Major League Fishing’s Bass Pro Tour has attracted 80 fishermen from B.A.S.S. and the FLW Tour. The new circuit is created by fishermen with a goal to make competitive fishing more of a sporting event. (Major League Fishing/Courtesy)

In what can be called a seismic shift in professional bass fishermen, 80 of the top fishermen in the country are dropping their affiliation with B.A.S.S. and the FLW Tour to join the Bass Pro Tour.

Kevin Van Dam, Ott DeFoe, Justin Lucas, Aaron Martens, Kelly Jordan, Alton Jones and more are switching to the new tour that falls under the umbrella of the popular Major League Fishing competition. The draw appears to be that the fishermen are designing the new tour with an eye toward making the tournaments a true sport.

“Our vision is for an angler-led circuit. Our vision has never wavered. It has always been about creating a sport out of competitive angling,” explained Texas angler Gary Klein, who along with Boyd Duckett initially launched the MLF concept.

Klein said since he started fishing B.A.S.S. in 1979, ownership has changed five times, but the format was never really different. It was more about the exhibition and weigh-in events than it has been about the competition.

“It was always set up to be a business. It was not set up to be a sport. Ray Scott had the opportunity, but it was always about Ray Scott. He was a fine man and I appreciated him. He was living his dream, but it never changed,” Klein said.

Like the MLF made-for-television competitions, there will not be a weigh-in since the tournaments are all catch and release. In fact, the BPT tournaments will be the same as the MLF events shown on television except the field is expanded. There will be competition days leading up to the week’s championship round featuring the top 10 fishermen that week.

The competition in some ways mirrors the old Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest. Each boat has an official to weigh the bass and every fish caught. There are other rules that can result in a penalty, causing the fisherman to have to put his rod down and not fish for a certain amount of time.

Of the field of 80 selected for BPT events, 30 are newcomers to the format. Klein said they are in for a wild ride initially.

“Once you compete under the format and live it, it is the most intense competition ever experienced. I didn’t realize that when I invented it,” Klein said.

However, he said some fishermen are not made for this type of competition. There are others who want in, but there was no more room in this first class. A feeder system is being developed that will help more get in, but also be able to make a living while trying.

Dates for eight BPT events, including a championship, have already been announced. Locations have not.

To show that the fishermen have a voice, one of the first things to get done is that they voted not to have a tournament entry fee. Total payouts will still be close to $6 million with regular tournaments having a purse of $700,000 and the championship event paying out $1.2 million.

Tournament dates were also arranged so the fishermen will be home on holidays during the season lasting January through August.

Another big difference between BPT and professional tours in the past will be visibility. While FLW had about 10 hours and B.A.S.S. had about 60 hours of television coverage a year, BPT and MLF will have 850 hours on several channels along with live streaming. The plan is to use 10 to 15 cameras in boats for five hours of aired competition daily.

“The field is so positive, anglers have a smile on their face, excited about the season starting,” Klein said. He added sponsors are supportive as well.

Change comes with fear, and even in an effort to make professional tournaments more about competition there has been some resistance to not doing things as they have been done in the past.

“Everyone has their opinion. Some will say take a look at this. I will say it has been this way the last 50 years and where has it gotten us,” Klein noted.

The Bass Pro Tour will still have fan-friendly events alongside the competition, but the exact nature has not been decided.

“I can’t tell you what the venues are going to look like. We have never done it before,” Klein said. He added the organization is working with sponsors and manufacturers to come up with a plan.

“We will have a venue in the community, and the anglers will have a post-day interview that is live streamed,” he explained.

Along with Klein, Jordan and Jones, other Texas-based fishermen scheduled to fish the Bass Pro Tour include Todd Faircloth, Shinichi Fukae, Alton Jones Jr. and Takahiro Omori.