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3 Things Every Lake St. Clair Rookie Should Know
Don’t be fooled by the fact Bassmaster Elite Series pro Tyler Rivet is smiling on a sunny afternoon in this photo. The day before it was taken, the Southern Louisiana rookie had his finger on the “man overboard” button of his Lowrance units, scared to death his boat might sink 20 miles from the Metro Park ramp on Lake St. Clair.
Rivet was on St. Clair trying to earn his first trip to the Bassmaster Classic when two or three big waves rolled over his back deck, and filled his battery compartment with water in seconds. Then, when he hit the manual bilge pump, nothing happened, and within seconds the failed bilge pump allowed at least 4” of water to flood the floor of his boat.
“I tried to leave, and realized I had so much water weight in the boat that I couldn’t get it on pad,” recalls Rivet, still emotionally shaken by the incident.
He asked his ride along B.A.S.S. Marshall, who happened to be a pretty big guy, to sit on the front deck, shifting enough weight forward in order to limp 20 miles back to the Bassmaster check-in at Metro Park. Once safely on the trailer, Rivet says water drained from the boat for more than an hour.
Rivet certainly won’t be the only first-timer to take on the big waves of St. Clair in search of world-class smallmouth, so he graciously lends the following advice to help others avoid a rookie catastrophe.
Buy an extra bilge
Obviously, make sure your automatic bilge pumps are working before you head to St. Clair. But make sure you take an extra step and carry an additional portable bilge easily purchased from your local marine dealer! This can’t be stressed enough.
Most experienced big water anglers simply lay the additional bilge on the floor behind their feet at the driver’s console. They run the corrugated pump-out hose over the gunwale on the driver’s side, and zip tie the hose to a cleat to keep it in place. It’s also necessary to add alligator clamps to a few feet of additional wire you’ll want to tie-on to the wires that come rigged on it out of the package. That way you’ll have plenty of wire length to quickly clamp the portable bilge power wires to your battery posts in a time of need, without worrying that it’s a constant drain on your batteries when things are dry.
Don’t go alone
Nobody should fish huge waters like St. Clair alone if possible, and certainly not rookies. Furthermore, adding a companion to the back of deck of your rookie adventure adds false security. The best idea is to take on such waters with another boat of buddies nearby.
“Don’t go to a place like St. Clair alone. Run in packs. Form a small armada. The expansive flats and open water allow you to drift within sight of one another easily without crowding. In practice, Brock Mosley and Luke Palmer and I all sort of raked an area together, it will help you find fish faster, and it’s a whole lot safer than being out there alone,” says Rivet.
What to throw
Preparing your boat for safety is more important than stressing about tackle. Mother nature can be uncertain and cruel, but the fishing on St. Clair is actually relatively simple. Three or four lures will help you catch a huge percentage of the super sized smallmouth that swim there.
“You need a tube, a jerkbait, a drop shot, and a crankbait that will run about 16 feet deep,” says Rivet. “I like a ½ ounce weight in my tubes most days, but a ¾ if it’s super windy. I throw ¼ and 3/8 ounce weights on my dropshots, and a lot of guys throw a Strike King 6XD or a Rapala DT10, but my favorite is a deep diver from Blackjack Lures,” says Rivet.
“I can’t stress enough how you need to take a little extra time to add a bilge pump, and make sure you’re auto bilge pumps are working. I missed my chance to fish in my first Bassmaster Classic. An extra bilge pump may have saved that chance, but mostly, I just feel so fortunate that I lived to fish another day,” concludes Rivet in deeply grateful fashion.
How the MLF Acquisition will Affect YOU!
October 10, 2019 as posted on FLWFISHING.com
The Thursday announcement of Major League Fishing’s acquisition of FLW signifies a historic shift in the landscape of competitive bass fishing.
As tournament anglers from the ranks of FLW High School Fishing to the FLW Tour begin to decipher how the acquisition directly affects them (and the nearly 300 tournaments that FLW currently operates), MLF co-founder Boyd Duckett refers back to his own tournament-fishing roots for a hint at both immediate and long-term plans for FLW competitions.
“Most of us grew up and came up through FLW,” Duckett says. “Their culture has always been pro-angler, and that’s our culture [at MLF] as well. We started MLF to make competitive bass fishing better for competitive anglers. That’s the driving structure of all we do at MLF, and that same driving force will exist [with FLW]. We’re angler owned. We’re fishing guys. We’re tournament guys. We’re working daily to make it better, and I couldn’t think of a better opportunity for FLW anglers at all levels.”
Here’s an overview of how the competitive circuits of FLW will operate:
2019 FLW schedule continues
All remaining 2019 events on the FLW tournament schedule will be contested as previously organized, with no changes to competition days/times, venues, payouts, etc.
That includes the Costa FLW Series Central Division event on Lake of the Ozarks and the 2019 Costa FLW Series Championship on Lake Cumberland; five remaining T-H Marine Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regionals that range from the Potomac River to Grand Lake; the Nov. 8 BFL Wild Card; and a handful of High School Fishing and College Fishing events scheduled for October and November.
Looking ahead to 2020 FLW circuits
FLW High School Fishing, YETI FLW College Fishing, T-H Marine BFL and Costa FLW Series circuits will continue in 2020 and beyond, with the addition of three regions in the Costa FLW Series and reduced entry fees for both BFL and FLW Series boaters and co-anglers. The most significant alteration will occur at the top of the FLW professional tournament ladder.
The new FLW Pro Circuit
The 2020 season will see the birth of the FLW Pro Circuit, replacing the 24-year-old FLW Tour. The Pro Circuit will feature a 150-angler field, and will be contested over a seven-event regular season that leads to the FLW Angler of the Year Championship event. All anglers who qualified for the 2020 FLW Tour will be eligible to compete in the Pro Circuit.
The Pro Circuit will operate on a six-day competition schedule that features FLW’s traditional five-fish-limit format on days one through three, transitioning to the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release/every-scoreable-bass-counts format on days four through six (which include two 10-angler Knockout Rounds and a final 10-angler Championship Round). As is the case in all rounds of the MLF Bass Pro Tour, MLF-appointed in-boat officials will manage the competition and weighing of fish on the final three days of the FLW Pro Circuit.
Payouts for the Pro Circuit will extend down to 75th place, representing a payday for half the field (a 12-percent increase in the number of anglers earning a check).
The new Angler of the Year Championship will serve as the signature final event of the FLW Pro Circuit, taking the place of the FLW Cup.
The most successful anglers (based on competition results) in the FLW Pro Circuit will qualify to compete in the MLF Bass Pro Tour. Details on qualification standards will be released in the coming weeks.
FLW Series expands
Costa FLW Series anglers will see an expansion of regions from five to eight in 2020, to make the Series geographically available to more anglers. The schedule will include three events per region, and an FLW Series Championship.
Entry fees for both boaters and co-anglers will be reduced: Boaters will pay $1,700, and co-anglers will pay $550 (down from $1,900 and $650 in 2019).
BFL reduces entry fees
The BFL competition structure will continue as-is in 2020, with the same number of regions, tournaments and Super Tournaments as in 2019, all competing under the traditional five-fish-limit format. Entry fees will be reduced to $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers for single-day events, and $300/$150 for the two-day Super Tournaments.
The same group of BFL tournament directors will continue to manage BFL competitions.
High School Fishing and College Fishing
FLW’s High School Fishing and YETI FLW College Fishing schedules will continue without change for the remainder of 2019 and beyond. Anglers and teams that qualified for 2020 events in 2019 can expect to proceed as planned.
“As time goes on, we’ll accomplish a lot for those FLW anglers. They should be assured that times are continuing to get better,” Duckett says. “Not that it wasn’t good already. FLW has done a great job in building a pro-angler culture that’s the strongest I’ve ever participated in, but if there is anything that MLF can do, we intend to make it better. That’s what I get up for every day – to make it better for the anglers.”
Major Changes Announced To FLW
Tour to be Rebranded Full Article can be found here.
Per Bass Fan “The acquisition will trigger significant changes for the 2020 FLW Tour, which will be rebranded as the FLW Pro Circuit and will slot in beneath the BPT in the new hierarchy. The season will consist of seven regular-season events and a championship. The FLW Cup and its $300,000 top prize will be replaced by an Angler of the Year finale along the lines of the one conducted annually on the Bassmaster Elite Series. All of the Pro Circuit events will be six days long and the format will be a hybrid mix of the traditional five-fish-per-day tournament format and the MLF mode.
A full field of 150 anglers will fish the first two days for cumulative weights (combined maximum of 10 fish), then a cut to the top 75 will occur with weights zeroed. Day 3 will mirror a BPT Elimination Round (cut to 40) and days 4 and 5 will be Knockout Rounds that each feature half of the remaining field to achieve a cut to 10 for the final day.
The top 75 will each receive a check for at least $10,000. Details on entry fees and payouts at the top of the field have not yet been released.
The modifications made to the FLW Tour for 2020 will pave the way for MLF fully integrating it with its top circuit the following year. Starting in 2021, plans call for the top 10 from the FLW Pro Circuit points list to gain berths on the BPT for the following season, with the bottom 10 BPT anglers (based on their average points finish for the 2019-21 seasons) dropping out.
Departures to both the BPT and Bassmaster Elite Series over the past year had put a considerable dent in the depth of the FLW Tour field, but standouts such as this year’s FLW Cup winner and two-time Angler of the Year Bryan Thrift, four-time AOY and former Cup winner David Dudley, former AOY and Cup winner Scott Martin and 2016 Cup champion and multiple-time Tour winner John Cox were still on board in 2019.
“The FLW Pro Circuit will be a great opportunity for those guys,” Duckett said. “The media coverage we have planned will be greater than they’ve ever seen by multiples and they’ll have the opportunity to move into the BPT, (which is) a high-paying, no-entry-fee format.”
The Pro Circuit will receive expanded media coverage across the Kroenke family of outdoors-centered networks (Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel and World Fishing Network).
The MLF format will also eventually be offered to the lower-level trails (FLW Series and BFLs) based on customer demand, Duckett said. Meanwhile, the Series will expand from five geographic divisions to eight and entry fees will be lowered at both levels – $1,700 for a Series boater ($200 reduction from this year) and $550 for a Series co-angler ($100 reduction). BFL fees will be $200 and $100, respectively.
Schedules for those levels will be released soon and the entry process for the Series and BFLs is expected to get under way in November. There may or may not be changes to the Tour schedule that was announced in August at the 2019 FLW Cup.”
Major League Fishing To Acquire Fishing League Worldwide
October 10, 2019 (Tulsa, Okla.) Major League Fishing (MLF) announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Fishing League Worldwide (FLW), the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization. The Letter of Intent (LOI) sets in motion the most significant brand merger in competitive bass fishing history, linking a tour and original, award-winning programming featuring the top professional anglers in the world to an extensive grassroots organization that serves tens of thousands of competitive anglers from high school and college to weekenders and tour pros.
“We’re thrilled about welcoming FLW to the MLF team,” said Jim Wilburn, President and CEO of Major League Fishing. “FLW shares our commitment to creating tournaments and opportunities centered on the success of the angler. Through this acquisition, we are better positioned to support anglers and sponsors at all levels.”
“Our business plan always included reaching all levels of grassroots fishing,” said Boyd Duckett, MLF co-founder and President of the Professional Bass Tour Anglers’ Association (PBTAA). “FLW does it best with the Tour and grassroots tournaments; their reputation in competitive bass fishing is remarkable and their culture has always been pro-angler, which makes this the perfect opportunity for both organizations. We couldn’t be more excited about FLW: their team, anglers, and sponsors.”
“This announcement marks a thrilling new chapter in FLW’s history as we join Major League Fishing and begin a new era in the sport of competitive bass fishing,” said FLW President of Operations Kathy Fennel. “As part of the Major League Fishing team, we look forward to enhancing and expanding tournament offerings to our anglers and fans. Our teams have a very similar mission and vision – to support anglers at all levels, provide the industry with unmatched opportunities, and grow the sport. The complementary strengths of our organizations make this a win for the entire sport.”
Established in 2011, MLF began as a television product and has grown into a sports league with the launch of the Bass Pro Tour in January of 2019. MLF is a partnership between the PBTAA and Outdoor Sportsman Group (OSG), a division of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.
“As MLF continues to grow, we’re committed to find the right opportunities to extend the Outdoor Sportsman Group properties,” Outdoor Sportsman Group President and CEO, Jim Liberatore said. “Through this acquisition, MLF can leverage our extensive media reach and award-winning content production to promote competitive bass fishing at all levels.”
Each year FLW offers thousands of anglers of all skill levels across the globe the opportunity to compete for millions of dollars in prize money in five tournament circuits. Under the leadership of Irwin Jacobs, FLW expanded the top level of competition to include the industry’s first seven-figure purse.
“It has been our mission since my father, Irwin Jacobs, purchased FLW in 1996 to bring the highest quality of tournaments to anglers, sponsors and fans around the world,” said Trish Blake, FLW President of Marketing. “By joining forces with Major League Fishing, the sport of professional tournament fishing will be taken to new heights for anglers across the world at all levels.”
Major League Fishing and Fishing League Worldwide anticipate an acquisition close date of October 31, 2019.
For more information about this acquisition, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com/FLW
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete in more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments across five circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, FLW and their partners offer a High School Fishing and College Fishing Series, the Bass Fishing League (BFL) series for grassroots anglers, the Costa FLW Series for aspiring professionals and the FLW Tour, which showcases some of the top anglers in the world. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
About Major League Fishing
Founded in 2011, Major League Fishing (MLF) brings the high-intensity sport of competitive bass fishing into America’s living rooms on Outdoor Channel, Discovery, CBS, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, Sportsman Channel and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). New for 2019, the Bass Pro Tour consists of eight events and a championship streamed live onwww.MajorLeagueFishing.com and MOTV. MLF uses the entertaining and conservation-friendly catch, weigh and immediate-release format where every scorable bass counts and the winner is the angler with the highest cumulative weight.
For more information on the league and anglers, visit majorleaguefishing.com and follow MLF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
For more in-depth coverage, see Game & Fish magazine, the official publication of MLF.
Canterbury Locks Up Toyota Bassmaster Angler Of The Year Title On Lake St. Clair
HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — As a child, Scott Canterbury always spent his Saturday mornings watching The Bassmasters television program.
Scott Canterbury of Odenville, Ala., was crowned the 2019 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year with 848 points. Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S
To him, the stars of that show — people like Bob Cobb, Ray Scott and Denny Brauer — are the true legends of professional bass fishing.
Now, he has forever claimed his own spot alongside them in B.A.S.S. history.
With five bass that weighed 19 pounds, 12 ounces during Tuesday’s final round, Canterbury pushed his three-day total to 59-4 and finished in 14th place for the week at the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship on Lake St. Clair.
More importantly, he finished at the top of the season points standings with 848 points, earning one of the most coveted titles in professional fishing and the $100,000 check that goes with it.
“My first goal coming into the season was to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic next year,” Canterbury said. “Angler of the Year is always there on the radar. It’s just way out there.
“You always set goals that you don’t think you can reach — because if they’re easy to reach, you didn’t set them high enough.”
Canterbury was faced with his share of hurdles throughout the year, but he always seemed to have just enough in his tank to clear them.
After a tough first day at the regular-season opener on the St. Johns River in Florida, he rebounded with a ninth-place finish. From there, he placed 11th at Georgia’s Lake Lanier, 22nd at South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell and finished just 10 ounces shy of a victory during a second-place finish at Winyah Bay.
Then he had the kind of tournament that often sinks a competitor’s bid for the AOY crown, placing 49th at Lake Fork. But he followed it with a solid 22nd-place finish on Lake Guntersville in his home state of Alabama, and wowed fishing fans across the country by finishing third and 11th, respectively, in New York events at the St. Lawrence River and Cayuga Lake.
Before those New York events, he had never fished either lake
“I went into those events just hoping to survive,” he said. “But I ended up doing really well. I think that’s the way it happens sometimes in this sport. We deal with so many things that are completely beyond our control. If you just keep fishing hard, your day will come.”
Canterbury was thrown another curveball when the final regular-season Elite Series event that was scheduled for Fort Gibson Lake in Oklahoma had to be moved to Lake Tenkiller due to flood conditions. Again, he survived, finding two small offshore schools of smallmouth that landed him in 19th place.
Things beyond his control struck again Sunday, as he was forced to fish the entire first round without the use of depthfinders on the front of his boat. Canterbury still caught almost 18 pounds and managed to hold off hard charges from Arkansas pro Stetson Blaylock (840 points), Canadian Cory Johnston (840) and Texas pro Chris Zaldain (838).
Canterbury caught the majority of his bass for the week on a tube.
“That first day was such a challenge, and it could have caused me to fall apart,” he said. “But I managed to get through that and then used that tube to catch just enough fish to get by.
“It was anything but an easy tournament.”
The AOY Championship featured a total purse of $1 million, including the $100,000 that went to the season points winner and the $25,000 that went to the angler with the heaviest three-day weight for the week. The latter honor was claimed by Minnesota pro Seth Feider.
Feider found a gigantic school of smallmouth on a flat with substantial current, and used a Rapala DT-10 crankbait in the Helsinki shad pattern to catch a three-day weight of 77-15. It was his second career Bassmaster Elite Series victory.
“It was basically just a flat with scattered rocks and sand, so I think the current was the biggest thing,” Feider said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before on Lake St. Clair.
“That DT-10 ran just the right depth. I was fishing 11 to 12 feet of water, and I don’t like hitting the bottom for smallies.”
One race that had already been decided before Tuesday’s round began was DICK’s Sporting Goods Rookie of the Year. That award went to Florida pro Drew Cook, who finished with 798 ROY points despite finishing just 36th for the week.
The tournament also decided the 42 Elite Series anglers who will fish the 2020 Bassmaster Classic, scheduled for March 6-8 on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville.
The last three anglers to make the Top 42 cut were Skylar Hamilton, Brian Snowden and Jake Whitaker. The first three out were Garrett Paquette, Clark Wendlandt and Kelley Jaye.
Feider claimed Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the week honors with the 6-12 smallmouth he caught on Day 1.
But the big story of the event was Canterbury and his AOY crown.
“I think about my wife, Dixie, and my daughter, Taylor,” Canterbury said. “I think about all of those days and weeks I’ve had to spend on the road away from them, and I can’t help but get emotional over this.
“As pro fishermen, this is why we do what we do.”
2019 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota
2019 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Abu Garcia, Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Skeeter Boats, Talon, Triton Boats, Yamaha
2019 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Carhartt, Lowrance, Mossy Oak Fishing, T-H Marine, Academy Sports + Outdoors
2019 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship Hosts: Sterling Heights Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Macomb County, Huron-Clinton Metroparks (HCMA) Lake St. Clair Metropark
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 510,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2 and The Pursuit Channel), radio show (Bassmaster Radio), social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.
The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Series, TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Series, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic.