Yesterday, Bass Pro Shop founder Johnny Morris announced an amateur fishing competition as outsized as his Bass Pro Shops. A gigantic, amateur-only series of bass fishing events that will conclude with a final tournament on Missouri’s Table Rock Lake where the winning team will pocket a cash payout of one million dollars. Yes, a million dollars for the winner. And the total cash payouts will be $4.3 million.

That amount of money’s rarely available in professional fishing events. It’s unheard of in amateur events - of almost any kind.

Morris says the event’s designed to do three things: “commemorate history (Bass Pro Shop’s fiftieth anniversary), have fun, and work to help habitat conservation.”

Morris announced that a unique “partnership” between the competing anglers, Bass Pro Shops and Toyota would give one hundred percent of entry fees realized in the tournaments to the National Fish Habitat Initiative.

“One third of all bass competitions are held on Corps of Engineers created lakes,” Morris explained in his live-streamed announcement, “and they’re getting some age on them. We want to help raise the quality of the habitat and improve fishing for future generations.”

Table Rock Lake is a natural location for Morris to hold yet another record-breaking event. It was there in a Ray Scott All-American fishing tournament fifty years ago that he made many of the acquaintances in pro fishing that have shaped BPS and professional fishing.

Morris fondly recalled his time in tournament fishing, saying the friends he made and things he learned there helped shape Bass Pro Shops. BPS image with permission.

As longtime friend and fellow All-American competitor Bill Dance explained: “never been anything like this in freshwater fishing, and it’s just like Johnny, always cookin’ up something special.”

As Morris friend, and legendary angler Jimmy Houston, called the Championship, “the ultimate amateur fishing contest. Put together by the greatest conservationist of our time to benefit the National Fish Habitat Initiative- another group Johnny helped establish.”

Entries into the 2-person team competition will be limited, and if there are more entries than spots, the same accounting firm that is synonymous with national competitions- Price, Waterhouse and Cooper - will hold a lottery to select competitors.

Essentially, this is a boat owners’ competition, limited to owners of Tracker, Ranger, Nitro, Triton, Sun Tracker, Tahoe and MAKO owners.

A series of regional and international qualifier events will be held, featuring division payouts for youth, family teams, all-female teams, veterans and others. And one luck junior angler (age 8-11) will win a $250,000 scholarship toward a “conservation-related area of study.”

After the regional qualifiers, 350 two-person teams will compete in the championship finale this fall at Big Cedar Lodge (a BPS property) on Table Rock Lake. The event will be broadcast internationally, and will include teams from Japan, Spain, Germany, Romania, Mexico and Holland.

Interested? Here’s how you can qualify for a chance to compete:

1. Finish in the top 40 at one of eight regional qualifier events hosted around the country: Accommodating a grand total of 4,700 anglers, each regional qualifying event will be open to 250 two-person teams. Regional qualifiers will take place at some of the best bass fishing locations in the country while offering up plenty of fun:

• Lake Okeechobee, FL – March 13, 2021

• Lake Ray Roberts (Dallas), TX – April 17, 2021

• Lake Mead, NV. – April 24, 2021

• Chesapeake Bay, MD – July 17, 2021

• Lake St. Clair (Detroit), MI – Aug. 21, 2021

• Old Hickory Lake (Nashville), TN – Sept. 11, 2021

• Grand Lake ‘O the Cherokees (Tulsa), OK–Oct. 16, 2021

• Last Chance Qualifier: Bull Shoals Lake, AR –Nov. 17, 2021

• Grand Championship finale for qualifiers: Table Rock Lake, MO – Nov. 19, 2021

Each qualifier will feature activities for the whole family, including celebrity weighmasters and guests such as country music star Chris Janson and fishing legends like Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, Roland Martin, Kevin VanDam, Ott DeFoe, Timmy Horton and more. Additional weighmasters and celebrity guests will be announced prior to each qualifier.

Online registration for the first three regional competitions will open for 24 hours beginning at 10 am CT on February 10, 2021.

Entry fees are $450/person ($250 for youth ages 12-17) and free for kids under 12. Each entrant will receive a U.S. Open gift bag with exclusive gifts valued at $150.

The winners of the three major national collegiate fishing championships will also be invited to compete, with an invitation and prizes for that special division.

The finale will be a 3-day, 5-fish limit competition and overall weight will determine the champion- and the team that will receive the $1 million payout. The biggest bass winner will win a 21-foot bass boat (Ranger, Nitro or Triton) a Toyota TUNDRA truck and “other prizes.”

NBC Sports Network will broadcast the final day live on Sunday, November 21, and there will be a special feature event on NBC later this year.

Here’s something worth noting: regional qualifiers will not have to pay another entry fee for the championship.

“This tournament is our way of giving thanks and rewarding our customers with the chance to land the catch of a lifetime,” says Morris, “Beyond offering the ultimate prize in fishing, we’re excited to celebrate our heritage, raise funds for conservation, and have some big fun with people who love fishing as much as we do.”

Fun. Family. Fishing.

Sounds like a winning combination.

We’ll keep you posted.

— Jim Shepherd

EDITOR’s NOTE: For complete rules, registration details and updates, visit basspro.com/usopen.