Major League Fishing will bring its 2026 Bass Pro Tour, the sport’s premier professional bass fishing circuit, to Lake Whitney Thursday and Friday.
Featuring a roster of 51 pros, the 2026 season spotlights some of the country’s most diverse fisheries and record-setting payouts as the field competes for Fishing Clash Angler of the Year honors and qualification into REDCREST 2027 and the MLF Heavy Hitters all-star event.
The Bass Pro Tour will continue the 2026 campaign at Lake Whitney and Lake Waco. Scheduled for March 5-8, the Champion Teamwear Stage 3 presented by MillerTech marks the third stop of the seven-event Bass Pro Tour season, setting the stage for four days of competition on a pair of Lone Star lakes primed to showcase Texas-sized limits.
The four-day event will feature a roster of 51 of the top professional anglers in the world competing for a $125,000 top prize and their share of the $600,000 purse, along with valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the MLF Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2027, the Bass Pro Tour championship.
Lake Whitney will host the two-day Qualifying Round, while the Knockout and Championship rounds will be contested on Lake Waco.
Anglers will arrive at 6:15 a.m. to the Lofers Bend Day Use Area on days one and two (Thursday and Friday), and Twin Bridges Park on Lake Waco for days three and four (Saturday and Sunday). Anglers will return to the boat launches each evening following the end of competition at 3:45 p.m.
Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and are also encouraged to watch the event live online throughout the day on the MLFNOW! livestream and follow along with SCORETRACKER coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
According to BPT pro and Waco area native Alton Jones, despite their proximity, the two lakes fish very differently, which should make for a fascinating event from a strategy perspective.
This event will mark the first time in Jones’ 36-year career as a touring pro that he’s able to sleep in his own bed for an event, something he’s looking forward to. He said Waco and Whitney are different than what many bass fishing fans likely picture when they think of Texas tournament waters – hydrilla flats and fields of flooded timber.
Lake Whitney is a highland reservoir, with deep, clear water and steeper contours, while Lake Waco is a shallower, flatter lowland reservoir. Whitney even has some smallmouth, and Jones thinks a few of them will hit SCORETRACKER.
“There are smallmouth in Whitney,” he said. “And there are enough to play – not to where someone is going to go out and fish for exclusively smallmouth, but my prediction would be some of the guys that make the cut are going to have a mixed bag. And there’s some good smallmouths, some 4- and 5-pounders.”
Jones expects the BPT field to find most of Whitney’s bass in the prespawn phase. At Waco, they could be on spawning beds, but that depends on the temperature – the shallower lake is much more impacted by weather.
“I would be shocked if they’re spawning on Whitney,” Jones said. “Now, they’ll be within a couple weeks of it, but early March typically is too early for them to actually be bedded, laid up somewhere. Waco, I would say it’s weather dependent. If we’re there on a strong warm trend, we absolutely could have a strong push to the bank. Either way, they’ll be one step out. They’re not going to be far from those type of areas.”
Jones doesn’t expect an event where anglers are reeling in scorable bass every few minutes. But, this being Texas, he thinks we’ll see some big ones hit the scales, including potentially some double-digits.
“If I was going to guess big fish, I would say at Whitney, it’ll be a 9 (pounder),” Jones said. “If I was going to guess big fish at Waco, I would say it’s going to be a 10-plus. It may be a 12.”
On Saturday and Sunday, March 7 and 8, from 3 to 6 p.m., MLF invites fans of all ages to Twin Bridges Park, located at 3201 N. State Hwy. 6 in Waco, for the MLF Fan Experience & Watch Party. Fans can watch the Bass Pro Tour pros live on the MLFNOW! big screen, enjoy free food for the first 100 fans each day, enter hourly giveaways, browse MLF merchandise and the bargain bait bin, and cheer on their favorite anglers.
Youth of all ages can take part in a fishing derby (gear and bait provided, weather permitting) and a casting contest. Top 10 angler interviews and the trophy presentation begins at 5 p.m., including autographs and photos with Bass Pro Tour finalists. The first 50 kids ages 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel each day.
Champion Teamwear Stage 3 at Lake Whitney and Lake Waco presented by MillerTech will feature anglers competing with a 1-pound, 8-ounce minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
The 2026 Bass Pro Tour features a field of the best professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2027 championship.
The full field of anglers will compete in the two-day Qualifying Round on Thursday and Friday. After the two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the pro with the heaviest two-day total will advance directly to Sunday’s Championship Round. Anglers who finish second through 25th will advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining anglers compete to finish in the top nine to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $125,000.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all four days of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. MLFNOW! will be livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
Television coverage of Champion Teamwear Stage 3 at Lake Whitney and Lake Waco presented by MillerTech will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 6 a.m. Saturday, September 5, on Discovery. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.
The Lakelander 