Bass anglers to compete in season finale in Sandusky

SANDUSKY — Some of the world's top professional anglers will compete in the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour season finale starting Thursday. The tournament will take place on Lake Erie from Thursday through Sunday. Hosted by Shores & Islands Ohio, the four-day event will feature 51 anglers competing for a $125,000 top prize and a share of the $600,000 purse, along with Fishing Clash Angler of the Year points. The competition will include MLF's catch, weigh, immediate-release format, where every bass over the 2-pound minimum counts. The Lake Erie field is led by reigning Bass Pro Tour Angler of the Year Jacob Wheeler and three-time Redcrest (the Bass Pro Tour Championship) winner Dustin Connell. Joining them are a host of proven winners, including Matt Becker, Zack Birge and Ott DeFoe. Anglers will arrive each morning starting at 5:45 a.m. to Shelby Street Public Boat Launch, located at 101 Shelby Street in Sandusky. Takeoff starts at 6:45. Anglers will return to Shelby Street launch each day following the end of competition at 3:45 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and can watch the event live online on the MLFNOW! livestream and follow along with SCORETRACKER coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com. On Saturday and Sunday, fans can head to the Paper District Marina, 611 Shoreline Drive, for the MLF Fan Experience & Watch Party. There will be hourly giveaways, MLF merchandise and free fishing derby and casting contest. Live music begins at 4 p.m. followed by interviews and the trophy presentation at 5 p.m. Sunday. The first 50 kids ages 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel each day. While Lake Erie has often served as an option for anglers in tournaments launching from the Detroit River, not many multi-day events have been held solely on Erie through the years. Only once has a national tournament launched on Lake Erie — the 2020 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super Tournament, which Justin Lucas won. At that event, anglers were allowed to access the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, but this time the field will be confined to roughly the western third of Erie. Ohio native Cole Floyd of Leesburg has been making trips to Lake Erie since he was a kid, giving him a familiarity with one of the country's most expansive fisheries. While he expects anglers to spread across the massive playing field, Floyd said he believes the Bass Pro Tour's every-fish-counts format will create opportunities for both smallmouth and largemouth specialists. "It's a massive body of water so there's a ton of fishable water within the boundary limits of this event and pretty much everything will be in play on that lake," Floyd said. "I've fished there ever since I was little, so I know the lake pretty good. "My plan is to focus on largemouth, and I feel like they are going to be a big player in this tournament and a lot of guys will do really well largemouth fishing," Floyd continued. "But at the end of the day, I really feel like there's a good chance that smallmouth could end up winning it." Pro Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs, Arkansas, won a 2024 MLF Team Series event alongside Becker in Presque Isle Bay on Lake Erie, and said he is eager to make the annual trip north. After spending six days scouting Lake Erie last summer, Shuffield said he also expects anglers to capitalize on both smallmouth and largemouth, but believes brown fish will ultimately dominate the leaderboard. "Anytime we go north, the fishing's always incredible," Shuffield said. "Whether you're fishing for smallmouth or largemouth, you're going to be able to catch plenty of them. That's really what I'm most looking forward to." Shuffield said the unique layout of Lake Erie will force competitors to make critical strategic decisions, as the most productive smallmouth and largemouth waters are separated by long runs that could cost valuable fishing time. "I think it's predominantly going to be dominated with smallmouth," Shuffield said. "There'll be a couple guys who do really well strictly largemouth fishing, but for most of the field it's going to be kind of a 50-50 deal, with guys relying heavily on smallmouth, especially during the 'Scope period." Unlike many fisheries where anglers can quickly transition between patterns, Shuffield said Lake Erie's geography makes chasing both species in the same day a risky proposition. "The best largemouth area I found was 50 miles away from the best traditional smallmouth fishing," Shuffield said. "Running that far on Lake Erie could take two and a half hours, so you're giving up an entire period without making a catch just to switch from one species to the other." The full field of anglers will compete in the two-day qualifying round Thursday and Friday. The pro with the heaviest two-day total will advance directly to Sunday's championship round. Anglers who finish second through 25th will advance to Saturday's knockout round. Television coverage of the Suzuki Marine Stage 7 at Lake Erie Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 3 on Discovery. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel. "There's something special about seeing the best anglers in the world compete on waters that have earned the respect of fishermen everywhere," said Jon Limber, Sports Tourism Manager for Shores & Islands Ohio. "Hosting the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour on Lake Erie is an incredible opportunity to showcase not only one of the world's premier bass fisheries, but also the welcoming communities, waterfront experiences and outdoor recreation that define Shores & Islands Ohio."