By MLF Communications Staff
Major League Fishing (MLF) is set to return to Texas this weekend for the second event of the 2022 MLF Bass Pro Tour regular-season at Lake Fork.
The six-day event, hosted by the Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce, the Wood County EDC, the Sabine River Authority and the Rains County Tourism Board, will showcase 80 of the best professional anglers in the world fishing for a purse of more than $805,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable points in hopes of qualifying for REDCREST 2023, the Bass Pro Tour championship.
“Locals are excited for Major League Fishing to return, and to show why Lake Fork remains the best place on earth to fish,” said Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce’s Micheal Rogge. “MLF provides a major economic stimulus to our area as the competitors, staff and fans bring in a revenue that helps keep the lake known as the Jewel of East Texas. With the best fishermen in the world on the best lake, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the Century Club mark broken. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds.”
This event will mark the second time that an MLF Bass Pro Tour event has taken place on Lake Fork. When the Bass Pro Tour last visited Lake Fork in 2020, the Championship Round was held on Lake Athens after the Qualifying and Knockout Rounds took place on Lake Fork. Tennessee pro Ott DeFoe fished a wacky-rigged worm and a Tokyo-rigged swimbait to advance on Lake Fork, then threw swimbaits, jerkbaits and a Neko rig to win the Championship Round on Athens and earn the red winner’s trophy.
Local pro Kelly Jordon of Flint, Texas, said that he expects this event to be a heavyweight slugfest.
“The weather is going to be the key – looking at the forecast it looks like we’ve got a little bit of a warming trend coming. If that water can get up into the 52-, 53-to-55-degree temperatures, this event has the potential to be out of this world,” Jordon said. “The prespawn bite is going to be starting out, and those fish will be hungry and ready to eat.”
When the Bass Pro Tour last visited, the then-league record for largest fish ever weighed in competition was set when pro Justin Atkins weighed in a 10 1/2-pounder. Jordon said that he expects a bigger fish to be caught this time around.
“The way Lake Fork is setting up – this is the time of year when the fish are at their biggest, the time of year when you can catch a true giant,” Jordon said. “I don’t expect a huge number of fish to be caught, but the average size of our fish will be really impressive.”
Jordon said that prespawn reaction baits wilkl be heavily favored among competitors – crankbaits (including squarebills), rattlebaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and swimbaits were all mentioned specifically as lures that he will have tied on.
“The lake is low – about 6 feet – and that has the lake fishing differently,” Jordon said. “The boat docks and the grass won’t really play this time around. The key for this one will be targeting the structure – points, ridges, channels, humps and drops, along with the offshore brush piles and standing timber.
“Fork has been my home lake since the early '90s, and one of my favorite places to fish in the whole country,” Jordon went on to say. “This is going to be a really fun event, with the potential to see some new Bass Pro Tour records being set.
The tournament will feature the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the ScoreTracker leaderboard. The tournament is being filmed for broadcast later this year on the Discovery Channel.
Angler swill launch each day at 7:30 a.m. from the Oak Ridge Marina, located at 2949 TX-154 in Quitman, Texas. Each day’s takeout will be held at the marina beginning at 4:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW! livestream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The event will feature anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Saturday and Monday, with the 40 anglers in Group B on the water on Sunday and Tuesday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers who finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Thursday’s Championship Round.
In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.
The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW! will be livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.
