INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Florida – When viewers sit down Saturday and tune into to CBS (2 p.m. EDT) for the first episode of the 2018 Major League Fishing General Tire World Championship, they should be prepared to see some fireworks.

Not the Fourth-of-July/Roman candle variety, but the kind of incendiary competition that happens when you combine 12 of the best bass anglers in the world with some of the best largemouth bass lakes in the country.

As the World Championship rounds progress over the next six weeks, we’ll provide some deep-insider information about key conditions that might influence each competition round.

Here are some things to keep in mind this week when Shotgun Round 1 anglers Ish Monroe, Jeff Kriet, Andy Montgomery, Greg Hackney, Takahiro Omori and Edwin Evers go “Lines in!” on Garcia Reservoir.

Does Montgomery have something to prove?

First-time WC competitor Andy Montgomery was vocal all season about his displeasure at not being allowed to fish for the Johnny Morris Award in 2017. Montgomery did so well in his rookie year in Cup competition last year – he finished fifth in the two events he fished – that he technically qualified for the WC with 52 points.

MLF rules, though, state clearly that anglers must compete at the Cup level for two consecutive years to be eligible for the Championship, a judgement that’s lost on Montgomery.

“They should’ve let me fish last year … but I’m not mad anymore,” he said half-jokingly the day before competition started.

We’ll see…

Is Indian River County to Monroe’s advantage?

Outside of Florida native Bobby Lane, the angler happiest to be fishing the flooded-farm largemouth factories of Indian River County is Ish Monroe. The California native, who finished third at the 2018 Challenge Cup in Louisiana to slip into the Championship 12, won an Elite Series event on Lake Okeechobee in 2012, and is perhaps the most notorious punching/flipping/spawn specialist in the field.

Conditions heading into championship week (full moon approaching, some fish likely in spawning mode) are right in his wheelhouse.

Will Evers or Omori get over the Florida hump?

Edwin Evers and Takahiro Omori own a combined 107 tour-level Top 10s in their careers, but Florida has historically given both of them fits: both have only one Top 10 apiece in events held in the Sunshine State.

Evers won an Elite Series event on the St. Johns River in 2011; Omori won a Bassmaster Tour event on the Kissimmee Chain in 2005.