Major League Fishing Unveils 2021 Bass Pro Tour Roster
Florida pro John Cox to Join 80-Angler Field, Four Remaining Spots to Be Filled by MLF Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Anglers
TULSA, Okla. – Major League Fishing announced today the 2021 Bass Pro Tour angler roster. The roster includes 75 returning anglers, headlined by 2020 Angler of the Year (AOY), Heavy Hitters winner and General Tire World Champion Jordan Lee, five-time MLF event winner Jacob Wheeler, Ott DeFoe, Edwin Evers, and the man considered by many to be the greatest professional angler of all-time, Kevin VanDam.
Joining the 75 returning anglers will be DeBary, Florida’s John Cox. A perennial AOY contender during his 10-year FLW Tour/Pro Circuit career, and the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup Champion, Cox was an original invitee when the Bass Pro Tour roster was filled in 2018. He opted not to accept that invitation then, but still fished the FLW Tour and Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Cox now plans to fish both the Bass Pro Tour and the Pro Circuit in 2021, setting the table to fish upwards of 20 pro-level events if he qualifies for REDCREST and MLF Cups.
“I like the lakes on the schedule, I like the payouts, and I like that I can fish a lot of tournaments,” Cox said. “I don’t know exactly how I’ll do in the MLF format for a full season, but even if I don’t do great, I feel good about my chances to make a few Top 10s and cash checks. There are a few places on that 2021 schedule where I think to myself ‘Hmmm, I know a spot or two here or there, I think I might do quite well in that one.’ I’m excited about it.”
The four remaining roster spots at the seven regular-season Bass Pro Tour events will be filled by the top anglers from each Pro Circuit event in 2021. The top four finishers from each individual Pro Circuit event will receive automatic invitations to compete in the Bass Pro Tour events that follow, opening the door for the Pro Circuit’s top performers to compete in the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format and another opportunity at a $100,000 first-place check.
The four roster spots at the Bass Pro Tour Stage One event at Sam Rayburn Reservoir (March 21-26) will be filled based on the 2020 Pro Circuit AOY standings; Pro Circuit event number one – Feb. 11-14 at Lake Okeechobee, Florida – will then feed Bass Pro Tour Stage Two at Lake Travis (April 30-May 5) and so on.
“We’re all fishing to try to make the Bass Pro Tour, and this will be a really good opportunity for a guy to get his feet wet in that format,” said 11-year Pro Circuit veteran angler Bill McDonald, who got his first taste of the MLF format at the 2020 TITLE championship at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. “You can tell yourself that the Bass Pro Tour format isn’t really that much more pressure, but I can tell you from experience that it takes a strong mental game. It’s the highest of highs to hear your name at the top (of SCORETRACKER®), but your brain goes crazy when you drop rapidly. It’ll be valuable experience to qualify for one of those (Bass Pro Tour) events.”
The 76 professional anglers that will compete on the 2021 Bass Pro Tour are:
- Casey Ashley
- Adrian Avena
- Josh Bertrand
- Tommy Biffle
- Zack Birge
- Stephen Browning
- Brent Chapman
- Luke Clausen
- Dustin Connell
- Brandon Coulter
- John Cox
- Cliff Crochet
- Mark Daniels Jr.
- Mark Davis
- Ott DeFoe
- Boyd Duckett
- David Dudley
- Brent Ehrler
- James Elam
- Paul Elias
- Edwin Evers
- Todd Faircloth
- Shin Fukae
- Anthony Gagliardi
- Shaw Grigsby
- Roy Hawk
- Brett Hite
- Timmy Horton
- Randy Howell
- Alton Jones
- Alton Jones Jr.
- Kelly Jordon
- Gary Klein
- Jeff Kriet
- Jason Lambert
- Bobby Lane
- Chris Lane
- Russ Lane
- Jordan Lee
- Matt Lee
- Dave Lefebre
- Jared Lintner
- Justin Lucas
- Aaron Martens
- Mike McClelland
- Cody Meyer
- Ish Monroe
- Andy Montgomery
- Andy Morgan
- John Murray
- Britt Myers
- Michael Neal
- Takahiro Omori
- Cliff Pace
- Keith Poche
- Skeet Reese
- Marty Robinson
- Dean Rojas
- Mark Rose
- Fred Roumbanis
- Bradley Roy
- Terry Scroggins
- Fletcher Shryock
- Gerald Spohrer
- Jeff Sprague
- Wesley Strader
- Scott Suggs
- Randall Tharp
- Bryan Thrift
- Kevin VanDam
- Jonathan VanDam
- Greg Vinson
- David Walker
- James Watson
- Jacob Wheeler
- Jesse Wiggins
In 2021 MLF Bass Pro Tour competition, anglers are vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for REDCREST 2022, the world championship of professional bass fishing. Each stage of the Bass Pro Tour includes six days of competition using the catch, weigh, immediate-release format, broadcast live on the Major League Fishing app, MyOutdoorTV (MOTV), and MajorLeagueFishing.com, totaling more than 450 hours of original programming. Fans can also follow the on-the-water action as it unfolds on the live SCORETRACKER® leaderboard.
The 2021 MLF Bass Pro Tour will air on Discovery Channel beginning in July 2021 and the Sportsman Channel in early 2022.
2021 MLF Bass Pro Tour Schedule
- Feb. 23-27 REDCREST 2021 at Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees – Tulsa, Okla.
- March 21-26 Bass Pro Tour Stage One at Sam Rayburn Reservoir – Jasper, Texas
- April 9-14 General Tire HEAVY HITTERS at Falls Lake, Jordan Lake & Shearon Harris Reservoir – Raleigh, N.C.
- April 30-May 5 Bass Pro Tour Stage Two at Lake Travis – Austin, Texas
- May 21-26 Bass Pro Tour Stage Three at Harris Chain of Lakes – Leesburg, Fla.
- June 4-9 Bass Pro Tour Stage Four at Lake Chickamauga – Dayton, Tenn.
- June 25-30 Bass Pro Tour Stage Five at St. Lawrence River – Massena, N.Y.
- Aug. 5-10 Bass Pro Tour Stage Six at Lake Champlain – Plattsburgh, N.Y.
- Sept. 10-15 Bass Pro Tour Stage Seven at Lake St. Clair – St. Clair Shores, Mich.
For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
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, 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 High School Fishing presented by Favorite Fishing.