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Adrian Avena of Vineland, New Jersey, weighed in five scorable largemouth bass totaling 26 pounds, 5 ounces, to grab the early lead for Group B after their Day 1 of the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One on the Kissimmee Chain Presented by Grundéns Tuesday.
Major League Fishing (MLF) is opening its fifth season of the Bass Pro Tour, the top level of professional bass fishing, this week on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes with the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One on the Kissimmee Chain Presented by Grundéns.
It’s the third time MLF is visiting the Kissimmee lakes. In 2019 and 2020, Alabama’s Jordan Lee took the title, and he’s back in this year’s field, sitting in the top 10 through the first two days.
Anglers launch each day at 7:30 a.m. from Big Toho Marina. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the marina, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the live stream and SCORETRACKER coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com. The tournament will be filmed for broadcast on the Discovery Channel in July.
On Championship Saturday, from 4:30-6 p.m., MLF will all fans to come celebrate the top 10 and crown the Champion at the Trophy Presentation. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration to meet and greet fans, sign autographs, and take selfies.
The six-day event, hosted by the Kissimmee Sports Commission, began earlier this week and will showcase 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, including bass-fishing superstars like Kevin VanDam, Ott DeFoe, Jacob Wheeler, Jordan Lee, Edwin Evers and Dustin Connell. They’ll be competing for a purse of more than $805,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and Angler of the Year points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters All-Star event and REDCREST, the Bass Pro Tour championship.
“I’m no Florida fishing wizard, but I understand that the lakes are always changing from year to year, and you have to be willing to adapt and fish the conditions,” said Lee. “Some years, the best bite is on Toho and others, it’s in Kissimmee. Cypress can also be good; any of them or the others in the chain could be the winning area. It varies based on the vegetation and to be successful, you need to narrow it down to the right one in two days of practice.”
Lee said he believes the timing of this event in mid-February is ideal for both the fishing and weather.
“This time of year in Florida is all about the cold fronts and that will be the biggest deciding factor in how good the fishing is,” he said. “You’ll always catch big fish in Florida, but a nice warming trend will push more fish shallow because they want to spawn.
“There will be some sight fishing going on. The biggest key here is being in the right area with the best-looking grass. That’s true everywhere in the country, but even more important in Florida, where the fish tend to be more sensitive to having the cleanest water.”
On the Bass Pro Tour, each angler’s five heaviest bass per day are tallied as their day’s weight.
Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Presented by Grundéns will air as two, two-hour episodes starting at 7 a.m on Saturday, July 15 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with re-airings on the Outdoor Channel.
