Major League Fishing is one of the two big players in terms of professional bass fishing — the other is Bassmaster. You can research how the two organizations are different; I won’t get into those details here because they won’t matter for you to enjoy the 7-minute video below.
I will set the scene without spoiling the ending. Major League Fishing events are structured in this way: Whoever catches the most weight of “scorable bass” wins. (In Bassmaster, anglers catch bass throughout the day, cull smaller bass, and bring their five biggest fish in a livewell to a weigh-in stage.)
To be a scorable bass in Major League Fishing, it must weigh at least 2 pounds. Bass are weighed immediately by a tournament volunteer who is in the boat with the pro angler, and each fish is released before the angler begins casting again. The weights are updated to ScoreTracker so competitors know exactly where they stand at any given moment. (Again, total weight is what matters, not total number of bass caught.)
In the YouTube video below, you’ll see two anglers fight it out during the final 7 minutes of a recent event on Lake Chickamauga and Nickajack Lake in Tennessee. Notice that it takes a bit of time for a tournament volunteer in the angler’s boat to weigh a fish. I mention this detail because you’ll see Jacob Wheeler throw back a small bass that he doesn’t think will hit the 2-pound mark rather than spend precious seconds waiting for the volunteer to weigh it.
You’ll see a clock in the top-left of the video showing you how much time is left, and ScoreTracker is in top-right showing you the total weights. Be sure to watch the video until the very end — it’s must-see TV!
