By: Thomas Raines
On October 10, 2019 Major League Fishing (MLF) came to an agreement to acquire Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) in 2020. In 2019 Major League Fishing (MLF) launched its inaugural Bass Pro Tour, a series of tour events that would select an elite field of anglers and invite them to fish in a completely different format than the standard five fish format most of us are used to in tournament bass fishing. This new format placed a MLF official on every boat to weigh each bass caught. Any bass over 1lb would count towards the anglers total for the day. These Bass Pro Tour events last six days, with a series of eliminations after each round of competition. The most appealing part to most anglers who accepted their invitation to join the tour was the lack of an entry fee to all events on the Bass Pro Tour. Many anglers from FLW and Bass Anglers Sportsman’s Society (B.A.S.S.) left behind their respective tours to try this new format, shocking many bass fishing fans due to many people rejecting this new style of tournament fishing. At the end of its 2019 season the Bass Pro Tour actually had great viewership despite many hardcore bass fishermen not agreeing with its “small fish” format. Now that MFL has acquired one of it’s biggest competitors for next season there are many questions arising about the future of tournament bass fishing. MLF has said they want to create a clear platform for anglers to make it through their system from high school through college. They have some changes to how the FLW circuits will work for 2020 and some incorporate the MLF style along with the standard five fish format. Entry fees for all FLW events will also be lower. Whatever happens when spring arrives in 2020 and the pros drop their boats in for the first time, we’ll all be watching intently to see how this newly merged organization will stand up to the longstanding dedication of B.A.S.S to the five fish format. The new formats and entry fees can be found below:
Costa FLW Series anglers will see an expansion of regions from five to eight in 2020, to make the Series geographically available to more anglers. The schedule will include three events per region, and an FLW Series Championship. Entry fees for both boaters and co-anglers will be reduced: Boaters will pay $1,700, and co-anglers will pay $550 (down from $1,900 and $650 in 2019).
The BFL competition structure will continue as-is in 2020, with the same number of regions, tournaments and Super Tournaments as in 2019, all competing under the traditional five-fish-limit format. Entry fees will be reduced to $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers for single-day events, and $300/$150 for the two-day Super Tournaments. The same group of BFL tournament directors will continue to manage BFL competitions.
FLW’s High School Fishing and YETI FLW College Fishing schedules will continue without change for the remainder of 2019 and beyond. Anglers and teams that qualified for 2020 events in 2019 can expect to proceed as planned.