Major League Fishing Reveals Lake Guntersville as Bass Pro Tour Stage 1 Venue in 2026
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (July 14, 2025) – Major League Fishing (MLF) announced the schedule for the eighth season of professional bass fishing’s most competitive circuit, the 2026 Bass Pro Tour, last week, and local fans and anglers will be very excited to see Lake Guntersville on the list once again.
Guntersville, Alabama, and Lake Guntersville will play host to Stage 1 of the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season, Jan. 15-18. Hosted by Marshall County Tourism & Sports, the event will showcase a field of 51 of the world’s top professional bass anglers competing for the sport’s largest payouts – including a top prize of $150,000 at Lake Guntersville, and a season-long purse of millions of dollars in earnings and valuable points in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) race and qualification into REDCREST 2027.
“Marshall County Tourism and Sports has always been a strong partner with Major League Fishing, and we are excited to showcase our lake this winter as the first stop on the 2026 Bass Pro Tour,” said Katy Norton, President of Marshall County Tourism and Sports. “We know Guntersville is a bucket list lake for many anglers, both professional and amateurs alike, and we hope families will join us for some fishing and to watch as the pros pit their skills against our 69,000-acre reservoir.”
The event will mark the third time that the MLF Bass Pro Tour has visited Lake Guntersville. When MLF last visited the fishery for REDCREST 2025 in early April, Alabama pro Dustin Connell claimed his third REDCREST title with a final-day championship round total of 27 bass weighing in at 87 pounds, 11 ounces.
“Our 2026 schedule showcases everything we love about the Bass Pro Tour – challenging new waters, high-stakes competition and a roster of the most accomplished anglers in the sport,” said Kathy Fennel, MLF Executive Vice President & General Manager. “We’re excited about several new stops on the Tour next season but also looking forward to returning to some of our most successful venues from the past, including Lake Guntersville. There’s never been a better time to be a fan of the sport of professional bass fishing.”
A key storyline entering the 2026 season is the Bass Pro Tour’s transition to a 51-angler field – the final step in a strategically planned two-year restructuring of the league’s competitive format. The next evolution is designed to create a more streamlined, sustainable model that elevates the profile of each competitor, improves storytelling for fans and sponsors and maximizes the league’s evolving digital broadcast strategy.
As in 2025, each Bass Pro Tour event will feature the full field of anglers competing in the Qualifying Round on Days 1 and 2, followed by the Knockout Round on Day 3 and then the Championship Round on Day 4. The league’s signature catch-weigh-release format ensures immediate fish care and maximum fan excitement, with every fish scored and streamed live on MLFNOW! via the MLF app, MyOutdoorTV (MOTV), Rumble, and at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
With a field of the world’s best anglers ready to make history, the 2026 Bass Pro Tour promises more action, more surprises and more big bass moments than ever before.
2026 MLF Bass Pro Tour Schedule:
Jan. 15-18 Stage 1 at Lake Guntersville Guntersville, Ala.
Hosted by Marshall County Tourism & Sports
Feb. 19-22 Stage 2 at Lake Hartwell Oconee County, S.C.
March 5-8 Stage 3 at Lake Whitney (Days 1-2) & Lake Waco (Days 3-4) Waco, Texas
Hosted by the Greater Waco Sports Commission, the City of Waco and the Waco TPID
March 26-29 Stage 4 at O.H. Ivie Lake (Days 1-2) & Lake Brownwood (Days 3-4) Early, Texas
April 16-19 REDCREST 2026 TBA
April 30-May 3 Stage 5 at Beaver Lake Northwest Ark.
May 16-21 MLF Heavy Hitters at Orange Lake Ocala, Fla.
Hosted by the Ocala/Marion County Visitors & Convention Bureau
June 18-21 Stage 6 at Grand Lake Grove, Okla.
Hosted by the City of Grove and the Grove Convention & Tourism Bureau
Aug. 6-9 Stage 7 at Lake Erie Sandusky, Ohio
Hosted by Shore & Islands Ohio
Proud sponsors of the MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing Co., Bass Force, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sport Apparel, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine, Toyota and Zenni.
For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the 2026 Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Discovery+, Discovery GO, Animal Planet, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and Game & Fish TV, and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.
