B.A.S.S. announced today the 2018 version of the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest will be held at Lake Travis near Jonestown, Texas.
Dates for the tournament are May 17-20, 2018. It will be the first B.A.S.S. event ever held at Travis, a highland reservoir on the Colorado River not far from Austin.
Texas Fest is a collaboration between B.A.S.S. and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department that replaced the Toyota Texas Bass Classic last year. The full field Elite Series tournament will have a $1 million purse and again employ a catch-weigh-release format on the water with the angler achieving the highest cumulative weight over four days of competition claiming the $100,000 first prize along with a berth in the 2019 Bassmaster Classic.
“In its 50-year history, B.A.S.S. has held events on Sam Rayburn 31 times, but we’ve never had a professional-level bass tournament on Lake Travis,” B.A.S.S. CEO Bruch Akin said in a release announcing the host lake. “It’s doubtful that many of our Elite Series anglers have ever fished the lake, and that’s bound to make for an exciting competition for the anglers and their fans.”
Last February, the FLW Tour visited Travis and Mark Rose won with 59-02 over four days. Clark Wendlandt caught an 8-06 brute that held up as big bass for the tournament.
According to Dave Terre, Texas’ chief of Inland Fisheries Management and Research, the bass population at Travis got a boost a couple years ago from a stocking program that followed a period of high water.
“Lake Travis caught a bunch of new water in 2015 that inundated thousands of acres of brush habitat, resulting in a significant expansion of its bass population,” Terre said. “TPWD responded by stocking over 750,000 Florida bass to enhance fishing quality. Lake Travis has since become a top destination for Texas bass anglers. We are excited to showcase this lake to a nationwide audience.”
Anglers will be able to bring in their heaviest bass of the day, if it’s longer than a predetermined minimum, to show off to the weigh-in crowd. Fish weighed in at Jones Brothers Park in Jonestown, Texas, will be returned to the lake and released alive. The angler who catches the heaviest bass of the tournament will win a new Toyota Tundra pick-up with an estimated value of $50,000. The lake record is a 14.2-pound largemouth caught in 1993, but Travis is known more for its quantity of good-size bass than for producing giants like that one.
“We’re excited to continue to showcase Texas’ Parks and Wildlife through one of the largest competitive fishing events in the country,” said Brent Hillyer, vice president marketing for Gulf States Toyota. “The Texas-built* Tundra’s power and capabilities for the outdoors makes it the ideal truck to be awarded to the winner of the heaviest catch in the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest.”
In addition to the competition on the water, there will be plenty to do on shore with family-focused activities.
On Friday and Saturday at the 32-acre Jones Brothers Park expo site, a “Get Hooked on Fishing” interactive children’s program will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering casting lessons, a fishing pond and chances to mingle with their fishing heroes. Fan Appreciation Day is Saturday, May 19, and will feature Bassmaster University fishing seminars taught by Elite Series anglers, as well as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Outdoor Adventures displays and activities.
“The City of Jonestown welcomes the Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament to Jones Brothers Park on the scenic North Shore of Lake Travis. We look forward to showcasing our spacious park with three boat ramps that is a popular site for anglers year-round,” said Ron Wilde, City Administrator.
