Major League Fishing (MLF) can’t get enough of Upstate New York. After recently wrapping up a Pro Circuit event at Lake Champlain, it's now set to stage a Northern Division Toyota Series event on the fish-rich venue. Competition days are Tuesday through Thursday.
“I think things are changing, and we’re going to see the lake quite a bit different for this Toyota Series event than we saw during the Pro Circuit event,” said Pro Circuit competitor Matt Becker of Finleyville, Pa., who has two Top-10 finishes on Lake Champlain in MLF competition – including a 4th-place showing in the recent Pro Circuit event. “It’ll be a lot of the same type of techniques – dropshotting and Livescoping for smallmouth, but I also think that a lot more largemouth will be in play.”
Becker said that he believes the largemouth will play a bigger role in this event due to two factors – more time to practice and some strong local anglers who will be among the competitors.
“On the Pro Circuit, you’ve only got two days to practice, so you can’t explore a lot of options. It’s kind of pick an area, pick out a couple of things, and your two days is over,” Becker explained. “On the Toyota Series, with 3, 4, 5 days of practice, guys can explore a little more. And there are also some very strong local sticks in this event – I know (Vermont's) Bryan Labelle has been absolutely crushing largemouth this year.”
Becker said that he expects the weights to be pretty similar to the Pro Circuit event.
“I think you’re going to need to average around 18 pounds a day to make the final day of competition,” Becker said. “To win, it’s going to take more than 60 pounds over the three days. I predict the winner will have 63 or 64 pounds in this one. Someone could win with straight largemouth or straight smallmouth, but I think the winner is most likely going to be weighing in mixed bags.”
Anglers will launch each morning at 6 a.m. ET from the Plattsburgh City Marina, located at 5 Dock St. in Plattsburgh. Weigh-ins will also be held at the marina, beginning at 2 p.m. each day. Fans are welcome to attend and encouraged to follow the event online through the “MLF Live” weigh-in broadcasts and daily coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
In Toyota Series regular-season competition, payouts are based on the number of participants competing in the event, scaling up for every 20 boats over 160 and scaling down for every boat below 160. With a 160-boat field, pros fish for a top prize of $40,000, plus an extra $35,000 if they are Phoenix MLF Bonus-qualified.
