Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
- Details
BASS Report
Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors
FORT WORTH, Texas — The Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors, will return to Fort Worth for fishing’s biggest event of the year. Dubbed the Super Bowl of Bass Fishing, this tournament is estimated to draw crowds approaching 150,000 to Fort Worth as anglers compete for a $1 million dollar purse on March 21-23, 2025.
The Fort Worth Sports Commission will host the tournament and festivities at the Fort Worth Convention Center and the 14,000-seat Dickies Arena. The tournament will be a week-long, fishing-themed party with the world championship of bass fishing as its centerpiece. Only the fourth time the Classic has been held in the Lone Star State, it will get a Texas-sized boost in attendance and participation with an expected economic impact of more than $25 million for local businesses. Weigh-ins and all of the usual festivities will be held in Fort Worth, the state’s 12th-largest city, with competition being held on Lake Ray Roberts in nearby Denton.
Fort Worth and Lake Ray Roberts hosted the event in 2021, drawing 147,197 fans. At the time, it was the second-largest crowd ever for a Bassmaster Classic and still a record for a Classic held in Texas.
- Details
BFHOF Report
Mark ZonaMark Zona is one step away from his contributions to the sport of bass fishing being validated by his peers.
Zona, a TV personality who hosts Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show and co-hosts The Bassmasters, is one of 12 nominees for induction into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.
Other nominees include:
- Fred Arbogast, lure designer of the Hula Popper, Jitterbug and others.
- Don Iovino, angler
- Mike McKinnis, JM Associates, producers of Bassmasters and Bassmaster Live
- Andy Morgan, angler
- Takahiro Omori, angler
- Skeet Rees, angler
- Lynn Reeves, tackle designer
- Bill Taylor, retired FLW tournament director
- Clark Wendlandt, angler
- Mike Whitaker, Operation Bass Founder
- Alfred Williams, first black Bassmaster Classic angler
- Details
By JAN-MICHAEL HESSENAUER, Fisheries research biologist, Michigan Department of Natural Resources
DNR Lake St. Clair Fisheries Research Station has been extensively monitoring the lake’s smallmouth bass population for decades
Lake St. Clair, nestled between the St. Clair and Detroit rivers in southeast Michigan, is one of the premier smallmouth bass fisheries in the world.
As reported in “Status of the Fisheries in Michigan Waters of Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair 2022,” numbers from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Master Angler program – in which anglers can submit documentation of trophy-sized catches of more than 50 species – shore up the lake’s reputation as a trophy smallmouth bass fishing hotspot.
“Statistics from the Master Angler program indicate that Lake St. Clair is the premier waterbody in the state for trophy smallmouth bass,” the report stated. “With 46 entries in the Master Angler program in 2022, Lake St. Clair represented 29% of the total smallmouth bass entries statewide.
“The continued strong representation of Lake St. Clair and adjoining waters in the smallmouth bass statewide Master Angler program is likely a reflection of an abundance of trophy-size smallmouth bass in the lake, a high degree of angler effort targeting the species, and widespread practice of catch-and-release among smallmouth bass anglers.”