“Up-tempo” the New Norm for MLF Bass Pro Tour success?

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – If you like no-huddle offenses in football and super speedways in NASCAR, then you’re probably going to like the new up-tempo feel of the MLF Bass Pro Tour, which starts this week on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Central Florida.

Based on the competition framework of the popular Major League Fishing TV show, the Bass Pro Tour incorporates elements of the MLF format into traditional tournament fishing. The result will be an up-tempo pace of professional bass fishing never before seen on a live stream.

By blending a practice period from traditional tournaments with unconventional “every fish counts” competition periods, the sport enters a new realm in terms of fast-paced fish-catching with no time to layoff or regroup.

How the MLF veterans see it

Bobby Lane, Brent Ehrler and Ott DeFoe all have ample experience in the MLF format, and when they look into the crystal ball as to what this might mean when applied to the new Bass Pro Tour, they can only guess that will bring a much quicker pulse to the sport.

“There’s no doubt about it,” said Lane, who has an MLF Challenge Cup win and the 2017 World Championship to his credit. “Up tempo, no huddle is a great explanation of what’s fixing to happen. You will have to have your foot in the gas at all times – it will be pedal to the metal fishing compared to what we’re used to.”

As an example, Lane points to his BASS Eastern Open win on the Kissimmee Chain last year. On the first day of the tournament, Lane sacked up a five-bass limit weighing 31 pounds, 7 ounces early in the day and was able to let off the gas, regroup, play a little defense and spend the rest of the day practicing.

“When the smallest fish in your box is a 5-pounder, you sort of hit a ceiling,” he said. “What am I going to do (now)? Try to catch a 6-pounder to gain a pound when I could use that 6-pounder the next day? Of course not. So there has always been a sort of hurry-up-and-wait feel to standard tournament fishing. Now it’s going to be all hurry up and no wait.”

Lane says if he were fortunate enough to catch such a big weight on his first day of the Bass Pro Tour, he wouldn’t stop at 30 pounds, 60 pounds or even 90 pounds.

“I’m going to pound on them as hard as I can until it’s lines out,” he said. “Given this format and the talent level of these guys, you have got to get all you can at all times because no lead will be safe.”

Lane pauses for a second and then thinks of the possibilities.

“Can you imagine what kind of weights we could end up with in this format?” he questions. “This chain of lakes at this time of year is the kind of place where you can find a truckload of 5- to 10-pounders ganged up big time. Whenever we have found that in the traditional format, we let off the gas after catching five big ones. Now imagine being pushed to catch every big one you can. And here’s the best part: we let them go right back where they came from, right then. How awesome is that?”

Ehrler won the very first MLF Challenge Cup on Lake Amistad in 2011. He iterates the same change in thinking that’s coming with this new format.

“I’ve caught big limits early in tour events before and it allowed me to ride around, take it easy and practice,” Ehrler said. “At the same rate, I’ve also had big leads early in MLF events, too, and I never let off in those situations; when every fish counts, no lead or cushion is safe; someone is always breathing down your neck.”

“How many times has a guy had a 10- or 15-pound lead in the first period of MLF only to end up not making the cut?” he questioned. “It happens.”

DeFoe agrees, adding that a lot of it also depends on the lake rotation at each location.

“Strategy will change with each different venue,” Defoe explained. “Here at the Kissimmee Chain, the Knock Out Round is on the same lakes as the first two rounds. So on the first day I fish, yes, I’m going to catch all I can possibly catch. Since weights carry over to the second day, I want to have as much cushion going into the second day as I can possibly get.

“But on the second day, if I happen to have a 20-pound cushion over the cut line with two hours to go, I might layoff and try to save something for the Knockout Round, where the weights are zeroed again. Some venues we go to might have a completely different lake for the Knock Out round than the Elimination Round. In that case, I would keep it to the floor to catch as many as possible.”

In the traditional formats of national tour events, pros climb into a bubble on the water where they have little idea of who is leading, what the leading weight is or even what the cut weight is for advancement. That isolation allows them to fish at their own comfortable pace and rhythm, oblivious to what is developing on the leaderboard.

No escaping SCORETRACKER

Now, with an MLF official constantly reading updates off the SCORETRACKER into anglers’ ears, the sense of urgency becomes heightened, especially to an angler below the cut.

Both DeFoe and Ehrler normally have very deliberate, steady fishing paces and both admit that the SCORETRACKER pushes them out of that normal comfort zone.

“The SCORETRACKER does that to everyone to some degree,” Ehrler said. “I’ve watched some pros for years: I know their normal pace and body language. But when I see those same guys on the MLF show, their sense of urgency is obvious, whether they are fishing, tying on a lure or fighting a fish.”

Ehrler recalls watching pros in MLF competition fighting 1- to 2-pound bass like they were 7-pounders.

“They’re down on their knees, playing the fish, putting the rod tip in the water, trying to keep it from jumping,” he said with a laugh. “If they had a 15-pound limit in regular tournament, they would never do that with a fish that wouldn’t help; they would just ski it in, hoist it aboard and throw it back. When every fish counts, it makes you do things you wouldn’t normally do.”

Practice will turn up the hurry-up

DeFoe believes the up-tempo vibe is going to be increased with a two-day practice period before each Bass Pro Tour event.

“In MLF events where there is no practice, we occasionally have an angler or two just land on the fish first thing and light it up,” he explained. “But give these guys a chance to practice and find big groups and schools of fish and there’s going to be 10, 15 maybe 20 guys blowing that ScoreTracker up in the first 30 minutes or 40 minutes of the morning. The pace could be blistering right out of the gate and you’re really going to see what up-tempo looks like then.”