Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour set to open 2022 season in Northeast Louisiana
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Major League Fishing is set to kick off the fourth season of the MLF Bass Pro Tour, the most competitive circuit in professional fishing, in Monroe and West Monroe, next week, Feb. 5-10, with the first regular-season tournament of the 2022 season – the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One Presented by Power-Pole.
Hosted by Discover Monroe-West Monroe, the six-day event will showcase 80 of the best professional anglers in the world, including bass-fishing superstars like Kevin VanDam, Ott DeFoe, Jacob Wheeler, and Louisiana pros Gerald Spohrer of Gonzales and Cliff Crochet of Pierre Part, 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.
“We are proud to host this international event in Northeast Louisiana in cooperation with the Louisiana Office of Tourism,” said Alana Cooper, Discover Monroe-West Monroe President and CEO. “We are excited to bring in some of the best fisherman to experience Sportsman’s Paradise.”
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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 leaderboard. The tournament is being filmed for broadcast later this year on the Discovery Channel.
This event will mark the first time ever that an MLF tournament has taken place in Monroe-West Monroe. With no prior history on the fisheries and local experts predicting peak timing, Spohrer is expecting an extremely fun and competitive tournament.
“This is going to be such a fun tournament to start the season,” Spohrer said. “Although these fisheries are all in the same region, they are all very different. D’Arbonne is probably going to be the toughest and most challenging fishery we face. The lake is definitely the most difficult to navigate – you have to idle a lot because there are so many stumps and other things. It eats up a lot of time anytime you try to get off the main channel and to the shoreline. There are plenty of big fish that live there, but it’s not a place where you’re going to get a lot of bites.
In the four-day opening Qualifying Rounds, anglers will compete on Lake D’Arbonne and launch at 7:30 a.m. from the Lake D’Arbonne State Park, located at 3628 Evergreen Road in Farmerville.
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The Knockout Round will take place on Caney Creek Reservoir, where anglers will launch at 7:30 a.m. from the Caney Creek Hooks Marina, located at 400 Spillway Road in Chatham.
For the final day Championship Round, the final 10 anglers will compete on Bussey Brake, launching at 7:30 a.m. from Bonner Ferry Road, five miles northwest of Bastrop off of Louisiana 593.
Each day’s General Tire Takeout Ceremonies will be held at the respective launch ramps, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all takeoff and takeout ceremonies and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW! live stream and SCORETRACKER coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
As part of the event, fans will also have the opportunity to come out and meet the MLF pros up close and personal at the Major League Fishing Festival, part of the North Delta Boat & Outdoor Show at the Monroe Civic Center in Monroe, Sat., Feb. 5, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sun. Feb. 6, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The festival is a chance for fishing fans to meet their favorite Bass Pro Tour anglers, register for the “Pick ‘Til You Win” game with a top prize of a 2022 Toyota Tundra or a 70-inch 4K UHD Smart TV, visit the MLF Kids Zone to catch a live catfish out of the fishing pond, meet characters from the PAW Patrol courtesy of Kid Casters, and enjoy live concerts from local musicians each day.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Major League Fishing to open 2022 season in Monroe-West Monroe
