This is the information that we have all been waiting for since the merger of FLW and MLF. As promised they have delivered the schedules and fees associated. It’s actually really nice to see the grassroots fees have gone down. However, I still have concerns at the top of FLW and how those anglers will take the transition to the merged format. The next thing that I’m waiting for is the angler shake-ups that should be coming soon!

October 24, 2019  by FLW & MLF Communications

Major League Fishing (MLF) and Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) announced today the expanded 2020 FLW Series and T-H Marine Bass Fishing League (BFL) details, schedules, rules, entry fees and payouts, highlighted by lower entry fees in both circuits and an expanded FLW Series schedule, along with upping the FLW Series Championship payout to $200,000 for first place and adding a $10,000 bonus for the highest-finishing pro from each of the eight U.S. FLW Series divisions and the International Division.

The 2020 FLW Series season will consist of three events in eight divisions, up from five divisions in 2019. Anglers that fish all three qualifiers in any of the eight divisions and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee FLW Series Championship for a shot at winning $200,000 cash, plus lucrative contingency bonuses. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a $30,000 17-foot bass boat with a 115-hp outboard. The new win-and-you’re-in format guarantees that anglers are never out of contention to qualify for the Championship, too. Fish all three qualifiers in a division and win a tournament, and they’ll be on their way to the championship. FLW Series entry fees have been reduced to $1,700 for pros and $550 for co-anglers per tournament, while top payouts in each event remain $40,000 for pros and a $30,000 17-foot bass boat with a 115-hp outboard for co-anglers. As field sizes increase, so do payouts, with top awards reaching $65,000 for pros and $35,000 for co-anglers at 260 boats, and awards of $2,000 for pros and $550 for co-anglers extending through 65th place. 

MLF and FLW are also rolling back entry fees in the BFL to give grassroots anglers – the heart and soul of the bass fishing community – the best payouts at the lowest cost available anywhere. Entry fees are now just $200 per boater and $100 per co-angler for one-day qualifiers and $300 per boater and $150 per co-angler for two-day Super Tournaments – the lowest levels since 2014. While entry fees have been lowered, BFL payouts remain the same as 2019, with boaters fishing for top awards of $6,000 plus contingency bonuses in each one-day qualifier and $9,000 plus contingency bonuses in each two-day Super Tournament. Co-anglers fish for top awards of $3,000 plus contingency bonuses in each one-day qualifier and $4,500 plus contingency bonuses in each two-day Super Tournament. Anglers also have the opportunity to qualify for six no-entry-fee Regional championships with top awards of $60,000 for boaters and $50,000 for co-anglers, a no-entry-fee Wild Card regional, the no-entry-fee All-American with top awards of $100,000 for the boater and $50,000 for the co-angler, and even the FLW Series Championship with top awards of $200,000 for the pro/boater and $30,000 for the co-angler. 

“Major League Fishing was founded by tournament anglers, so we are an angler-driven league,” said Boyd Duckett,MLF co-founder and board director. “We respect and value the loyal FLW Series and BFL anglers, and we are very excited to announce the enhancements to what was already the best grassroots organization on the planet. I am confident that the anglers will be extremely satisfied with both the FLW Series and BFL circuits moving forward.”

The BFL is the stepping-stone to the FLW Series, which is now the pathway to the new 150-angler FLW Pro Circuit and ultimately MLF’s Bass Pro Tour, where 80 of the world’s top pros compete with no entry fees. The FLW Series and BFL also put anglers in front of the sport’s largest fan base, with coverage on FLWFishing.com, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter reaching more than 1 million fans each month.

Earlier this month, MLF announced an agreement to acquire FLW. This deal, which brings together the largest grassroots organization in the world with the best pro anglers in the world, is expected to close in the coming days.

“It’s the best of both worlds for FLW anglers – what you’ve come to know and expect from FLW, now with the power of Major League Fishing behind us,” said Kathy Fennel, FLW President of Operations. “We are proud of the fact that no other organization offers higher rewards for lower entry fees.”

CLICK HERE – 2020 FLW Series schedule, entry fee and payout information

CLICK HERE – 2020 T-H Marine Bass Fishing League schedule, entry fee and payout information

October 7, 2019 by FLW Communications

SENECA, S.C. – Boater Jayme Rampey of Liberty, South Carolina, brought a three-day total of 15 bass to the scale weighing 43 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the no-entry fee T-H Marine FLW BFL Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell presented by Navionics Saturday. For the win, Rampey earned $70,000, including a new Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Evinrude outboard and automatic entry into the 2020 BFL All-American Championship, April 30-May 2 – also at Lake Hartwell.

With the win, the Liberty angler earned his 11th career BFL victory and moved into a tie for No. 3 all-time for most BFL Boater wins – remarkable considering Rampey is just 33 years old. Five of his 11 wins have come on Lake Hartwell, including one just 2½ weeks ago.

“I caught them doing pretty much the same thing that I did just a few weeks ago,” said Rampey. “I’d start shallow every morning throwing a Zoom Horny Toad. I’d fish that until 11 (a.m.) or so, then I’d run to the lower end of the lake and fish purely topwater baits. I was throwing at isolated targets – timber, cane piles and rock piles – in 20 feet of water.”

Rampey’s first day limit Thursday consisted of five largemouth bass. On day two, his limit consisted of a mix of largemouth and spotted bass, and on the third and final day his limit was five spotted bass.

“I think it was due to the wind and the conditions – it was really blowing on day two – and it had the largemouth held real tight to the cover,” Rampey said. “I caught around 15 fish each day, and it was a good mix. I caught one or two shallow and the rest offshore on Thursday. Friday, I caught all of them offshore. Saturday I only caught one offshore and the rest were shallow.”

Rampey said his two main baits were a Ima Little Stik topwater bait, rigged with 30-pound-test Hi-Seas Grand Slam braided line, and a Zoom Horny Toad (green-pumpkin- and watermelon-colored) rigged with 65-pound Hi-Seas Grand Slam braid with a 6/0 Owner Twistlock Flipping Hook.

“The shallow fish were biting really well in practice, but it seemed to get worse and worse each day,” Rampey went on to say. “I think the difference was making the right decision to go offshore at the right time each day.”

The top six boaters that qualified for the 2020 BFL All-American were:

1st: Jayme Rampey, Liberty, S.C., 15 bass, 43-12, $20,000 + Ranger Z518L w/200-horsepower outboard

2nd: Ryan Deal, Marshville, N.C., 15 bass, 42-14, $10,000

3rd: Mike Miller, Trinity, N.C., 14 bass, 37-6, $5,000

4th: Wesley Sandifer, Chapin, S.C., 15 bass, 36-6, $3,000

5th: Clabion Johns, Social Circle, Ga., 15 bass, 35-0, $2,200

6th: Todd Goade, Suwanee, Ga., 15 bass, 33-6, $1,800

Rounding out the top-10 boaters were:

7th: Conrad Bolt, Seneca, S.C., 15 bass, 33-6, $1,700

8th: Ross Burns, Columbia, S.C., 15 bass, 33-4, $1,400

9th: Jason Burroughs, Hodges, S.C., 15 bass, 33-2, $1,200

10th: Joseph Marks, Duncan, S.C., 15 bass, 32-12, $1,000

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Justin Kimmel of Athens, Georgia, weighed in 15 bass over three days totaling 27 pounds, 10 ounces to win the top prize package of $50,000, including a new Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Evinrude outboard.

The top six co-anglers that qualified for the 2020 BFL All-American were:

1st: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., 15 bass, 27-10, Ranger Z518L w/200-horsepower outboard

2nd: Nick Coker, Knoxville, Tenn., 15 bass, 27-2, $5,200

3rd: Wayne Smelser, Rural Retreat, Va., 15 bass, 24-14, $2,550

4th: Costas Melendez, Shenandoah, Va., 14 bass, 24-13, $1,500

5th: Kibbee McCoy, Knoxville, Tenn., 13 bass, 19-10, $1,000

6th: James Roten, West Jefferson, N.C., 14 bass, 19-9, $900

Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:

7th: Matt Langley, Lebanon, Tenn., 10 bass, 18-7, $800

8th: Sam Loveless, Somerset, Ky., nine bass, 18-6, $700

9th: Trace Bigelow, Salisbury, N.C., 11 bass, 17-8, $600

10th: Maverick Canipe, Kings Mountain, N.C., 10 bass, 16-11, $500

The T-H Marine FLW BFL Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell presented by Navionics was hosted by Visit Oconee SC. It featured the top pros and co-anglers from the Music City (West Tennessee), Shenandoah (Virginia-Maryland), North Carolina, and Volunteer (East Tennessee) divisions.

The 2019 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.

October 5, 2019  by FLW Communications

GROVE, Okla. – After starting the day in third place, pro Curt Warren of Rose, Oklahoma, caught a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces, to vault to the top of the leaderboard and win the three-day Costa FLW Series at Grand Lake presented by T-H Marine.

Warren’s three-day total of 13 bass weighing 46 pounds, 7 ounces was enough to earn him the victory by a 1-pound, 6-ounce margin over second-place pro Jason Christie of Park Hill, Oklahoma, and earn him the top prize of $77,175, including a brand new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard. The tournament was the third and final regular-season tournament of the year for anglers competing in the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division.

“I didn’t have a whole lot of boat pressure around me, because I think that I was fishing much deeper than most,” said Warren, who had one previous win on Grand Lake – a Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament in 2017. “I wasn’t really doing anything special. I was just fishing from mid-lake to the dam, fishing fall transition stuff – big chunk rock and fresh green brush.”

Warren said he did most of his damage this week throwing a Bass X ¾-ounce football jig (kicker craw), with a Netbait Paca Chunk (green-pumpkin) or Strike King Rage Craw (watermelon candy), although he did mix in a Zoom Brush Hog Saturday. He also caught two suspended fish on a ½-ounce shad-colored spinnerbait that he brought to the scale.

“I only had four fish on each of the first two days – although I lost a 2½- to 3-pounder Thursday – but today I caught five and I probably lost another five,” Warren said. “I’d been catching a few early and a few later in the day. Today, it was nothing early and then from 1:30 on I caught everything that I weighed.

“I think the key to my win was my equipment and gear,” Warren went on to say. “I was fishing a Falcon Rods Expert Series ‘Amistad’ Extra Heavy rod and it is really an ideal rod for the football jigs that I like to use. My line was just as important – I was throwing 22-pound-test Sunline Shooter Fluorocarbon. With it, I can feel anything.”

The top 10 pros on Grand Lake finished:

 1st: Curt Warren, Rose, Okla., 13 bass, 46-7, $77,175

 2nd: Jason Christie, Park Hill, Okla., 15 bass, 45-1, $12,027

 3rd: Toby Hartsell, Afton, Okla., 15 bass, 41-15, $9,085

 4th: Bradley Hallman, Norman, Okla., 15 bass, 40-5, $7,571

 5th: Cody Bird, Granbury, Texas, 13 bass, 39-6, $6,814

 6th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 15 bass, 36-5, $6,057

 7th: Marcus Sykora, Osage Beach, Mo., 14 bass, 35-13, $5,300

 8th: Lance Crawford, Broken Bow, Okla., 11 bass, 31-5, $4,542

 9th: Allen Head, Pryor, Okla., 11 bass, 31-4, $3,785

 10th: Paul Heavener, Tulsa, Okla., 12 bass, 28-7, $3,028

A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Christie caught the largest bass of the tournament Thursday on a buzzbait, weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces and earning him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $192.

Steven Meador of Bentonville, Arkansas, won the Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 11 bass weighing 27 pounds, 15 ounces. For his win, Meador took home the top prize package of a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor, worth $27,100 and a $5,000 Ranger Cup contingency bonus.

The top 10 co-anglers on Grand Lake finished:

 1st: Steven Meador, Bentonville, Ark., 11 bass, 27-15, $27,100 + $5,000 Ranger Cup

 2nd: Richard Champagne, Bentonville, Ark., 11 bass, 27-5, $4,031

 3rd: Alan Quick, Springfield, Mo., eight bass, 22-9, $3,185

 4th: Calan Cameron, Coppell, Texas, eight bass, 20-8, $2,787

 5th: Robin Babb, Tulsa, Okla., seven bass, 19-13 $2,439

 6th: Mason Roach, Conroe, Texas, 11 bass, 19-11, $1,991

 7th: Tony Thompson, New Braunfels, Texas, nine bass, 18-11, $1,593

 8th: Johnny Burke, Bristow, Okla., nine bass, 17-5, $1,393

 9th: Travis Pattilllo, Zavalla, Texas, five bass, 16-9, $1,322

 10th: Jayce Garrison, Conroe, Texas, seven bass, 14-11, $995

Pattillo caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 6 ounces. He earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $128.

The Costa FLW Series on Grand Lake presented by T-H Marine was hosted by the City of Grove. It was the third and final tournament in the 2019 regular season for Southwestern Division anglers. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will also be the Central Division finale, the Costa FLW Series at Table Rock Lake presented by Evinrude, held Oct. 10-12 in Osage Beach, Missouri. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western – along with the International division. Each U.S. division consists of three regular-season tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to compete in the season-ending Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2019 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 31 – Nov. 2 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky.