Thirty-three anglers from the Bassmaster Opens ranks will join the 107 Elite Series competitors for BASSFest at Lake Chickamauga in 2 weeks. A handful of FLW Tour pros are on that list, including former Bassmaster Classic and Forrest Wood Cup champion Luke Clausen (pictured) and 2012 Cup winner Jacob Wheeler.
Also slated to compete are Phoenix Boats president Gary Clouse and former FLW CEO turned Tour pro Charlie Evans.
All 140 competitors will fish Chickamauga on days 1 and 2. The Top 50 in the standings at that point will take day 3 off while the remainder of the field goes to Lake Nickajack to vie for 10 "re-entry" berths.
Day 4, back at Chickamauga, will feature 60 anglers, and the field will be cut to the Top 12 for the final day.
Here's an alphabetical listing of the Opens anglers who've ponied up the $5,000 to fish against the Elite competitors:
James Biggerstaff
Jamey Caldwell
Brian Clark
Luke Clausen
Jeff Cloud
Gary Clouse
Jim Dillard
Tommy Durham
Mike Elsea
Charlie Evans
Al Farace
Derek Fulps
Skylar Hamilton
Rich Howes
Powell Kemp
J.T. Kenney
David Kilgore
Jared Knuth
Matt Lee
Dave Lefebre
Brock Mosley
Stephen Mui
Michael Murphy
Kendall Newson
Paul Pagnato
Patrick Pierce
Brian Potter
Lucas Ragusa
Steve Sennikoff
Gerald Spohrer
Bill Weidler
Jacob Wheeler
Chad Wiley
