Stephen Browning (Hot Springs), Mark Davis (Mount Ida), Fred Roumbanis (Russellville) and Scott Suggs (Alexander) Among the Field of 80 of the Top Bass Anglers in the World to Kickoff Third Season at Texas’ Sam Rayburn Reservoir
TULSA, Okla. (March 3, 2021) – Major League Fishing (MLF), the world’s largest tournament fishing organization, is set to open the 2021 Bass Pro Tour season – the third season of the action-packed Tour – this month, March 21-26, with the Toro Stage 1 at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Power-Pole.
Among the 80 anglers competing in 2021 will be local professional anglers Stephen Browning of Hot Springs, Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Fred “Boom Boom” Roumbanis of Russellville, and Scott Suggs of Alexander. The Arkansas quartet has combined career earnings of more than $7.45 million and 17 career victories. They’ll be looking to qualify for the third annual REDCREST championship, next year at Grand Lake in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“I’m really excited about our Northern swing – the St. Lawrence River, Lake Champlain and Lake St. Clair are three of my most favorite fisheries,” said Browning. “My number one goal is to win one of the stages. I can’t pick which one, but there will be several that I should do really well. My second goal is qualifying for REDCREST 2022 and the General Tires Heavy Hitters event.”
“My goal is to notch a win,” Davis said. “We’ve got a great schedule in 2021 – numerous great lakes, especially the Texas lakes and the three northern smallmouth fisheries. It’s going to be fun.”
“I’m so excited for this 2021 season to get started,” said Roumbanis. “We have an incredible schedule ahead with a lot of potential for records to be broken. I can’t wait to kick off the season at Sam Rayburn – I can assure you the SCORETRACKER® will be going off non-stop. “
“One of the things that I’m really most excited about this season is having a new boat and outboard sponsor, and some other changes that I’ve made for this season,” Suggs said. “Change is good and there is a new spark. I’m looking forward to the great bodies of water that we will be fishing this year and hopefully I’ll be able to light up the SCORETRACKER.”
2021 MLF Bass Pro Tour Schedule
- March 21-26 Stage One at Sam Rayburn Reservoir Jasper, Texas
- April 9-14 General Tire HEAVY HITTERS Raleigh, N.C.
- April 30-May 5 Stage Two at Lake Travis Austin, Texas
- May 21-26 Stage Three at Harris Chain of Lakes Leesburg, Fla.
- June 4-9 Stage Four at Lake Chickamauga Dayton, Tenn.
- June 25-30 Stage Five at St. Lawrence River Massena, N.Y.
- Aug. 5-10 Stage Six at Lake Champlain Plattsburgh, N.Y.
- Sept. 10-15 Stage Seven at Lake St. Clair St. Clair Shores, Mich.
- March 22-26, 2022 REDCREST 2022 at Grand Lake Tulsa, Okla.
The top award at each Bass Pro Tour event is $100,000, with $300,000 going to the winner of the REDCREST 2022 championship event. Anglers are also competing to qualify each year for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event, which showcases the pros with the highest cumulative weight from their single largest bass in each of the seven regular-season events.
In accordance with COVID-19 protocols, attendance at Major League Fishing events is currently limited to competing anglers, essential staff and media covering the event only. Fans are encouraged to follow the event online through the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. MLF NOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.
Television coverage of the Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage 1 at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Power-Pole will be showcased across two two-hour episodes, premiering at 7 a.m. ET, Aug. 28 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.
The 2021 Bass Pro Tour features a field of 76 of the top professional anglers in the world – joined at each event by 4 pros that qualify from the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit – competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2022 championship.
For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.
About Major League Fishing
Founded in 2011, Major League Fishing (MLF) brings the high-intensity sport of competitive bass fishing into America’s living rooms on Outdoor Channel, Discovery, CBS, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, Sportsman Channel, and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). According to Nielsen ratings, Major League Fishing remains the number one series on Outdoor Channel for five years and MLF premiered as the number one outdoor show in their time slot on Discovery in 2019.
In 2019 MLF acquired FLW, which expands their portfolio to include the world’s largest grassroots-fishing organization, including the strongest five-biggest-fish format professional bass fishing tour, the MLF Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit presented by Bad Boy Mowers, as well as the MLF Toyota Series, MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine, MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI, and MLF U.S. Army High School Fishing presented by Favorite Fishing.
