
All 80 anglers compete two days; but it takes four days for that to happen.
Then on Day 5, there is a field cut to the top-40 from the original 80 and then on Day 6 (the final day) the top-10 fish.
Right now, the day off in between sounds good to me.
I imagine if I had been in the situation when I was 25-years-old, instead of 45-years-old, I would’ve thought I could lose momentum with a day off between fishing; but now, at this time in my career, I value the break in between, especially after the two days of practice that you put in. Those are really hard, intense search days, so I think the day’s off can make me more focused for competition.
ANTICIPATION
The sleeper event will be the stop in North Carolina in Raleigh.
No pro anglers really have any history here. Those are big fish lakes and we are going in March. I think there will be a big shallow crank bite and that is my strength. I am excited use my Livingston crankbaits on that one. It is probably the one I am looking forward to the most.
I am really excited for the whole thing and what it means to the sport.
In the next issue, we will have more experience and be able to share more; but for now, 80 of the best anglers in the world are coming together to a format of catching the most big fish you can in a day and it will be the most exciting live- streaming and TV that there could be in fishing. •
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Randy Howell competed in the first Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour event on Kissimmee, going all the way to the final fishing day, finishing 6th with a SCORETRACKER weight of 22-2 pounds scorable bass, crediting it to a Yamamoto Senko and a paddle-tail worm.
In his first three days on Toho, he 86-pounds of bass to qualify 4th going into the finals at Garcia. He used multiple baits, including a Livingston Jerkmaster 121c in Ayu (jerkbait), a Livingston Walking Boss in chrome/black (topwater), a Bass Pro Shops 3-inch Speed Shad in Sexy Shad (swimbait), a 1/4-ounce lipless bait and a Yamamoto 5-inch Senko in Watermelon Slice.
When recalling his success at the MLF BPT premiere, Howell revealed he was fishing schooling fish in open water.
“My Daiwa Tatula Elite signature rod in 7’ med/light was the MVP,” said Howell about the event. “It’s my Shallow crank/jerkbait/lipless rod and I used it for my jerkbait, swimbait and lipless bait. I caught 80 percent of my bass on that rod in the tournament! I used the Tatula 100XS 7.1 retrieve reel spooled with 12-pound Gamma fluorocarbon to make super-long casts for those schoolers.”