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La Crosse to Host Inaugural MLF Redcrest Championship
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| Major League Fishing announces Redcrest, Bass Pro Tour’s season-ending championship scheduled for La Crosse, Wis., August 2019. | |
professional bass fishing world since its January debut, and the league announced today that the season-ending championship for the tour will be titled “Redcrest”.
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MLF Pro Edwin Evers leads in Bass Pro Tour points after three events. The MLF Redcrest championship event will feature the 30 anglers who have accumulated the most qualifying points over the course of the 2019 Bass Pro Tour’s eight-event season.
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La Crosse, Wis., and the scenic Upper Mississippi River region will serve as host to MLF’s first tour season championship, the Redcrest. It is scheduled for Aug. 19-25 and will host 30 anglers who qualified by points from the Bass Pro Tour.
(Photo by Megan Kirking, Explore La Crosse)
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Maybe it’ll Pay Arey to be Sick
The day before Team Toyota’s Matt Arey left home in Shelby, N.C. for the relatively short drive down to Lake Hartwell, he spiked a 101-degree fever. His sweet wife Emily confesses he got the nasty virus from she and their cute young daughters. Emily was actually bedridden for two days with the same crud.
But if ever there was a cure for feeling crappy – it’s being surrounded by the love of family – and knowing you’ve got a shot to take home your first blue Bassmaster Elite Series trophy and $100,000.
“I’ve had fever, cough, and body aches, and I just feel beat down and tired. I think it’s like a mini flu,” says the 38-year-old. “But I was hoping to catch 15 pounds Thursday, and ended up with nearly 17 pounds, so that definitely helps me feel a little better.”
When interviewed at the end of practice as to what he liked best about Lake Hartwell, Arey responded, “The fact that it’s so close to home, and all my family can be here to share this tournament with me.” Arey certainly has plenty of family here, including his parents, his wife Emily, daughters Reese and Wren, as well as Emily’s parents.
“Friday’s rain will be a challenge to me. It’s not conducive to the way I’m wanting to catch ‘em here,” warns Arey. “But throughout my career, I’ve always felt comfortable in the pre-spawn. To be honest, I’ve probably won 70% of my career prize money in the months of March and April,” says Arey, who has won nearly $1 Million during his illustrious career.
“I’ve just always been better at staying a step ahead of the fish in the pre-spawn, rather than trying to chase them once they leave the spawning beds. And staying a step ahead of them is definitely the key to pulling a “W” in a 4-day tournament,” he concluded.
After catching nearly 17 pounds on Day 1, there’s no doubt Arey has a shot to feel a whole lot better by Sunday evening. Especially given the love of family to serve as the best medicine of all.
Arey, Lester, and Mosley Talk Turkeys and Hartwell
North Carolina’s Matt Arey, Tennessee’s Brandon Lester, and Mississippi’s Brock Mosley all agree on two things, a Toyota Tundra is their choice of tow vehicle, and no season beats turkey season.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about Lake Hartwell?
Arey: It’s only 1 hour and 40 minutes from home, so my wife Emily and daughters Reese and Wren get to be here with me this week.
Lester: It’s a huge reservoir, so everybody can spread out.
Mosley: I love that it’s full of fish.
Q: How much weight do you think the guy in first place will have on Day 1?
Arey: 18 pounds 12 ounces
Lester: 20 pounds
Mosley: 21 pounds
Q: What percentage of the bass weighed in this week will be caught from visible spawning beds?
Arey: 50%
Lester: 60%
Mosley: 30% – and I feel like most of those will get caught on Day 1
Q: If you could only have one lure for the rest of your life to catch a bass from a spawning bed, what lure would you choose?
Arey: Lunker Hunt 5” Lunker Stick in a color called “leech”
Lester: X Zone Lures 6” Fat Finesse wacky worm with a nail weight in the head of it.
Mosley: NetBait Paca Slim Craw. A lot of guys use white, but I prefer green pumpkin.
Q: It’s the start of baseball season, NFL draft season, the Masters Tournament, and March Madness. Which interest you most, and why?
Arey: Can I say turkey season, or spawning largemouth season?
Lester: None of the above – it’s turkey season.
Mosley: I played college baseball at Delta State, but I prefer turkey season over all those others.
Lineberger Says Love is in the Water
Spend five minutes talking to Bassmaster Elite Series pro, Shane Lineberger of North Carolina, and you’ll fast realize the man deeply loves and appreciates his bride Hope and teen daughter, Alli.
“There’s no way I could be out here fishing for a living without the support my wife gives me. The day I had to tell the boss at Timken Bearings I was resigning the job I had there for 20 years was the scariest day of my life. Thank heavens for Hope’s support,” says the very likeable Lineberger, who has long been a Toyota Bonus Bucks member.
Making bearings for pick-up trucks is now a thing of Lineberger’s past. He’s currently fresh off a high finish at the Bassmaster Elite Series at Lake Lanier, and looks to cash-in this week on Hartwell too. He only lives two hours from Hartwell, and fishes here a dozen times a year.
“It’s a blast to come down to Hartwell in May when the blue back herring are spawning. You can blast the bass on a topwater! It’s just nuts!” he smiles. “But it’s too early for that this week. Right now it’s all about the bass spawning, not the herring.”
“I actually think there’s already been one wave of bass spawn and leave the beds. And based on the warming weather trend we’re having right now, there’s a real good chance the biggest wave of spawners will probably hit this weekend,” warns the Champion Power Equipment pro.
Water levels on Hartwell are three to four feet higher than they typically are at this time of year. That’s made seeing beds a little more challenging. But you can bet this group of angling aces will see their way clearly to the Holy Grail of springtime activity, especially if the water levels will begin to fall slightly, as it did during practice.
Lineberger is rigged and ready with a Reaction Innovations’ Sweet Beaver, and he knows how to play the sight fishing game.
“I consider myself a fair sight fisherman. I don’t get the same amount of practice at it a guy like Drew Benton gets in Florida where bass spawn several months a year, but I’m ready to go looking for them this weekend if I can make it through the first two days of competition,” he says.
Indeed, love is in the air here in Anderson County, South Carolina. And if the warm weather holds, Lineberger warns it’ll be in the water this weekend too.
Lake Hartwell Changed Caleb Sumrall’s Life
Leveraged by the magical fate of a few good topwater and drop shot bites on Lake Hartwell seventeen months ago, Caleb Sumrall went from a recently laid-off father of two, to a B.A.S.S. Nation National Champion, and then the last guy invited to join the Bassmaster Elite Series.
“At one afternoon weigh-in here on Hartwell back in October, 2017, I went from thinking I might finish second, have to sell my boat, and hurry to find a new job, to being a National Champion and a 2018 Bassmaster Classic qualifier, with a chance to start the pro career I’ve dreamed about forever,” says the highly likeable and humble, 31-year old from Southern Louisiana.
Now in his sophomore season, this week marks the third time he’s made the 12 hour drive from home to Anderson, SC to chase a dream and Hartwell’s black bass population.
“It was definitely a little nostalgic when I pulled in here for the first day of practice Monday. I obviously got a good vibe, this lake will always be special to me, but because it lacks hydrilla and hyacinth matts, it’s way different than home,” grins the former oil field service yard manager.
When he won the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship here, his practice was by no means rich with bites, and neither was the first day of practice on Hartwell this week.
“In the 2017 Nation Championship, I had five total bites in three days of practice. I’d see fish schooling on the surface and log a waypoint, and I found some brushpiles, but I wasn’t exactly full of confidence going into the tournament,” he remembers.
“This Monday wasn’t real good either, but Tuesday was better, the fish are moving shallow to spawn and shallow water fishing is my strength, so my confidence is building,” he says.
Water temps are ranging from 55 to 65 on Hartwell, and Sumrall predicts wacky-rigged soft plastics, small soft plastic swimbaits, spinnerbaits, and shallow crankbaits like Spro’s Rock Crawler will be major players this week.
Life is good for Sumrall right now. He’s fishing for a living less than two years after losing a “regular job”, but financially it’s still a strain.
“I guide on Toledo Bend and Rayburn with Darold Gleason when I’m not out on the Elite Series tour, and I’m grateful for it. But man, I’d like to get to a point financially where I could be with my wife and two kids way more when I’m not out here on the road,” says Sumrall, understandably.
If Sumrall’s sentimental history here at Hartwell shows itself this week, the $100,000 first place prize could alleviate a whole lot of strain, and change his life for the better once again at this gorgeous South Carolina reservoir.