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Seven Questions with Mike Iaconelli Prior to the 2016 Bassmaster Elite on Cayuga Lake
Mike Iaconelli stepped out of his Toyota Tundra on the final day of practice for the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite at Cayuga Lake and said, “I love this place, I always have, I used to say when I’d come up here fishing in my amateur days that someday maybe I could buy a place up here in the Finger Lakes area.”
Iaconelli’s roots to Cayuga run as deep as its staggering 435-feet maximum depth. Back to his days competing in Red Man tournaments that began to prove his pro potential two decades ago. He knows Cayuga is loaded with quality fish, and neither “Ike”, nor his fellow pros, are sandbagging on the eve of what’s sure to be a multispecies slugfest.
1.) Greg Hackney averaged 21-pounds per day when he won the Bassmaster Elite Series event here in August, 2014. How much weight per day will it take to win this week?
“Wow! Did he really? I didn’t realize his weights were that heavy. My best guess is 18-pounds per day this year to win.”
2.) Will you spend the majority of your time fishing greater or less than 10-feet deep?
“Man, that’s right on the fringe – good question – I’ll say barely less than 10-feet.”
3.) Name three lures we’ll see tied on the most among the entire Bassmaster Elite Series field?
“Texas-rigged plastics, and a heavy punch-skirted jig for getting through the vegetation to largemouth on the very northern part of the lake. And thirdly, a wacky-rigged worm or soft stickbait for smallmouth on the lower ¾ of this lake.”
4.) Will you spend the majority of your time targeting smallmouth or largemouth?
“Largemouth, because I think largemouth will win this tournament. But the tough part is most of the largemouth fishing takes place in a pretty small portion of the lake located just north of Frontenac Park where we’re weighing-in – so it’ll be crowded up north. South of Frontenac, a huge portion of the lake is dominated by smallmouth.”
5.) You’ve got a wide assortment of rods and reels rigged for the final day of practice – what style of reel do you think you’ll use most in the tournament — spinning or baitcasting?
“Baitcasting – because I’ll focus mainly on largemouth.”
6.) After two 14-hour days of practice, what do you think will be the biggest “X factor” in this tournament?
“Weather. We’ll have clouds and cooler weather for Day 1 on Thursday, but then the rest of the tournament will be sunny and hot – so fish could position a lot differently later in the tournament than what they will on Thursday.”
7.) Lastly, a question not directly related to fishing. You’re a big sports fan, and in the past three weeks there have been some amazing events. Muhammad Ali died. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup. Lebron James gave his hometown their first championship in 52 years. Dustin Johnson returns from personal struggles to win the PGA’s U.S. Open, and Greg Hackney won BASSfest. Which of those resonates most with you?
“Lebron bringing home a long awaited championship, because he performed like a champion to win a long awaited title for his hometown in his sport’s biggest game, under a ton of pressure. That’s what a champion of his caliber is expected to do – and he delivered.”
Tackle Tuesday
This week’s feature is the 3/4 oz Strike King Structure jig paired with the new Rage Swimmer for a trailer.
I’ve started throwing the Rage Swimmer more often, especially around heavily pressured fish. When stroking or hopping the jig along the bottom, this combo just gives them a little something different that they haven’t seen.
My recommended set-up is a Power Tackle Keith Combs Signature Series Big Worm Rod, 20 lb Seaguar Invizx, and a Shimano Chronarch 7:6.1. You can find all of these products online attackleaddict.com.
“Like and Share” this post on Keith’s Facebook page for your chance to win a random drawing for a tackle pack from some of his sponsors.
Good Fishing! Keith Combs
Toledo Bend Retains Top Spot On Bassmaster’s 100 Best Bass Lakes List
Photo illustration by Laurie Tisdale/Bassmaster
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — For the first time since the creation of Bassmaster’s 100 Best Bass Lakes rankings, a fishery has reclaimed the No.1 spot in the nation. Toledo Bend Reservoir, which straddles the Texas and Louisiana border, keeps the crown and is the only lake to earn the title more than once.
“More than three months of research went into this year’s rankings,” explained Bassmaster Magazine editor James Hall, who noted that the initial pool of top fisheries was developed with input from B.A.S.S. Nation members across the country, state fisheries biologists, the 3,500-member B.A.S.S. Council and some of the 650,000 Facebook fans of B.A.S.S.
“Then, we scoured the Internet for current catch-rate data, using the results of more than two dozen tournament organizations and several state ‘lunker’ programs to narrow the field to 100. It’s a brutal process, but the results give bass anglers the ultimate bucket list of lakes for 2016,” Hall said.
There is one big difference in the rankings this year. The Top 10 lakes in the nation are ranked regardless of location, but instead of ranking the remaining lakes through 100, as has been done in the past, Bassmaster divided the nation into four regions: Northeast, Southeast, Central and Western. Now, readers will see the Top 25 lakes closest to them. This also created four No. 1 regional fisheries.
In the Southeast division, Santee Cooper lakes earned the top spot (it’s also ranked No. 2 in the nation). Clear Lake took the No. 1 spot in the Western division (No. 3 nationally), while the New York portion of Lake Erie was named No. 1 in the Northeast (No. 4 in the nation). Of course, Toledo Bend was the Central division’s No.1 fishery.
“Our panel of judges who finalized the rankings were absolutely blown away by the production of Toledo Bend the past 12 months,” Hall noted. “The lake has yielded 139 certified bass over 10 pounds with a 14.15-pounder topping the list. Plus, a 38-pound limit and countless limits in the 30-pound range have been weighed in during tournaments over the past year.”
The 185,000-acre impoundment was the site of the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend in May, which Kevin VanDam won with almost 100 pounds, even though the anglers were fishing in tough conditions after regional flooding had occurred.
A couple of other highlights from the rankings include Texas’ Falcon Lake climbing back into the nation’s Top 10 with a No. 9 ranking. This lake was ranked No.1 in 2012 and then very nearly fell off the list when drought plagued the region. Plus, a couple of new lakes have cracked the rankings, including Mississippi’s Okatibbee Lake, Arizona’s Saguaro Lake and Florida’s Lake Rousseau.
Texas earned bragging rights for the state with the most ranked lakes, boasting eight fisheries on the list. Florida and California tied for the second most with seven ranked lakes, while New York and Michigan each have six lakes in the Top 100.
Bassmaster’s 100 Best Bass Lakes will be published in an eight-page section of the July/August issue of Bassmaster Magazine. The complete rankings will also be featured on Bassmaster.com.
The Top 10 In The Nation
1. Toledo Bend, Texas/Louisiana [185,000 acres]
2. Santee Cooper lakes, Marion and Moultrie, South Carolina [110,000 acres and 60,000 acres, respectively]
3. Clear Lake, California [43,785 acres]
4. Lake Erie, New York [30-mile radius from Buffalo]
5. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California [1,100 square miles]
6. Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota [132,000 acres]
7. Lake Berryessa, California [20,700 acres]
8. Rodman Reservoir, Florida [13,000 acres]
9. Falcon Lake, Texas [83,654 acres]
10. Lake St. Clair, Michigan [430 square miles]
Central Division
1. Toledo Bend, Texas/Louisiana
2. Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota
3. Falcon Lake, Texas
4. Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas [114,000 acres]
5. Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin [from Little Sturgeon Bay to Fish Creek]
6. Lake Palestine, Texas [25,560 acres]
7. Caddo Lake, Louisiana [25,400 acres]
8. Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, Oklahoma [46,500 acres]
9. Lake Ray Roberts, Texas [29,350 acres]
10. Newton Lake, Illinois [1,775 acres]
11. Rainy Lake, Minnesota [360 square miles]
12. Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri [54,000 acres]
13. Green Bay, Wisconsin [up to Little Sturgeon Bay]
14. Lake Fork, Texas [27,690 acres]
15. Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota [14,528 acres]
16. Lake Bistineau, Louisiana [15,500 acres]
17. Minocqua Chain of lakes, Wisconsin [six small lakes up to 3,600 acres]
18. Squaw Creek Reservoir, Texas [3,275 acres]
19. Mississippi River, Pools 4-8, Minnesota/Wisconsin [from Lake City past La Crosse]
20. Lake Hudson, Oklahoma [12,000 acres]
21. Leech Lake, Minnesota [103,000 acres]
22. Lake Dardanelle, Arkansas [40,000 acres]
23. Lake Texoma, Texas/Oklahoma [89,000 acres]
24. Table Rock Lake, Missouri [43,100 acres]
25. Brushy Creek Lake, Iowa [690 acres]
Northeastern Division
1. Lake Erie, New York
2. Lake St. Clair, Michigan
3. Lake Erie, Ohio [30-mile radius from Sandusky]
4. Thousand Islands (St. Lawrence River), New York [50-mile stretch]
5. Saginaw Bay, Michigan [1,143 square miles]
6. Lake Charlevoix, Michigan [17,200 acres]
7. Bays de Noc, Michigan [Escanaba to Little Summer Island]
8. Lake Champlain, New York/Vermont [490 square miles]
9. Grand Traverse Bay, Michigan [32 miles long, 10 miles wide]
10. Presque Isle Bay, Pennsylvania [5.8 square miles]
11. Oneida Lake, New York [79.8 square miles]
12. Cayuga Lake, New York [43,000 acres]
13. Burt/Mullett lakes, Michigan [17,120 acres and 16,630 acres, respectively]
14. Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire [20 miles long, 9 miles wide]
15. Cobbosseecontee Lake, Maine [5,540 acres]
16. Candlewood Lake, Connecticut [5,420 acres]
17. Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia [20,600 acres
18. China Lake, Maine [3,845 acres]
19. Lake Cumberland, Kentucky [65,530 acres]
20. Chautauqua Lake, New York [13,156 acres]
21. Upper Chesapeake Bay, Maryland [The entire bay is more than 64,000 square miles, but the best fishing is in the top one-third.]
22. Pymatuning Reservoir, Pennsylvania/Ohio [17,088 acres]
23. Stonewall Jackson Lake, West Virginia [2,630 acres]
24. Squam Lake, New Hampshire [6,791 acres]
25. Kezar Lake, Maine [2,510 acres]
Southeast Division
1. Santee Cooper lakes, Marion and Moultrie, South Carolina
2. Rodman Reservoir, Florida
3. Chickamauga Lake, Tennessee [36,240 acres]
4. Kentucky/Barkley lakes, Tennessee/Kentucky [160,309 and 58,000, acres respectively]
5. Lake Guntersville, Alabama [70,000 acres]
6. Lake Istokpoga, Florida [26,762 acres]
7. Pickwick Lake, Alabama/Mississippi/Tennessee [43,100 acres]
8. Falls of the Neuse Reservoir (Falls Lake), North Carolina [12,410 acres]
9. Ross Barnett Reservoir, Mississippi [33,000 acres]
10. Lake Murray, South Carolina [50,000 acres]
11. Lake Tohopekaliga, Florida [22,700 acres]
12. Dale Hollow Reservoir, Tennessee/Kentucky [27,700 acres]
13. St. Johns River, Florida [310 miles long]
14. Randleman Lake, North Carolina [3,007 acres]
15. Watauga Lake, Tennessee [6,430 acres]
16. Okatibbee Lake, Mississippi [4,000 acres]
17. Lake Okeechobee, Florida [730 square miles]
18. South Holston Lake, Tennessee/Virginia [7,580 acres]
19. Clarks Hill Lake (Lake Strom Thurmond), Georgia [71,000 acres]
20. Lake Rousseau, Florida [3,700 acres]
21. Lake Eufaula (Walter F. George Reservoir), Alabama/Georgia [46,000 acres]
22. Lake Hartwell, Georgia/South Carolina [56,000 acres]
23. Smith Lake, Alabama [21,000 acres]
24. Lake Seminole, Georgia/Florida [37,500 acres]
25. Lay Lake, Alabama [12,000 acres]
Western Region
1. Clear Lake, California
2. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California
3. Lake Berryessa, California
4. Lake Havasu, Arizona/California [19,300 acres]
5. Dworshak Reservoir, Idaho [17,090 acres]
6. Lake Casitas, California [1,100 acres]
7. Tenmile Lake, Oregon [1,626 acres]
8. Lake Washington, Washington [21,747 acres]
9. Don Pedro Reservoir, California [13,000 acres]
10. Saguaro Lake, Arizona [1,267 acres]
11. Snake River, Idaho/Oregon [100 mile Hells Canyon Wilderness reach]
12. Potholes Reservoir, Washington [14,281 acres]
13. Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho [25,000 acres]
14. Roosevelt Lake, Arizona [21,493 acres]
15. C.J. Strike Reservoir, Idaho [7,500 acres]
16. Lake Mohave, Nevada/Arizona [26,500 acres]
17. Banks Lake, Washington [26,886 acres]
18. Columbia River, Oregon/Washington [191 miles from Portland to McNary Dam]
19. Brownlee Reservoir, Idaho/Oregon [15,000 acres]
20. Lake Mead, Nevada/Arizona [158,080 acres]
21. Lake Powell, Utah/Arizona [108,335 acres]
22. Shasta Lake, California [30,000 acres]
23. Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Utah/Wyoming [42,020 acres]
24. Apache Lake, Arizona [2,568 acres]
25. Sand Hollow Reservoir, Utah [1,300 acres]
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 500,000-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), social media programs and events. For more than 45 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, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series, B.A.S.S. Nation, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Costa Bassmaster High School Series, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro.
Smith wins Costa FLW Series Northern Division Opener on Potomac River
MARBURY, Md. (June 18, 2016) – Casey Smith of Macedon, New York, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Northern Division opener on the Potomac River presented by Plano with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 51 pounds, 6 ounces. For his win, Smith took home $39,208.
“I feel absolutely phenomenal right now,” said Smith, who earned the win fishing in his first-ever Costa Series event. “I’ve wanted to step up to this level of competition for a long time now. A lot of work went into getting here.
“The key for me this week was the area I concentrated on,” Smith continued. “I found a ditch in the mouth of the Aquia Creek that connected a large grass flat to a deep hole. The fish were using the ditch as a highway and I was able to snatch them out of it. On Day One, I had four bass for 13 pounds by 8:15 a.m.
“The morning bite on Day Two was strong and I had 14 pounds fairly quickly,” said Smith. “In the afternoon I culled out everything in the incoming tide. We just sat there with the Power-Poles down and smashed them for six hours.”
Smith said he caught the majority of his fish throughout the event on a Bluegill Flash-colored Keitech Swing Impact FAT Swimbait as well as a couple of key fish on a green-pumpkin and purple-colored Gambler Southern Swim Jig.
“I dragged the Keitech through the grass as slow as I could,” said Smith. “When it got hung up, I knocked it with the reel. I didn’t yank it, but I give the crank a half-turn and popped it out of the grass. The bait would fall and after a couple of full cranks, they’d bite. It was a reaction bite, but it was very slow.”
Smith said he returned to the ditch on Day Three and hit a flurry around 9:15 a.m. to seal the deal.
“My biggest fish today came on a white ChatterBait,” said Smith. “Luckily I had the ditch to myself this week. We caught a lot of fish, and there’s definitely some more big ones left there.”
The top 10 pros on the Potomac River were:
1st: Casey Smith, Macedon, N.Y., 15 bass, 51-6, $39,208
2nd: Charlie Machek, Midlothian, Va., 15 bass, 49-11, $15,481
3rd: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 48-2, $11,763
4th: Aaron Hastings, Middletown, Md., 15 bass, 47-0, $9,802
5th: Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md., 15 bass, 45-12, $9,110
6th: Gregory Wilder, Millersville, Md., 15 bass, 45-5, $7,842
7th: Chris Baumgardner, Gastonia, N.C., 15 bass, 45-0, $6,861
8th: Joseph Wood, Westport, Mass., 15 bass, 43-8, $5,881
9th: Jeff Coble, Manson, N.C., 15 bass, 43-7, $4,901
10th: Bill Chapman, Salt Rock, W. Va., 14 bass, 37-8, $3,921
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Machek and Schmitt each caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 6 ounces – the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division – that earned them each a Big Bass award of $288.
David Williams of Fredericksburg, Virginia, won the co-angler division and a Ranger Z117 with a 90-horsepower Mercury outboard motor. Williams earned his win with a three-day total catch of 15 bass weighing 44 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers on the Potomac River were:
1st: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., 15 bass, 44-15, $27,000
2nd: Michael Bahnweg, Union Dale, Pa., 15 bass, 39-12, $5,101
3rd: Eric Correll, Birdsboro, Pa., 15 bass, 37-2, $3,927
4th: Derek Brown, Charlottesville, Va., 15 bass, 36-15, $3,436
5th: Brett Holmes, Hudson, N.Y., 14 bass, 36-13, $2,945
6th: Tyler Sheppard, Hermitage, Pa., 15 bass, 36-4, $2,455
7th: John Duarte, Middle River, Md., 14 bass, 34-13, $1,964
8th: Kevin Hesson, Polk, Pa., 13 bass, 33-14, $1,718
9th: Brett Ewing, Waldorf, Md., 13 bass, 33-5, $1,473
10th: Rickey Farris, Forest, Va., 12 bass, 28-3, $1,227
Doug Jenkins of Saint Leonard, Maryland, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division Thursday, a bass weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces that earned him the day’s Big Bass award of $192.
The Costa FLW Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2016 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Nov. 3-5 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri.
The Costa FLW Series on the Potomac River was hosted by the Charles County Board of Commissioners. It was the first Northern Division tournament of 2016. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will also be a Northern Division event, held July 21-23, on 1000 Islands in Clayton, New York. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Periscope: @FLWFishing.
Elite Pros Expect Mixed Bags Of Big Bass At Cayuga Lake
Bassmaster Elite Series pros will compete for the coveted $100,000 first-place prize and valuable Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points at the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite at Cayuga Lake out of Union Springs, N.Y., June 23-26.
Photo by Gary Tramontina/Bassmaster
UNION SPRINGS, N.Y. — The Bassmaster Elite Series season begins its “Northern Swing” next week with the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite at Cayuga Lake, in Union Springs, N.Y., June 23-26.
As the nation’s most prestigious bass fishing circuit heads to Northern waters, big smallmouth bass and Northern strain largemouth are primary targets for the touring pros. Cayuga Lake — the second largest of 11 Finger Lakes in east-central New York — is chock-full of both black bass species.
The long, narrow lake stretches nearly 40 miles north to south, averages about 1 1/2 miles in width and covers nearly 43,000 acres. Even with so much fishable water, the anglers will likely be sharing fishing spots as they focus on certain areas with abundant submerged vegetation.
Brian Eisch of Sandy Creek, N.Y., vice president of the New York B.A.S.S. Nation, thinks it will take 60 pounds of bass, or more, across the four-day tournament to win the $100,000 first prize.
“There will be numerous 18- to 20-pound limits of both largemouth and smallmouth bass weighed in each day at this event,” Eisch said. “It’s sure possible to catch them that good each day, but to average that much weight will be difficult. However, if anybody can bring in bags like that, the best anglers in the world can.”
The pros proved that statement in the previous Elite tournament at Cayuga, when Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., weighed in 85 pounds of bass to win. Hackney enters the event as the leader in Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points. His 2014 win at Cayuga helped him clinch his first AOY trophy that year.
“The number of quality fish in Cayuga is impressive,” said Eisch, who predicts that it will take a bass heavier than 7 pounds to win the Phoenix Boats Big Bass prize for the tournament. “They primarily rely on a perch and bluegill forage base, and vegetation like coontail and cabbage will hold large numbers of postspawn bass and their food.”
With lake water temperatures being variable — upper 50s on the south end of the lake and into the 70s on the north end — Eisch said that both species of bass would be in transition from full-on spawn to the postspawn phase.
“It wouldn’t surprise me to hear about fish being caught from beds,” he said. “Having said that, I’d expect most of the anglers to focus their efforts on the weed flats that cover much of the northern half of the lake. The big variable will be the wind. If it blows from north to south or vice versa, the lake will get rough, making long trips difficult.”
Veteran Elite Series pro Mike Iaconelli of Pittsgrove, N.J., who has been fishing Cayuga Lake since the early 1990s, doesn’t expect spawning bass to be a factor.
“If we see any spawning activity, it’ll be during the tail end of the spawn,” said Iaconelli, a former Bassmaster Classic champion. “In my experience, the bigger largemouth and smallmouth spawn first, so the winning bass won’t likely come from beds.”
Iaconelli said bass populations are so healthy on Cayuga that he wouldn’t be surprised to see all of the anglers weigh in limits during the first two days.
“The weights will be very tight,” he said. “You could see a quarter of a pound separate 20 places, which will make the competition very intense. But the guy who can find 4-pounders and ‘accent’ one of his limits with a 6-pounder will have a real shot at winning.”
The Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite at Cayuga is the seventh of 11 Elite Series events, including a unique Bassmaster Classic Bracket tournament on the Niagara River out of Buffalo, N.Y. To qualify for the bracket shootout, an Elite pro must finish in the Top 8 at Cayuga. In a first for tournament bass fishing, the competition will be a cast-weigh-release format streamed with “Bassmaster LIVE” technology on Bassmaster.com.
Takeoffs at Cayuga are scheduled daily for 6:15 a.m. ET at Frontenac Park in Union Springs, N.Y., and weigh-ins will be held in the same location at 3:15 p.m.
At stake, in addition to the $100,000 first-place prize, are valuable AOY points, which determine qualifiers for the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro in Houston, Texas.
2016 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Toyota, Huk, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Skeeter Boats, Triton Boats, Yamaha, Berkley, GoPro
2016 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: A.R.E. Truck Caps, Carhartt, Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels, Livingston Lures, Lowrance, Phoenix Boats, Power-Pole, Rapala, Shell Rotella, Shimano, Academy Sports + Outdoors
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 500,000-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), social media programs and events. For more than 45 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, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series, B.A.S.S. Nation, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Costa Bassmaster High School Series, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro.