B.A.S.S. Bassmaster will be trying something new in April when the Alabama-based bass-fishing business holds a single tournament on both Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes in Arkansas.
The Bassmaster Elite No. 3 tournament April 21-24 will be headquartered in Mountain Home, Arkansas, and pro anglers will alternate fishing both lakes to see who can bring in a winning score.
Approximately 110 competitors will compete one day on Bull Shoals and the next day on Norfork. The field will be cut to 50 for the semifinals on Bull Shoals, and then to the Top 12 for the final round on Norfork.
"This event will challenge the pros’ strategic decision-making during practice,” said Angie Thompson, vice president of events and sponsorship activation for B.A.S.S. “Bull Shoals and Norfork will fish very similarly, but the anglers will have to be strategic in how and where they practice for the two lakes.”
As in most other Elite events, the anglers will have three days of official practice immediately ahead of the competition. The tournament will mark the first visit to Norfork for the Bassmaster Elite Series, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2016.
Weigh-ins will be on the campus of Arkansas State University/Mountain Home.
The 2016 Elite Series comprises 10 tournaments around the country, in addition to the Classic Bracket event, an increase over the nine events of 2015.
Two special events of the 2016 Bassmaster Elite Series will be held at new, or relatively new, venues.
BASSfest will be held June 8-12 at Lake Texoma on the Oklahoma-Texas border, and the season finale, the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship, will take place at Minnesota’s Mille Lacs Lake.
“Similar to the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro, the Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments have become extremely popular ‘happenings’ for bass fishing fans. By taking our fishing festivals to Lake Texoma and Mille Lacs, we will expose the sport to new fan bases,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “And, our Elite Series anglers are sure to enjoy the new challenges these lakes present.”
Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma, is presenting sponsor of BASSfest.
In addition, officials of the world’s largest fishing organization revealed a new tournament for 2016: the Bassmaster Classic Bracket tournament, to be held on the Niagara River out of Buffalo, N.Y., July 19-22.
In that event, the Top 8 finishers in Elite No. 7 on Cayuga Lake, New York, will go head-to-head in a bracket format tournament that will pay $50,000 in cash — in addition to the prize money they will have earned at Cayuga — and award a guaranteed spot in the Super Bowl of Bass Fishing, the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic.
The Classic Bracket will be streamed live on Bassmaster.com and will feature — for the first time ever in Bassmaster competition — catch-weigh-release scoring. That is, competitors will have their catches weighed instantly on the water by judges, and the bass will be released back into the water at the spots where they were caught. Only the heaviest five bass per angler will be counted.
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