Florida’s diverse Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Fla., will host two 2020 championship tournaments, B.A.S.S. officials announced this week. College bass anglers eagerly anticipating the return of competition can now mark their calendars for the Bassmaster College Series Championship, which will be held Oct. 29-31, while a spot in the 2021 Bassmaster Classic will be on the line at the Bassmaster Team Championship and Classic Fish-Off Dec. 9-12.
The College Series Championship will field as many as 130 teams of anglers representing colleges and universities across the nation. Qualifications are based on the teams’ finishes in four college tour stops being held throughout the country.
Only one College Series tournament was completed before events were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That January event on Toledo Bend saw Cody Huff and Dakota Pierce of powerhouse Bethel University go wire-to-wire to not only clinch the victory and earn more than $3,000 for the Bethel bass fishing team, but also secure their berth in the College Championship tournament.
“We’re excited to work with these great partners to offer young anglers an incredible championship tournament experience,” said College Series senior manager Hank Weldon. “I am thrilled that we were able to get the regular season and championship rescheduled so that the majority of teams who registered for these tournaments can compete for a national title and chance to fish the Classic.”
The College Championship tournament will crown the national championship team as well as 2020 Bassmaster College Series Team of the Year. Additionally, anglers on the Top 4 teams will earn a chance to compete for a berth in the Classic at November’s Bassmaster College Series Classic Bracket Challenge on Alabama’s Lay Lake.
Also battling for a berth in the Classic will be the grassroots anglers competing at the Bassmaster Team Championship. The team portion of the event will be held Dec. 9-10 and will feature anglers from 30 states and several foreign countries. The winning duo will not only win a cash prize, but they’ll also lead the charge into the Classic Fish-Off which will take place Dec. 11-12. The Team Championship was last held at the Harris Chain in 2018.
The top three teams through Day 2 – six anglers in all – will have their weights zeroed and then compete individually in the Fish-Off. The competitor with the heaviest two-day total of the group will nab the coveted spot in the Classic.
