The Major League Fishing (MLF) Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats is set to visit Oakley, California next week, June 5-7, for the third and final regular-season event of the 2024 Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – the Toyota Series at the California Delta Presented by Suzuki Marine.
The three-day bass-fishing tournament, hosted by the City of Oakley, will feature a number of the west coast’s best bass-fishing pros and Strike King co-anglers competing for a top prize of up to $75,000 in the pro division and a new Phoenix 518 Pro boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor in the co-angler division.
“This event is going to be very unique for a June tournament on the Delta,” said Elk Grove, California pro Ken Mah, who has nine top-10 finishes on the California Delta in MLF Toyota Series competition. “Typically, this time of the year the fish are predominantly postspawn, but I feel like the system is running behind and we’re still seeing a lot of prespawn fish being caught. So the weights are going to be a little bit better – slightly higher than we normally see in June.
“There are a lot of fish biting in the system,” Mah continued. “I think guys are going to be spread out. It’ll be typical Delta fishing – catch them however you want. We’ll see vibrating jigs, square-bills, flipping, pitching, punching, throwing frogs. For co-anglers, throwing a (Yamamoto) Senko and a drop-shot worm will be the deal.”
Mah said that in order for an angler to do well, they’re going to need to handle the tides.
“The key to doing well is going to be working the tides,” Mah said. “We have high tide early, and it’ll pretty much go out to a minus tide at the end of each day. So the angler that develops a pattern where they can catch them during high and low tide – it’ll be low tide during most of this tournament – is going to win.”
With the fish biting well, Mah said he expects weights to be better throughout the entire field.
“There was a local team tournament las weekend that took 25 (pounds) to win, which isn’t anything crazy on the Delta, but the thing that I was most impressed with was that even 21st place had 14.98 pounds,” Mah went on to say. “I could absolutely see someone winning with 65 pounds, but I think if a guy can catch 19 pounds a day for three days then I could see them being right there at the end with a chance to win.”
Anglers will launch at 6 a.m. PT each day from Big Break Marina, located at 100 Big Break Road in Oakley. Weigh-ins will also be held at the marina and will begin at 2 p.m. each day. Fans are welcome to attend and encouraged to follow the event online through the “MLF Live” weigh-in broadcasts and daily coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
In Toyota Series regular-season competition, payouts are based on the number of participants competing in the event, scaling up for every 20 boats over 160 and scaling down for every boat below 160. With a 160-boat field, pros fish for a top prize of up to $75,000, if Phoenix MLF Bonus qualified. Strike King co-anglers cast for the top prize of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard (valued at $33,500). With a 260-boat field, pros fish for a top award of up to $100,000, if Phoenix MLF Bonus qualified. Strike King co-anglers cast for the top prize of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard plus $5,000 cash.
The 2024 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2025. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2024 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 7-9 on Wheeler Lake in Huntsville, Alabama, and is hosted by the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Madison County Commission, and the Huntsville Sports Commission.
Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Toyota Series include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, FX Custom Rods, General Tire, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, REDCON1, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, WIX Filters, YETI.
For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Toyota Series updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
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