Professional fishing returns to north Alabama bass hot spot
GUNTERSVILLE- 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 and Lake Guntersville will play host to Stage 1 of the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season, Jan. 15 & 18. 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.
Katy Norton, President of Marshall County Tourism and Sports, said, “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 69,000acre 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.
Kathy Fennel, MLF Executive Vice President & General Manager, said of the excitement through the tour of stopping in Guntersville, “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.” The event is the first on the 2026 MLF schedule.
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.
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 fishing organization, Major League Fishing (MLF), has announced its 2026 Bass Pro Tour schedule and includes a stop at Lake Guntersville.
the league’s evolving digital broadcast strategy.
