Major League Fishing (MLF), the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, can’t get enough of Upstate New York. After just wrapping up an extremely successful Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit event on Monday, the league is making its final preparations for another big tournament on Lake Champlain next week – the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. at Lake Champlain Presented by BoatLogix , Aug. 9-11, in Plattsburgh. The three-day bass fishing tournament is the second of three regular-season events for the Toyota Series Northern Division.
The tournament will showcase a field of the best regional bass-fishing pros and Strike King co-anglers casting for a top prize package of up to $75,000 in the pro division and a new Phoenix 518 pro boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor, in the co-angler division, and valuable points to qualify for November’s 2022 Toyota Series Championship.
“I think things are changing, and we’re going to see the lake quite a bit different for this Toyota Series event than we saw during the Pro Circuit event,” said Favorite Fishing pro Matt Becker of Finleyville, Pennsylvania, who has two top-10 finishes on Lake Champlain in MLF competition – including a 4th place finish in the Pro Circuit event earlier this week. “It’ll be a lot of the same type of techniques – drop-shotting and Livescoping for smallmouth, but I also think that a lot more largemouth will be in play.”
Becker said that he believes the largemouth will play a bigger role in this event due to two factors – more time to practice, and some strong local anglers that will be among the competitors.
“On the Pro Circuit, you’ve only got two days to practice, so you can’t explore a lot of options. It’s kind of pick an area, pick out a couple of things, and your two days is over,” Becker explained. “On the Toyota Series, with 3, 4, 5 days of practice, guys can explore a little more. And there are also some very strong local sticks in this event – I know (Hinesburg, Vermont’s) Bryan Labelle has been absolutely crushing largemouth this year.”
Becker said that he expects the weights to be pretty similar to the Pro Circuit event.
“I think you’re going to need to average around 18 pounds a day to make the final day of competition,” Becker said. “To win, it’s going to take more than 60 pounds over the three days. I predict the winner will have 63 or 64 pounds in this one. Someone could win with straight largemouth or straight smallmouth, but I think the winner is most likely going to be weighing in mixed bags.”
Anglers will launch each morning at 6 a.m. ET from the Plattsburgh City Marina, located at 5 Dock St. in Plattsburgh. Weigh-ins will also be held at marina, beginning 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 $40,000, plus an extra $35,000 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 outboard (valued at $33,500). With a 260-boat field, pros fish for a top award of $65,000, plus an extra $35,000 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 outboard (valued at $33,500) plus $5,000 cash.
The 2022 Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains Presented by Outlaw Ordnance, Southern, Southwestern Presented by Outlaw Ordnance and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions and finish in the top 25 – or the top 12 from the Wild Card division – will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 cash. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2022 Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Championship will be held Nov. 3-5 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, and is hosted by Marshall County Tourism and Sports.
Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, AFTCO, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Gary Yamamoto Baits, General Tire, Lew’s, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Outlaw Ordnance, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.
For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF Toyota Series on the MLF5 social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the World Fishing Network, and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with offices in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. In 2019, MLF expanded its portfolio of catch, weigh, and immediately release events to include the sport’s strongest five-biggest-fish format tournament circuits. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement, and fish care.
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