By MLF Communications Staff
The MLF Bass Pro Tour will visit the St. Lawrence River in Massena, N.Y. this week for the fifth stop on the 2021 schedule.
The six-day event, hosted by the Town of Massena and Fish Massena, will feature 80 anglers competing for a purse of more than $805,000, including a top payout of $100,000. Although the St. Lawrence has played host to one MLF Toyota Series tournament (2019), this event will mark the first time that the Bass Pro Tour has visited the venue.
“This is going to be such a fun event – the St. Lawrence River is just a phenomenal fishery and it is loaded with a ton of bass in it,” said said BPT pro Adrian Avena. “The biggest thing about this event is that we’re going to see a lot of spawning smallmouth. I imagine we’ll see a lot of guys sight-fishing shallow, looking for bass on the beds.
“There are definitely certain zones of the river that are better than others,” Avena continued. “However, if a guy can get a zone to himself or find a little area that others seemed to overlook, that is going to be key to doing well in this tournament.”
Avena said that he expects a variety of baits to be thrown, including dropshot rigs, Ned rigs, hair jigs and small swimbaits. He also said that there still could be some pre-spawn fish caught, and if that is the case then he expects a jerkbait could come into play as well.
“With a 2-pound minimum, it really keeps the door open for the largemouth guys to do well, as well,” Avena said. “Traditionally in tournaments here you need to target the smallmouth, but I feel like this time of year, with the Bass Pro Tour format, it could allow a guy to really compete with strictly largemouth.
“The St. Lawrence River is widely known as a world-class smallmouth fishery, but we’re really going to show the world how great of a largemouth fishery it is as well,” Avena went on to say.
The event will feature anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Friday and Sunday, with the 40 anglers in Group B on the water on Saturday and Monday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers who finish in 2nd through 20th place from each group advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round.
In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the 38 anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the Championship Round, where weights will again be zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.
Anglers will take off from the Massena Intake Boat Launch Ramp, located on Route 13 in Massena, at 9 a.m. ET each day of competition. Takeous will also be held at the ramp beginning at 5:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all takeoff and takeout ceremonies and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW! livestream and SCORETRACKER coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Fans will be treated to multiple community events throughout the week, hosted by Fish Massena. A Kick-off Concert in the Park featuring Northbound will take place at 6 p.m. today at Massena Springs Park. A Kid’s Fishing Derby with local area youth fishing alongside Bass Pro Tour anglers will take place on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fobare’s Pond (Sandy Beach) on Coles Creek Road in Massena.
On Sunday, the Town of Massena will join the anglers at the Massena Intake Ramp for Fishin’ Church, hosted by Bass Pro Tour anglers Mark Rose and Edwin Evers, along with Judy Van Kennan, chaplain for the Massena Fire Department. A free breakfast will be provided. Also on Sunday, Louisville, N.Y., will host a VIP Golf Course Event featuring multiple Bass Pro Tour anglers from noon to 3 p.m. at The River Course at Louisville Landing. All activities are free and open to the public.
