Photo: Ish Monroe with his 5 pound, 4 ounce bass | MLF
Over the past few years, I have had the pleasure of attending several professional bass tournaments both as a fan of the sport and through my work as an outdoor writer.
Being a fan of bass fishing, as well as working in the industry, I was very excited to see the new Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour (BPT) unfold. There are some significant differences between the new tour and from those we have come to love for years.
Here are five ways that they are different beyond the obvious that every fish over one-pound counts.
#1 No Weigh-In
One of the obvious differences between the BPT and other top professional bass tournaments is that there is no weigh-in for the pros to weigh and then show off their fish. Instead of bringing fish back to the scales, there is a Post-Game Show that recounts the action and lets the pros explain how they caught their fish.
While there are no fish, the pros still have a chance to talk about their day and most likely have more time to go in depth on how the day went.
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#2 Results are Live and Official
Both the FLW Tour and Bassmaster Elite Series do their best to give a preview of what the pros are catching. They use a variety of estimates from writers or the Marshalls who are in the boat. The live estimates give you a good idea of who is doing well, but until the fish hit the scales, nothing is official. That’s not the case with the BPT.
The scoring is one of the ways where the BPT differs; results are official immediately after the fish is weighed and entered into the SCORETRACKER system and shown to fishing fans across the world via the website and MLF app. This leaves no doubt, and everyone (including other competitors) knows the official score.
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#3 Lines in and Lines Out
These are a new dynamic for tournament fishing as anglers all start and end their fishing days at the same time. That sounds like all tournaments, but each angler has a 30-minute period to start the day driving, and they do not need to be back at a particular time.
This new rule opens up many strategic situations where anglers fishing far away from the takeoff site does not lose fishing time to running to their spot. If they are fishing 30-minutes away, the rest of the field is waiting to fish while they are still running. For those who have found fish close by, they must wait.
The pressure of getting back in time is also gone as anglers simply stop fishing when done. This eliminates one variable in tournament angling as missed locks, boat issues, bad weather, and poor time management on the return trip are no longer part of the game.
#4 SCORETRACKER Pressure
If you’ve ever watched Major League Fishing on tv, you know this adds tremendous pressure to the pros. Now it is happening on a larger scale with up to 40-anglers fishing at once.
The results are all there and live, and the boat officials are letting the anglers know who has what. The pressure adds a new dynamic as now everyone can easily see who has what.
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Photo: Iaconelli | MLF
#5 Last Minute Heroics
One of the most exciting parts of the new format is watching anglers battle for the last positions when the field is set to be cut. After two days of fishing, the 40-angler field is reduced to 20 during the Elimination Round.
The real excitement is the 25th to 35th positions in the last hour or so as anglers are scrambling to move up or fighting to stay inside the cut line. Already during the season, there have been some true last minute buzzer beater fish that knocked someone out of the cut and gave one angler more life.
When the Knockout Round arrives, the Top 20 from Groups A and B fish for one day only to be cut to the Top 10. Again, the real excitement is among those fighting to stay in for one more day. The weights start at zero each day, so survival to fish one more day is critical.
The Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour offers a new way to watch and follow our favorite sport. The rules have been tweaked, the drama has been added, and everything can be seen live online. It may be a while until everyone fully embraces the new world of pro bass fishing, but it is a fresh take on the sport.
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